Lillian Bassman: Heat + High Fashion , June 18 - July 24, 2010

Lillian Bassman, Barbara Mullen Blowing Kiss (Variant), 1950
Lillian Bassman, The Little Furs: Mary Jane Russell in a cape-jacket by Ritter Brothers at the Essex House, New York, 1955
Lillian Bassman, Charles James Dress: Carmen, New York. Harper's Bazaar, 1960

Lillian Bassman

Lillian Bassman Biography Lillian Bassman (1917 - 2012) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents she once described as “bohemian.” This fashion photographer fell in love fast with the photographs of dancer Isadora Duncan in her flowing, floating gowns, inspiring Lillian’s affinity for scarves which she attributed to Isadora’s sinuous, constantly moving fabrics.
Lillian 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 led to Lillian Bassman’s distinguished career as a photographer of the era’s leading models. However, she once claimed it... View artist page