In 2021, the world's top institutions began to explore and study more female artists.
Following Pompidou's exhibition of abstract women, in early July, "The New Woman Behind the Camera" opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The large-scale group exhibition, which focuses on women photographers, features 189 works by more than 120 artists from more than 20 countries and regions around the world, covering areas such as portraits, fashion, advertising, photojournalism and art experiments.
When it comes to female photographers, the artists in this exhibition have lived a much older age than the familiar Anne-Leibovitz, Nan Golding, Cindy Sherman, Vivian Meier, etc.
Selected photographers include: Berenice Abbott, Ilse Bing, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Florestine Perrault Collins, Imogen Cunningham, Madame d'Ora, Florence Henri, Elizaveta Ignatovich, Consuelo Kanaga, Germaine Krull, Dorothea Lange, Tsunade Sasamoto, Gerda Taro and Homai Vialawala, as well as the works of Picasso's former lover, Dora Marr, and the older generation of Chinese photography artist Niu Weiyu.
They were not only witnesses to the social changes of the 1920s and 1950s, but also agents of those changes.
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120 "New Women"
The first female war photographer, laid to rest on the battlefield
Female militiamen of the Spanish Republic are training on the beaches of Barcelona. Gerda Tarot in Spain, August 1936.
Image credit: nternational Center of Photography, New York
Gerda Tarot (1910-1937) is considered the first female war photographer. A staunch anti-fascist, she covered the Spanish Civil War with her lover and career partner Robert Capa. She is known for her unique style of female war photography, documenting a great deal of war images. Her photographs reveal the despair and pain experienced by soldiers on the front lines.
Tarot once filmed a training scene of a female militiaman of the Spanish Republic, a woman kneeling and shooting with a pistol, which later became one of her masterpieces.
Tarot was also the first female photographer to die on the battlefield. In 1937, Tarot was crushed to death by tanks while evacuating the Battle of Brunet, at the age of 26. It was not until the 1990s that people became aware of her contribution to Robert Capa, and there was a street in Leipzig named after her.
She filmed the Great Depression of the United States in the last century
Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) was a well-known American documentary photographer and photojournalist who photographed the Great Depression experienced in the United States in the 1920s, and this group of works also led to the rapid development of the genre of documentary photography.
Dorothea Lange, immigrant mother, 1936
Migrant Mother is Dorothea Langer's best-known work, and the portrait of a troubled peasant surrounded by three children is an iconic image representing the tragedy of the Great Depression. She made this photo while working for President Roosevelt's Resettlement Authority (later farm security authority). Langer was the first of 11 photographers to join the RA, a New Deal agency whose purpose is to document the plight of the rural poor and the government's efforts to help farmers in need.
Dorothea Lange, Alabama Plough Girl, 1936, gelatin silver print
Dorothea Langer's style is a highly focused, condensed and non-sensational lens expression, where there are no superfluous characters and scenes in the shot, and the direction of each line and the texture of each piece of skin are full of meaning. The images he creates reflect the courage and dignity of human beings, especially those in a state of humiliation and repression. Lange is often drawn to hands and feet, and these themes are both directed at the individual and represent larger themes of human suffering and endurance. This young woman, barefoot and dragging a mule whip to pick cotton, perfectly summed up the cruel serfdom of sharecroppers.
She invented the photographic machine and went to scientific photography
The American photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) became famous for his black-and-white photography of New York's streets and buildings in the 1930s. She also left immortal images for the Gay Community in Paris in the 1920s and new York in the 1930s and 1960s.
Abbott began shooting in 1923 and worked as an assistant to photographer Man Ray in Paris from 1923 to 1925, during which time she photographed portraits of the more famous writers and artists of the 20s, creating a series of memorable portraits. Among them, she met the photographer Eugene Ajet and helped him gain international recognition for his photographs.
Berenice Abbott (American, 1898–1991), Julian Levy, 1927, gelatin silver print
Julien Levy (1906–1981) was one of the most influential art dealers of the 20th century and a passionate advocate of surrealism, experimental film, and photography. His Julien Levy Gallery (1931–1949), which opened in Manhattan, played an important role in the transformation of cultural avant-garde from Paris to New York.
In 1929, Abbott's aesthetic changed and he began to use large cameras to photograph New York's architecture in greater detail. For five years, beginning in 1935, Abbott began a New York documentary series funded by the Federal Arts Program, producing hundreds of images of city monuments and buildings. Ninety-seven articles, including "Fifth Avenue Nos. 4, 6, and 8," were published in Changing New York (1939). Abbott's documentary photography exemplifies technological and social developments. Her photographs provide valuable historical information for many of manhattan's now-obsolete buildings and suburbs.
Berenice Abbott (American, 1898–1991), Fifth Avenue, Nos. 4, 6, 8, 1936, gelatin silver print
The title of the image tells us that "No. 8 was once home to art collections, and it was part of the original Metropolitan Museum of Art." ”
In 1944, Abbott became a photographic editor for Science Illustrated, and in September of the same year he took a stark, almost modern outline of the molecular structure of soap bubbles, one of the most impressive scientific photographs. In the later period, Abbott also experimented with magnetic and electrical methods through photography, inventing various photographic machines, including the "super-vision" camera, which she used and began to move towards scientific photography.
Queen of Leica: From soft Paris to serious New York
Selfie with a Leica Camera, Ilse Bing, 1931
Born into a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt, Llse Bing (1899-1998) was one of the few female photographers in the 1930s to use the most avant-garde 35mm portable Leica camera of the time, and was known as the "Queen of Leica". Her proficiency and unmatched control of Leica cameras gives her amazing freedom in shooting space.
In 1930, Bin moved to Paris and spent 10 years there, where she began one of the most compelling moments of her career. Paris in the 1930s was a feast for the visuals, and it was with joy that she described all kinds of beauty, creating images in the fields of photojournalism, architectural photography, advertising and fashion, which were published in major magazines, known for her pioneering photographic techniques, and was one of the first to use electronic flash, exposure negatives and night photography.
Bin used Leica to photograph the beauty of Paris at that time
In 1936, Bin's work was included in the first modern photographic exhibition at the Louvre. In 1937, she was invited to New York, where her work was included in the landmark exhibition "Photography 1839-1937" in the Museum of Modern Art. The famous selfie with Leica's camera is one of her most important images. The iconic selfie became a microcosm of an era: both a presentation of a new art form and a display of the spirit of the new era.
In 1940, after Paris was occupied by the Germans, she and her husband were deported for Jewish status and traveled to the United States for more than a year before 1941. After experiencing the changes in life brought about by the war, Bin's works have also undergone a clear transformation. The soft style of the 1930s work gives way to hard forms and clear lines, with a sense of seriousness and isolation.
Leaving her photographer husband, she became an independent photographer
Lola álvarez Bravo was one of the first women to lead Mexican photography to art. She is known for taking portraits and reporting photographs of celebrities like her friend Frida Kahlo, but more often than not by the aura of her more famous husband, photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo.
Manuel Alvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902–2002),Los Agachados,1931,明胶银印
Lola Alvarez Bravo, Frida Caro, circa 1945
He was Lola's mentor in photography and taught her many skills, but only wanted her to be his assistant. When Lola tried to explore her creativity and was unhappy with the marriage, the couple separated in 1934. After their divorce, Bravo retained his name and began to become a true independent photographer.
Lola Alvarez Bravo, "Pleasant", 1950, Silver Salt Photograph
Lola, who liked the unadorned naturalistic portrait style and violated the rules of women at the time, ventured out into the streets to photograph "real" Mexico. "If my pictures make any sense," she says, "it's that they represent a Mexico that once existed." "Her direct, uncompromising and passionate study of the Mexican people provides an important chapter in the history of photography, which represents both women's creativity and indelible themes.
At the age of 18, she built her first studio
Annemarie Heinrich was born in Germany in 1912. The shadow of World War I remained shrouded, and her father feared another war, so in 1926 the family moved to Argentina, South America. Before becoming a photographer, she apprenticed to photography, where she studied dance, music and scene. In 1930, at the age of 18, Heinrich built his first studio in Buenos Aires.
Annemarie Heinrich, Serge Lifar, "Rose Spirit," 1935, Gelatin Silver Plate, National Gallery of Art, Washington
In a collaboration with a prestigious Argentine magazine, she photographed international artists performing at the Columbus Theatre, and in this opportunity she used her extensive knowledge to photograph artists from all walks of life: film and radio stars, opera singers, ballet dancers and tango dancers. As a result, she also developed a new type of photography in Argentina: celebrity portraits. In the 1930s, between the First and Second World Wars, countries were caught in the shadow of war to varying degrees, and it was precious to have this awareness. It was from this point that she made the Argentine art of photography no less than the mature Hollywood image standards of the time.
Traditional Argentine painters preferred a soft, hazy style, but Heinrich's passion for set design, stage art, dance and theater made her photographs contrast with traditional fine art and became a pioneer in theatre and film set photography. She utilizes dramatic cinematographic effects, such as mimicking the audience's low perspective under the stage, and the halo effect of studio lights surrounding the face.
A rising star of surrealist photography delayed by Picasso
Many people think of Dora Maar (1907-1997) from Picasso's lover and muse, who was also a famous photographer and painter before meeting Picasso.
Dora Maar (France, Paris 1907–1997 Paris), The Boy With the Cat, 1934, Media: Gelatin Silver Print
From 1930 to 1934, Marr's cameras focused on the inhabitants of the streets of Paris and London, blending documentary and surreal models. Her photographs often focus on marginalized people, such as the poor or disabled, revealing her own political involvement. In this striking photo, a teenager with disheveled hair protectively holds a cat to his chest, his gaze challenging Maar's camera. The boy's expression and posture inject a striking psychological dimension into the encounter and composition.
Dora Maar (France, 1907–1997), Father Ubud, 1936, gelatin silver print
In 1936, when the young photographer socialized with the famous and elderly artist, she was a rising star in surrealist circles. Her photograph "Père Ubu" became a representative work of the movement after it was exhibited at the International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Gallery in London at the time.
Unfortunately, under the influence of Picasso, she eventually gave up photography. For years, only her muse was remembered as the inspiration for Picasso's iconic series The Weeping Woman.
She photographed women from all walks of life in New China
Niu Weiyu is one of the few female photographers in New China, Niu Weiyu in the early days of the founding of New China photographed a number of important female figures, such as: He Xiangning, Kang Tongbi, Yu Rongling, Zhao Qing, Zhang Quan, Sun Weishi, as well as the first March 8th Women's Day in New China, the first batch of female pilots in New China and other wide-ranging themes, more are still leaders in various industries.
Niu Weiyu, a handicraft group organized by shanghai merchants making Chinese dolls, 1956, post-print, gelatin silver plate
Shooting environmental portraits on the news scene is the most important feature of Niu Weiyu's shooting. The character is in an environment, a picture is worth a thousand words, and all the text descriptions are pale in front of the pictures.
What is a "new woman"?
The photographers in "The New Woman Behind the Camera" are just some of the many women in the world who are at the forefront of camera experimentation.
Their work reflects both their personal experiences and the extraordinary social and political changes of the early 20th century.
Together, they have undoubtedly changed the history of modern photography.
Behind this was the rise of the "New Women" movement in the 1920s.
Naviv Neller, São Januário Tram (early 1940s) National Gallery, Washington, D.C
In 1894, the Irish writer Sarah Grand published an article in the North American Review magazine "The New Face of Women's Problems", using the term "new women" for the first time to describe independent women who sought radical change, especially "a group of women born between 1850 and 1900 who were of similar social origin and educational experience".
Subsequently, the British and American writer Henry James (1843-1916) used it to describe feminism in Europe and the United States. In his early work, Portrait of a Lady, he portrayed the "new woman" Isabelle Archer, independent, courageous, imaginative, eager for freedom, daring to challenge fate. She does not see marriage as the only way out for women, and has an independent sense of autonomy.
With the addition of a large number of female writers at the end of the 19th century, the image of the "new woman" became more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In their pens, female artists, writers, and intellectuals incarnate as "rebellious muses," rebelling against social confinement while searching for a language of the new women themselves.
As a global phenomenon, the new women of the 1920s embodied the ideal of women's empowerment, based on the revolutionary changes that real women make in their lives and in the arts.
Mrs. Dora (1881–1963), Mariet Pachhof, 1921, Gelatin Silver Print, National Gallery of Art, Washington
On the other hand, women's participation in photography has a long history, dating back to the beginning of photography in the 19th century. It was only after world war I that women officially entered the field of photography. Thanks to advances in technology and mass communication, and the increasing number of people being trained and accepted for their presence in the workplace, it has left an indelible mark.
Inspired by the global phenomenon of the "new woman", the exhibition aims to re-evaluate the history of photography and advance new, more inclusive conversations about the contributions of women photographers. For the first time, the exhibition explores the subject from an international perspective, highlighting the innovative work of women photographers in studio portraiture, fashion and advertising, art experimentation, street photography, ethnography and photojournalism, and attempting to explore the contributions of women photographers to the history of photography and the feminist movement.
Although it has been a hundred years, "receiving a good education, having an independent career, enjoying economic autonomy, and advocating freedom of marriage" is still the goal of life pursued by women today.
(Note: The images and exhibition information in this article are from the official website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.) ）
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