Toni Frissell
Handy Ellen et al., Reflections in a Glass Eye, exh. cat., International Center of Photography, New York (3 November 2000 – 31 December 2000), New York, Bulfinch Press, 2000
→Frissell, Toni, Photographs 1933-67, Deutsch, 1994
American photographer.
Toni Frissell started her career as a fashion and portrait photographer, marking both genres with a naturalistic approach set within meticulous compositions full of narrative potential. As a board member of Vogue in the 1930s, she innovated by taking her female models outdoors to create scenes that highlighted their attitude rather than their outfits. She collaborated early on with Cecil Beaton and Edward Steichen, and shared their vision of depicting celebrities beyond the veil of appearances. However, her range was much wider than theirs, especially in the field of photo essays. After volunteering as an independent photographer for the Red Cross during World War II, she worked for the US Airforce and Women’s Army Corps.
© Éditions des femmes – Antoinette Fouque, 2013
© Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, 2017
Toni Frissell, Abandoned boy holding a stuffed toy animal amid ruins following German aerial bombing of London, 1945, photograph, unknown dimensions, © Toni Frissell Collection (Library of Congress), Washington
