Lillian Bassman

Lillian Bassman, one of the last great woman fashion photographers of the 20th century, began her illustrious photographic career after working at Harper’s Bazaar under the art direction of Alexey Brodovitch in the 1940s. Her photographs are distinguishable from other fashion photographers of the time due to their high contrast and inventive darkroom techniques.

Bassman’s fine art photography has been exhibited in several respectable art institutions, museums and galleries in New York and throughout the US, and internationally in Milan, Paris, and London.

Her first one-woman exhibitions were held at the Hamiltons Gallery in London in 1993, and Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York, in the same year. These shows were followed by several other solo exhibitions, most significantly at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. At the following year, Bassman got an assignment from The New York Times Magazine to cover the haute couture collections in Paris. Her last fashion assignment was in 2004, for German Vogue. She lived and worked in New York until her death in 2012.