listed. Model was interrogated by the F.B.I. in 1954,
as were many of her friends, employers, and neigh-
bors. Additionally, she continued to be cautious
about any current political affiliations that might
be perceived as subversive and thus connecting her
to far-leftist organizations. Perhaps as a result of
this scrutiny during this period, Lisette and her
husband experienced reduced employment oppor-
tunities; the couple was supported during the more
difficult financial times through the generosity of
friends Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Edward
Steichen, and Edward Weston.
Following closely the style she practiced in Eur-
ope, Model’s American photographs—a sometimes
ruthless indexing of human topology—received
quick recognition with exposure in museums, gal-
leries, and fashion magazines, and through the
Photo League. Model’s inspiration was drawn
from American glamour, window displays, jazz
clubs, and circus performers. Her subjects ranged
from the sublime to the non-idealized even gro-
tesque chosen from New York’s leisure world of
entertainment and shopping, including the Lower
East Side and Coney Island, where she caught one
of her most famous images—a rotund, exuberant
bather standing in a sumo-wrestler pose (Coney
Island Bather, New York, 1937–1941). Her lens
focused on people in every station of life, and her
photographs capture an eerie beauty with their
intuitive and uncompromising honesty.
Model’s portrait style features exaggerated
‘‘types’’ characterized by their high contrast, deep
shadows, often drastic cropping, and unusual per-
spectives. In herRunning Legsseries of shoppers on
New York’s Fifth Avenue, Model objectifies and
fragmentsthefigureassheallowsonlylegsand
feet within the camera frame. In another series titled
Reflections, Model photographed refractive images
of New York store windows, a body of images that
draws comparison to works by Euge`ne Atget. Other
subjects capturing her attention included the blind
realized in a 1944 seriesLighthouse, Blind Workshop
published byHarper’s, and jazz musicians, although
her intention to publish a book on jazz performers
was never realized.
Much of Model’s lasting contribution to the
field of photography came in the form of her
mentorship as an instructor. When her husband
took a teaching assignment in Northern California
in the late 1940s, Model likewise found an oppor-
tunity to teach photography at the San Francisco
Institute of Fine Arts in 1947. During this time,
Model met Ansel Adams, and the two photo-
graphed in Yosemite National Park together. In
1951, Model began teaching at the New York
School of Social Research, where she remained
on staff for 30 years (1951–1982). Beginning in
1954, her teaching methods evolved into a more
informal approach, but her notebooks outlining
her principles point to her firm, if eccentric, opi-
nions. Among her many students were Robert
Frank and Diane Arbus. Model’s influence on
Arbus was especially strong in demonstrating
how what might at first glance seem grotesque
can be rendered beautifully and sympathetically.
Model once described to her students the battle
she waged against complacency and ambition for
its own sake:
The thing that shocks me and which I really try to change
is the lukewarmness, the indifference, the kind of taking
pictures that really doesn’t matter....This kind of looking
for a good photograph or thetryingto self-express one-
self—you see self-expression but the motivation is not
something irresistibly important. It is something [which
is done] in order to make a career, to be proud of one’s
photographs, to become a great photographer, to become
famous....The so-called great photographers or great
artists...they don’t think so much about themselves. It is
what they have to say that is important.
(Thomas 1990)
MargaretDennySeealso:Abbott, Berenice; Adams, Ansel; Florence
Henri; Grossman, Sid; History of Photography: Post-
war Era; Look; Photo League; Steichen Edward;
Street Photography; Weston, EdwardBiography
Born in Vienna, Austria, November 10, 1901; naturalized
American citizen. Educated privately in Vienna; studied
music with Arnold Scho ̈enberg in Vienna; trained in
voice and music in Paris, 1920s. Self-taught in photo-
graphy from the early 1930s. Married painter Evsa
Model in Paris September 6, 1937; the couple immi-
grated to America, fall of 1938; Lisette naturalized in- Career in America: laboratory technicianPM
magazine, editor Ralph Steiner, 1940–1941; freelance
photographer, New York 1941–1953,Harper’s Bazaar,
Ladies Home Journal, Look, among others; independent
photographer 1953–1983. Recipient of awards: John
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, 1965; Hon-
orary Member, American Society of Magazine Photo-
graphers, 1968; Honored Photographer, Recontres
Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France, 1978.
D.F.A.; New School of Social Research, New York, - Died in New York City, March 30, 1983.
Individual Exhibitions
1941 Photo League; New York
1943 Art Institute of Chicago; Chicago, IllinoisMODEL, LISETTE