Photographer of the Week: Eve Arnold
Eve Arnold (maiden name Cohen) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania April 21, 1912. She was one of nine children and first became interested in photography in 1946 at a photo-finishing plant working for Kodak in Fair Lawn New Jersey. Over six weeks in 1948, she learned photographic skills from Harper's Bazaar art director Alexey Brodovitch at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan. Eve primarily shot her photos with a Pentax camera using natural light, most of her work displayed exactly what she could do with the available light in her environments.
Eve Arnold started working for Magnum Photos in 1951 doing mostly freelance work, and became the first female member in 1957. Magnum's founders included Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa whom were considered the greatest reportage photographers of that era.
Her style is documentary photography with little to no emphasis on posing; capturing imperfect moments that emit true emotion and character of her subjects. One of her first books called " The Unretouched Woman"(1974), really showcased a lot of her attention to detail in the moment it was happening, naturally. This book really gave the world an expansive look into what it means to be a woman, through another woman's lens. Eve notoriously captured raw "aging moments" of actress Joan Crawford's life, as well as non famous subjects like nursing mothers out of England.
More infamously, Eve had the opportunity to work alongside Marilyn Monroe for several years, even traveling with her to be on set of a film called "The Misfits." Eve was able to capture Marilyn's true nature and expressions through this work, letting everyone get a glimpse into what life was really like as a famous Hollywood starlet.
Eve was also known for her ground breaking work covering the Civil Rights Movement. She captured delicate moments of the first non segregated schools, The Nation of Islam and Malcom X, along with the Nazi's of America, all portraying real historical events happening during the 50's and early 60's. Eve, being of Jewish descent, was brave enough to get up close and personal with a few of the NOA's men during a Black Muslims meeting held at The International Amphitheater in Chicago; Feb 25, 1962. She wrote that George Lincoln Rockwell, member and leader of the NOA told her "I'll make a bar of soap out of you", as she continued to shoot. She replied back with, "As long as it isn't a lampshade". In her photo essay she released later that year in Life Magazine she wrote about how men would also spit on her, as well as put cigarettes out on her sweaters while she was documenting these meetings. Can you imagine?
https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/politics/eve-arnolds-time-with-malcolm-x-and-the-nation-of-islam-in-her-own-words/
Despite all that work she had done, her real claim to fame was in 1979 when she had her first major solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. She received the National Book award for "In China" and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Magazine Photographers subsequently following. She travelled around 40,000 miles over a period of five months working in the countryside, city, and remote areas of inner Mongolia and Tibet capturing how life was actually lived.
In later years she received many honors and awards including being made a Fellow of The Royal Photographic Society, and elected Master Photographer by New York's International Center of Photography (the world's most prestigious photographic honor). She published twelve books, including one in which she received the Kraszna-Krausz Book Award in 1996. To top her list off, she was granted many honorary degrees by the University of Saint Andrews, Staffordshire University, and the American International University of London. As well as being appointed to the advisory committee of The National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television in Bradford, UK.
My favorite quote from Eve in a 1990 BBC interview," I don't see anybody as either ordinary or extraordinary, I see them as simply people in front of my lens." Eve was months short of her 100th birthday when she passed on January 4, 2012 at the age of 99.
SOURCES:
her first maEve Arnold • Photographer Profile •. (2020, May 5). Magnum Photos. https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/eve-arnold/
Eve Arnold/Magnum Photos. (2020Photograph: Eve Arnold/Magnum Photos. (2020, March 26). Eve Arnold’s most memorable shots – in pictures. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/jan/05/eve-arnold-memorable-photographs
, March 26). Eve Arnold’s most memorable shots – in pictures. The Guardian.
Eve Arnold. (2009, February 27). Jewish Women’s Archive.
Malcolm X: Photographs of the 1960s Activist and Leader by Eve Arnold. (2020, January 20). LIFE. https://www.life.com/history/malcolm-x-and-the-nation-of-islam-eve-arnolds-quietly-powerful-portraits/
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