Lillian Bassman

Posted by Fabio 8 November 2012

Lillian Bassman (1917 – 2012) was born in Brooklyn, New York. She worked as a textile designer and fashion illustrator before working at Harper’s Bazaar in 1946. In 1949 she photographed her first Paris couture collection, which lead to her distinguished career photographing the foremost models of her day. Renowned for her innovative work in the darkroom, Ms. Bassman experimented by printing through unique materials, burning in on certain areas, or bleaching sections of the photograph to create images that appeared to be a cross between a watercolor and a photograph. Her photographs have been featured internationally in gallery and museum exhibitions in New York, Milan, Paris, and London and as the focus of magazine articles, lectures, and books highlighting her incredible life and body of work.