Lisette Model
Encyclopedia
Lisette Model was an Austrian
-born American
photographer.
Lisette Model was born Elise Felic Amelie Stern in Vienna
, Austria. Her father was an Italian/Austrian doctor of Jewish descent attached to the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army and, later, to the International Red Cross; her mother was French
and Roman Catholic, and Model was baptised into her mother's faith. Two years after her birth, her parents changed their family name to Seybert. According to interview testimony from her older brother, she was sexually molested by her father, though the full extent of his abuse remains unclear.
She was primarily educated by a series of private tutors, achieving fluency in three languages. At age 19, she began studying music with composer Arnold Schönberg, and was familiar to members of his circle. "If ever in my life I had one teacher and one great influence, it was Schönberg," she said.
Model left Vienna for Paris after her father's death in 1924 to study voice with Polish soprano Marya Freund. It was during this period that she met her future husband, the French-Jewish painter Evsa Model. In 1933 she gave up music and recommitted herself to studying visual art, at first taking up painting as a student of Andre Lhote
(whose other students included Henri Cartier-Bresson
and George Hoyningen-Huene
). She also took up photography, taking basic instruction in darkroom techniques from her younger sister Olga Seybert (herself a life-long professional photographer), although Parisian portrait photographer Rogi Andre was the person Model credited with providing her primary instruction in camera techniques.
Visiting her mother in Nice in 1934 (she and Olga had emigrated from Vienna several years prior), Model took her camera out on the Promenade des Anglais
and made a series of portraits which are among her most widely reproduced and exhibited images. These close-cropped, often clandestine portraits of the local privileged class already bore what would become her signature style: close-up, unsentimental and unretouched expositions of vanity, insecurity and loneliness.
She married Evsa Model in 1937 and the following year they emigrated to join her husband's sister in Manhattan. There she supported herself as a photographer, having work published regularly in Harper's Bazaar
by editors Carmel Snow
and Alexey Brodovitch
. Model eventually became a member of the New York 'Photo League,' which would host her first dedicated showing.
In 1951, Model was invited to teach at the New School for Social Research in New York City, where her longtime friend Berenice Abbott
was also teaching photography. Model's best known pupil was Diane Arbus
, who studied under her in 1957, and Arbus owed much of her early technique to Model's example. Model continued to teach until her death in New York City in 1983.
The Estate of Lisette Model is represented by Bruce Silverstein Gallery
, New York, NY.
"Lisette Model" - Galerie Fiolet, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photographer.
Lisette Model was born Elise Felic Amelie Stern in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria. Her father was an Italian/Austrian doctor of Jewish descent attached to the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army and, later, to the International Red Cross; her mother was French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
and Roman Catholic, and Model was baptised into her mother's faith. Two years after her birth, her parents changed their family name to Seybert. According to interview testimony from her older brother, she was sexually molested by her father, though the full extent of his abuse remains unclear.
She was primarily educated by a series of private tutors, achieving fluency in three languages. At age 19, she began studying music with composer Arnold Schönberg, and was familiar to members of his circle. "If ever in my life I had one teacher and one great influence, it was Schönberg," she said.
Model left Vienna for Paris after her father's death in 1924 to study voice with Polish soprano Marya Freund. It was during this period that she met her future husband, the French-Jewish painter Evsa Model. In 1933 she gave up music and recommitted herself to studying visual art, at first taking up painting as a student of Andre Lhote
André Lhote
André Lhote was a French sculptor and painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also very active and influential as a teacher and writer on art....
(whose other students included Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography...
and George Hoyningen-Huene
George Hoyningen-Huene
Baron George Hoyningen-Huene was a seminal fashion photographer of the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in Russia to Baltic German and American parents and spent his working life in France, England and the United States.-Europe:...
). She also took up photography, taking basic instruction in darkroom techniques from her younger sister Olga Seybert (herself a life-long professional photographer), although Parisian portrait photographer Rogi Andre was the person Model credited with providing her primary instruction in camera techniques.
Visiting her mother in Nice in 1934 (she and Olga had emigrated from Vienna several years prior), Model took her camera out on the Promenade des Anglais
Promenade des Anglais
The Promenade des Anglais is a celebrated promenade along the Mediterranean at Nice, France.-History:Before Nice was urbanized, the coast at Nice was just bordered by a deserted band of beach...
and made a series of portraits which are among her most widely reproduced and exhibited images. These close-cropped, often clandestine portraits of the local privileged class already bore what would become her signature style: close-up, unsentimental and unretouched expositions of vanity, insecurity and loneliness.
She married Evsa Model in 1937 and the following year they emigrated to join her husband's sister in Manhattan. There she supported herself as a photographer, having work published regularly in Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
by editors Carmel Snow
Carmel Snow
Carmel Snow was the influential editor of the American edition of Harper's Bazaar from 1934 to 1958 and, after her retirement, the chairman of the magazine's editorial board.-Family:...
and Alexey Brodovitch
Alexey Brodovitch
Alexey Brodovitch was a Russian-born photographer, designer and instructor who is most famous for his art direction of fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar from 1938 to 1958.- Early life in Russia :...
. Model eventually became a member of the New York 'Photo League,' which would host her first dedicated showing.
In 1951, Model was invited to teach at the New School for Social Research in New York City, where her longtime friend Berenice Abbott
Berenice Abbott
Berenice Abbott , born Bernice Abbott, was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white photography of New York City architecture and urban design of the 1930s.-Youth:...
was also teaching photography. Model's best known pupil was Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971) was an American photographer and writer noted for black-and-white square photographs of "deviant and marginal people or of people whose normality seems ugly or surreal." A friend said that Arbus said that she was "afraid.....
, who studied under her in 1957, and Arbus owed much of her early technique to Model's example. Model continued to teach until her death in New York City in 1983.
The Estate of Lisette Model is represented by Bruce Silverstein Gallery
Bruce Silverstein Gallery
Bruce Silverstein Gallery was established in 2001. Bruce Silverstein Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in the Chelsea Art District in New York City. The Gallery's main exhibition space is located at 535 West 24th Street with another location at 529 West 20th Street...
, New York, NY.
Chronology
- 1940 "Sixty Photographs: A Survey of Camera Esthetics" - Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, New York, NY
- 1941 "Lisette Model" - Photo League, New York, NY
- 1943 "Action Photography" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, "Photographs by Lisette Model" - Art Institute of Chicago
- 1944 "New Yorkers" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, "Art in Progress" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1946 "The Museum Collection of Photography" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1948 "A Survey of Today's Photography" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, "Fifty Photographs by Fifty Photographers" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1949 "Leading Photographers: Lisette Model" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1951 "Twelve Photographers" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1953 "Contemporary American Photography" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1954 "Great Photographers" - Limelight Gallery, New York, NY
- 1955 "The Family of Man" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1957 "70 Photographers Look at New York" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1958 "Photographs from the Museum Collection" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1960 "A Bid for Space" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1963 "A Bid for Space" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- 1965 Awarded Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
, "Invitational Exhibition, 10 American Photographers" - University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
- 1967 "Photography in the 20th Century" - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
- 1969 "The Camera and the Human Facade" - Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
- 1970 "The People Yes" - Floating Foundation of Photography, New York, NY
- 1972 "Brodovitch and His Influence" - Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
- 1973 "Threads and No Threads" - Floating Foundation of Photography, New York, NY
- 1974 "American Masters" - Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
- 1975 "Women of Photography: An Historical Survey" - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
- 1976 "The Photographer and the Artist" - Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY, "Lisette Model Photographs" - Sander Gallery, Washington D.C.
- 1977 "New York: the City and Its People" - A and A Gallery, Yale, New Haven, CN, "Appearances" - Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY, "Three-Woman Show: Diane Arbus, Lisette Model, Rosalind Solomon" - Galerie Zabriskie, Paris, France, "Photographs from the Collection of the Center for Creative Photography" - Center for Creative Photography, Carmel, CA, "Photographs from the Collection #1: America" - Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
- 1978 "New Standpoints: Photography 1940-1955" - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, "Photographic Crossroads: The Photo League" - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, "The Quality of Presence" - Lunn Gallery, Washington D.C., "How Photography Clicked" - Floating Foundation of Photography, New York, NY
- 1979 Monograph published by Aperture, "Lisette Model: Photographs" - Vision Gallery, Boston, MA, "August Sander, Lisette Model" - Port Washington Public Library, Port Washtington, NY
- 1980 Watari Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, Photographers Gallery, South Yarra, Australia, Ikona Gallery, Venice, Italy, "The Magical Eye: Definitions of Photography" - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
"Lisette Model" - Galerie Fiolet, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 1981, PPS Gallery, Hamburg, Germany, "Carl Siembab: A Photographic Patron" - Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, "Photography of the Fifties: An American Perspective" - Center for Creative Photography, Carmel, CA, "Lisette Model" - Galerie Viviane Esders, Paris, France, "Lisette Model: A Retrospective" - New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
- 1982 "Lisette Model" - Berner-Photo Galerie, Bern, Switzerland, "Lisette Model, A Retrospective" - Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
- 1983 Dies March 30 in New York. "Weegee, Lisette Model, Diane Arbus" - Comfort Gallery, Haverford, PA, "Lisette Model: A Celebration of Genius" - Parsons Exhibition Center, New York, NY, "Lisette Model" - Sander Gallery, New York, NY
- 1984 "Lisette Model/Evsa Model" - Ikona Gallery, Venice, Italy, "Lisette Model" - Jane Corkin Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 1985 "The New York School Photographs: Part One" - Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., "The New York School Photographs: Part Two" - Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., "Masters of the Street II" - Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
- 1987 "Vintage Women" - Photocollect, New York, NY
- 1988 "Lisette Model: Vintage Photographs" - Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York, NY
- 1989 "Noted Women Photographers of the 20s and 30s" - Jan Kesner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, "New York: Photography between the Wars" - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
- 1990 "Lisette Model" - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
- 1991 "Lisette Model" - International Center of Photography, New York, NY
- 1992 "Lisette Model: Photograhien, 1933-1983" - Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
- 1997 "Lisette Model: Selections from the Collection of the International Center of Photography" - Paine Webber Art Gallery, New York, NY
- 2000 "Lisette Model" - Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
- 2001 "Lisette Model" - Fotomuseum Winterthur, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2002 "Lisette Model" - Baudoin Lebon Gallery, Paris, France, "Lisette Model" - L'Espace 14-16 Verneuil, Paris, France
- 2003 "Lisette Model" - Maurice Keitelman, Paris, France"A Clear Vision: Photographic Works from the F. C. Gundlach Collection" - International House of Photography, Hamburg, Germany
- 2006 "The Streets of New York: American Photographs from the Collection, 1938-1958" - National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
- 2007 "Lisette Model and Her Successors" - Aperture Gallery, New York, NY
- 2010 "Lisette Model" - The Galerie nationale du Jeu de PaumeJeu de paumeJeu de paume is a ball-and-court game that originated in France. It was an indoor precursor of tennis played without racquets, though these were eventually introduced. It is a former Olympic sport, and has the oldest ongoing annual world championship in sport, first established over 250 years ago...
, Paris, France
Collections
- Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
- Albertina, Vienna, Austria
- The Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
- Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
- Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
- Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
- Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
- The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
- The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
- de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
- Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence KS
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Publications
- "Lisette Model" by Berenice AbbottBerenice AbbottBerenice Abbott , born Bernice Abbott, was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white photography of New York City architecture and urban design of the 1930s.-Youth:...
published 2007 by Aperture FoundationAperture FoundationThe Aperture Foundation was founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan, Dorothea Lange, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris, and Dody Warren. Their vision was to create a forum for fine art photography, a new concept at the time. The first issue of... - "Lisette Model" by Ann Thomas, published by the National Gallery of Canada to accompany an exhibition of Model's work which travelled the United States, Canada, and Germany during 1990–1992.