Lisette Model, born in 1901 as Elise Amelie Felicie Stern in Vienna, is considered as one of the main figures of modern art photography. Her work influenced photographers such as Diane Arbus, Larry Fink or Nan Goldin. Galerie Berinson, in Berlin, has assembled rare photos from the photographer’s estate and offers now a wonderful exhibition.
In 1934 Model made her best-known photo series of the vacationers along Nice’s Promenade des Anglais, which in 1935 appeared in Regards a magazine of the Communist Party with a social-critical commentary. This series was criticized, but also brought immediate recognition.
In Nice she met the Russian painter Evsa Model, whom she married in 1936. Together they emigrated to the USA in 1938 where Model had contact with influential personalities such as Alexei Brodovitch, the art director of Harper’s Bazaar, or the photographers Ansel Adams and Berenice Abbott. In 1940 the Museum of Modern Art in New York bought the first photographs of Lisette Model and exhibited them in a group exhibition.
Until 1952 Model worked as a freelance press photographer, her works were regularly published in Harper’s Bazaar, Cue, PM Weekly or Cosmopolitan. She photographed in New York’s bars, hotels and luxury restaurants, on the beach of Coney Island, the streets of Paris and Nice as well as exclusive fashion shows. Also formalistic works such as the shop window reflections and running legs emerged. In 1952, she began a jazz photo series, portraying Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald among others. In the mid-1950s, Model turned away from active photography, when she came under suspicion of the American authorities for communist activities, preventing new commissions, and paralyzing her work.
Lisette Model
September 9 to December 2, 2017
Galerie Berinson
Schlüterstraße 28
D-10629 Berlin
Germany
