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Lisette Model

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description Lisette Model Overview

Lisette Model was a photographer active primarily in the United States during the post-World War II era. Her distinctive style involved candid street portraits often capturing ordinary people in New York City. She is notable for her direct and empathetic approach to portraiture, anticipating developments in documentary photography that would later influence artists like Diane Arbus. Her work remains relevant for those interested in social observation and the representation of everyday life during a significant period of American history.

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How did Lisette Model influence Diane Arbus?

Lisette Model taught at the New School in New York, where Diane Arbus studied with her. Model's direct portraits and willingness to photograph unconventional subjects helped shape Arbus's later approach.

What are Lisette Model's most famous New York photographs?

Her New York work includes close, confrontational images of pedestrians, nightclub performers, and people on the Lower East Side and at Coney Island. Many were made after she moved to the United States in the late 1930s.

What was Lisette Model's Promenade des Anglais series?

Promenade des Anglais is a series Model made in Nice, France, showing wealthy people seated and strolling along the seaside promenade. The photographs are sharp social observations rather than flattering society portraits.

Why does Lisette Model matter in postwar photography?

Model helped push American photography toward more direct, psychologically intense street portraiture. Her teaching in New York influenced photographers including Diane Arbus, Larry Fink, and Rosalind Solomon.