Lillian Bassman

The diffused light and grainy quality of this photograph add a warm, personal tone to the image, blending away the particularities of the model’s features into a powerful statement of simplicity, elegance, and feminine beauty. Lillian Bassman’s success with images of this type changed the course of her career; she went from art director at Harper’s Bazaar, printing photographs taken by others, to working behind the camera full-time. Her easy rapport with models was

essential to the success of the resulting photographs. She recounts, “When men photograph women, there’s usually a tension, an element of seduction. My favorite models would become friends. . . . We would discuss husbands, boyfriends, whatever-the atmosphere was intimate but relaxed.” She compared her best models to dancing partners, collaborators in a single project which depended on the creation of a bond between the artist and her subject.