Eve Arnold, globetrotter and photojournalist perhaps most known for her portraits of Marilyn Monroe, died last week at the age of 99, according to a Magnum photo agency spokesperson. Arnold died peacefully in her sleep in a London retirement home, added Fiona Rogers. Born in 1912 in Philadelphia to Russian parents, Eve Arnold worked for publications like Life magazine before joining Magnum in the 1950s.
Close friend of Eve Arnold and former Director of Magnum, Jimmy Fox, wrote this text:
“The last couple of days I was dealing with Brigitte Lardinois of the former Magnum London office as I am working on an article related to Magnum photographers and their coverage of China, and since I had worked with Eve on her editing,and the distribution of her work ,although I have been retired for the past 11 years , I still participate in projects when they relate to the work I had done at Magnum. Brigitte was in contact with Eve’s assistant who had an unusual name like Linnie and that I had once met at Eve’s London flat. Brigitte yesterday morning phoned me to say that Eve had passed away the night before.
Eve, who I had initially met when I started working in the Magnum NY office in 1966, and I had remained constant friends in and out of the office, . In my most recent undertaking, the work I was doing related to Eve Arnold’s work in China, where she had fallen sick while on assignment.
It was always a pleasure to work with women photographers at Magnum, they were all very polite, efficient, and grateful for the many hours I spent editing their images before we sent them out around the world using the fastest methods available at the time well before the digital age. Eve had, at all times, an enormous gratitude towards those assisting her. Although she demanded rapidity and efficiency, she never raised her tone. She applied the same manners to her own work as well as with the Editors and staff members of the London Sunday Times Magazine supplement, who also respected her as a very fine lady.
Photojournalism is changing. Gone is the rushing around – getting unprocessed films from airports. But the vision and compassion of the photographers remain, and they always bring back memorable stories. Eve was certainly a Grande Dame. I greatly enjoyed working with her all those years, listening to her telling me more about her images – be it of movie stars or politicians. Eve might have been a short lady but to me she ‘walked tall’.”
Jimmy Fox
