Alma Lavenson

Alma Ruth Lavenson (May 20, 1897 – September 19, 1989) was an American photographer active in the 1920s and 1930s, who was born in San Francisco and died in Piedmont, California.

She worked with and was a close friend of Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston and other photographic masters of the period.

[4] On April 22, 1922 Alma and her parents left for Europe on the Olympic covering the countries of France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Hungary, England, Belgium, and Germany.

[6] Lavenson's first published photograph, an image of Zion Canyon entitled The Light Beyond, appeared on the cover of Photo-Era magazine in December 1927.

She was included in an exhibition of photography "by members and associates of Group f.64" held at Gallery 210, Lucas Hall, University of Missouri, St. Louis, Apr.

She continued documenting the remains of the Gold Rush period for more than two decades, and her images are now noted both for their artistic beauty and as a record of a vanishing piece of the California landscape.

[12] Edward Steichen selected Lavenson's classical portrait study of a San Ildefonso Indian couple, made in 1941, for inclusion in the Museum of Modern Art exhibition The Family of Man that was visited by 9 million people on its world tour.

Lavenson’s Self-Portrait (with Hands) in 1996-1997 was fashioned into a huge banner and adorned the entrance to the New York Public Library’s exhibition on the history of women photographers.