Revisit a Lifetime of Fashion Photography with Lillian Bassman
As the art director of Junior Bazaar, a short-lived Harper’s Bazaar spin-off, Lillian Bassman spent the early 40’s working with photography greats like Robert Frank and Richard Avedon. Then she decided to pick up the camera herself. Soon, it was Bassman’s own images appearing in the pages of Bazaar—carefully blurred, fashion-focused silhouettes that John Galliano once described as possessed of “painterly strokes of light.” Though she did lose a bit of fire at one point—Bassman destroyed decades’ worth of prints and negatives in the 70’s, even debating abandoning the medium—she stuck with her instantly recognizable black-and-white photography, shooting Galliano’s designs up into the 90’s, even toying around with digital before she died in 2012. Take a look back at her career through some her most memorable pictures, up now at New York’s Edwynn Houk Gallery through July 8th, here.
1
“Anne Saint-Marie,” New York, 1958.
2
“More Fashion Mileage Per Dress,” Barbara Vaughn in a dress by Filcol, New York, 1956.
3
“Betty Threat,” New York, Harper’s Bazaar, c. 1957.
4
“Touch of Dew, Lisa Fonssagrives,” New York, Harper’s Bazaar, 1961.
5
“It’s a Cinch, Carmen,” lingerie by Warner’s, 1951.
6
“The Cost of Living,” Barbara Mullen in a dress by Omar Kiam for Ben Reig, New York, 1950.
7
“In this Year of Lace,” Dovima in a dress by Jane Derby at the Plaza Hotel, New York, Harper’s Bazaar, 1951.
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“Night Bloom,” Anneliese Seubert in a ball gown by John Galliano for Haute Couture Givenchy, Paris, 1996.
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“Golden Fox, Blue Fox,” Marilyn Ambrose in a boa by Frederica, New York, Harper’s Bazaar, 1954.
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“Kecia,” 1967.
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Barbara Mullen, New York, c. 1958.
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“The Line Lengthens,” lingerie by Formfit, 1955.
13
“Looking Backward – The Evenings Ahead,” Betty Biehn, 1956.
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Margie Cato, New York, c. 1950.
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“Kronung des Chic,” Jada in a dress by Thierry Mugler, 1998.
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“The Art of Fashion,” Neiman Marcus, 1996.
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Mary Jane Russell, New York, Harper’s Bazaar, c. 1950.
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“Suzy Parker,” c. 1951.
19
“Carmen,” dress by Charles James, New York, Harper’s Bazaar, 1950s.
20
“Kronung des Chic,” Jada in a hat by Philip Treacy, German Vogue, 1988.
21
Sunny Harnett, Harper’s Bazaar, c. 1950.
22
“Southwest Passage – Sunset Pink,” pajamas by Kickernick, Harper’s Bazaar, 1951.
