Women photographers
Following Britain's Linked Ring, which promoted artistic photography from the 1880s, Alfred Stieglitz encouraged several women to join the Photo-Secession movement which he founded in 1902 in support of so-called pictorialism.
While the work of the English and French gentlemen involved in developing and pioneering the process of photography is well documented, the part played by women in the early days tends to be given less attention.
[15] There was also Dorothea Lange who started off taking pictures of landscaping in 1939 and making it more popular then it was in the early 1900s then moved on to documenting photography where she has her most famous pieces such as the Migrant Mother .
While her commitment to soft focus was frequently criticized as technically deficient during her lifetime, it later formed the basis for the Pictorialism movement at the beginning of the 20th century and is now widely appreciated.
[25] In Italy, Virginia Oldoini, a mistress of Napoleon III, became interested in photography in 1856, recording the signature moments of her life in hundreds of self-portraits, often wearing theatrical costumes.
One example is Mrs. Elizabeth Beachbard[40] (born c.1822–1828, died 1861) who closed her studio in New Orleans at the onset of the American Civil War to photograph confederates at Camp Moore, Louisiana.
[46] Mary Devens (1857–1920) who experimented with printing techniques was like Käsebier elected a member of the British Linked Ring which has preceded Photo-Secession in promoting photography as an art form.
After gaining success with the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy, she opened a second studio in Paris together with her colleague Arthur Benda, dominating the society and fashion photography scene in the 1930s.
[71] In the early 1930s, Marvin Breckinridge Patterson (1905–2002) published her world travel photographs in Vogue, National Geographic, Look, Life, Town & Country, and Harper's Bazaar.
Her specialty was documenting from marginalized communities who were "away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes"[80] She had 18 publications produced, most notably Streetwise[81] that also became a documentary with Martin Bell and Ward 81.
Henriette Grindat (1923–1986) was one of the few Swiss women to develop an interest in artistic photography, associating with André Breton and later collaborating with Albert Camus, with whom she published images of the River Sorgue in the south of France.
[89] From the late 1940s, The Czech Emila Medková (1928–1985) began producing surrealistic works in 1947, above all remarkable documentary images of the urban environment in the oppressive post-war years.
[90] Though not strictly a Surrealist, the notable Mexican photographer Lola Álvarez Bravo (1907–1993) displayed elements of Surrealism throughout her career, especially in her portraits of Frida Kahlo and María Izquierdo.
[91] During her short life Francesca Woodman (1958–1981), influenced by André Breton and Man Ray, explored the relationship between the body and its surroundings often appearing partly hidden in her black-and-white prints.
[92] Noted for her experimental alternative-photography techniques and surrealistic imagery, Merry Moor Winnett (1951–1994) created a prolific body of work inspired by artists such as Jerry Uelsmann.
[97] Elizabeth Buehrmann from Chicago (c. 1886–1963) specialized in taking portraits of leading businessmen and prominent society women in their own homes at the beginning of the 20th century, becoming a member of the famous Paris Photo-Club in 1907.
The participation of African-American women in photography began to receive widespread acknowledgment in the mid-20th century and with growing recognition came a shift in focus on social, economic, and political conditions.
In his article "Coreen Simpson: An Interpretation", Rodger Birt describes looking at a photograph as being "let in on the workings of another human consciousness" allowing for the simultaneous opportunity to receive an authentic depiction of the physical world.
[95] During the second half of the 20the century, illustrated magazines such as National Geographic and photo books found growing world-wide audiences,[109] and some women photojournalists became famous through their work on exotic places and people.
Her work "frequently explores the resilience of communities enduring the rapidly shifting landscapes of Namibia", and she has produced a trilogy of books on the art of African women.
[116] Graciela Iturbide (born 1942) from Mexico has had numerous exhibitions and international recognition since the 1970s for her black-and-white photos of Mexican women, often depicting scenes from indigenous communities.
[118] While all women who worked as professional photographers were seen as defying gender norms, lesbians may have embraced the photography profession as a way to earn money without depending on men.
[124][page needed] In the United Kingdom the women's photographic agency Format was set up in 1983, from an idea conceived by Maggie Murray and Val Wilmer.
[125][126] Operating for two decades, until 2003, Format represented women photographers including Jackie Chapman, Anita Corbin, Melanie Friend, Sheila Gray, Paula Glassman, Judy Harrison, Pam Isherwood, Roshini Kempadoo, Jenny Mathews, Joanne O'Brien, Raissa Page, Brenda Prince, Ulrike Preuss, Mirium Reik, Karen Robinson, Paula Solloway, Mo Wilson and Lisa Woollett.
Annie Leibovitz captures arresting, usually posed, images of the famous and the unknown, publishing photographs for the covers of Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Rolling Stone, representing a broad survey of American popular culture.
[131][132] Some contemporary women photographers of note who were born in the 1950s and early 1960s include: Rineke Dijkstra, Nan Goldin, Jitka Hanzlová, An-My Lê, Vera Lutter, Sally Mann, Bettina Rheims, Ellen von Unwerth, JoAnn Verburg and Carrie Mae Weems.
Younger contemporary photographers (born in the early 1970s) include Lynsey Addario, Rinko Kawauchi, Hellen van Meene, Zanele Muholi, Viviane Sassen and Shirana Shahbazi.
[133] Some recent contemporary photographers include Petra Collins, Juno Calypso, Ilana Panich-Linsman, Delphine Fawundu, Shirin Neshat, Sophie Calle, Laura Aguilar and Genevieve Cadieux.
The first woman to receive the award was Virginia Schau (1915–1989), an amateur who photographed two men being rescued from a tractor trailer cab as it dangled from a bridge in Redding, California.
[135] In 2000, Marcia Reed (born 1948), the first female still photographer to join the International Cinematographers Guild also became the first women to win the Society of Operating Cameramen Lifetime Achievement Award for Still Photography in 2000.
