photographer in Brassai photo?

samcomet

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I bought a nice book of Brassai's works called "Brassai in America". The book suggests that photos included came from his trip to America in about 1957 -ish for his MOMA exhibition in New York. There is one photograph of a couple on the street with a well dressed woman holding a 2 ¼ TLR in the background. She has on a hat and gloves and is wearing her coat fashionably over her shoulders and not with her arms in the sleeves. Does anyone have any idea of who this woman photographer may be? I initially thought of Vivian Maier but I have never seen her self portraits with gloves. Plus the photographer is holding the Rollie (I think) quite close to her face. Judging from the angles of most of Maier's work that I have seen I fell that she held the camera at about waist level. I also thought of Louise Dahl Wolfe who was a fashion photographer of the time and evidently quite fashionable herself. Helen Levitt also came to mind but I think that she was not so fashion conscious as this photo seems to suggest...... Any thoughts anyone??? Cheers, Sam
 

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Vilk

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yaaa, i have a thought - each time you see a guy with a nikon, please think vilk

with every passing year i need immortality more and more...

 

Richard S. (rich815)

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Maybe I'm wrong but first look it appears quite small and I thought it might be a 4x4 "baby" TLR...
 
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samcomet

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G'day Richard,

Had a look around the Rollie Club's site and could not find a baby 4 x 4 with those 3 silver nodules that seem to glow on the top and sides of the front facing viewfinder cover in the pic ......... Thanks though for the thoughts! cheers, Sam
 

Richard S. (rich815)

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I specifically did not say baby Rollei. There was about 10 types of 4x4 127 film TLRs made around then:

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Japanese_4x4_TLR
 
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samcomet

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Too true, too true. However the shape of the nameplate above the lens and the lack of logo on the front of the viewfinder cover and the "other" shiny bits leads me to think that this was in fact a Rollie. I have just parsed the pics on your link and most of the "items of interest" do not align themselves with the original pic. I am always happy to be wrong in this respect but I am really wondering if anyone knows who the photographer is and not what camera she is using - with all due respect. Thanks mate and cheers! Sam
 

Xmas

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Unless she was famous you are going to be out of luck. In 57 I had a127 Brownie but unlikely to be recognised today.
 

Ian Grant

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There's one famous US born female photographer who knew Brassai from Paris before WWII, Lee Miller, and she used a Rolleiflex. By then she was Lady Penrose. So she's a possibility and very elegant, a former Vogue model who'd lived with Man Ray for a while.

Ian
 

pdeeh

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that doesn't look like Lee Miller to me, plus she was mostly in England and France in the late '50s
 

Ian Grant

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pdeeh said:
that doesn't look like Lee Miller to me, plus she was mostly in England and France in the late '50s
Click to expand...

I'd agree it doesn't particularly look like Lee miller but as I stated she knew Brassai. A stronger possibility could be another Rolleiflex user Eve Arnold based in New York at that time before she moved to Britain.

Ian
 

mnemosyne

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Must be Vivian Meyer, then. Just a question of time until a shot showing Brassai shooting back at her turns up in the archives ...
 
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samcomet

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G'day all!!!

Thanks for all of your thoughts and some of the jokes as well!!! Most appreciated. FWIW I think that I am going to go with the idea that the girl in the photo is Eve Arnold. I have a self portrait of here side by side with the Brassai pic and after reversing the Arnold pic (it was shot in a mirror) she seems to look a bit like the Brassai subject. Also all the anecdotal evidence seems to point to her being in the right place at the right time, as well as being "fashionable" too. Anyway I'll go with that ............ I really was hoping to have discovered a previously unknown snap of the mysterious Meier but well I guess it's not this photo after all.

As well @ AgX I have not seen the mysterious photo of Brassai at all, in my investigations - only one of him standing behind a MF camera on a tripod at night quite near to his studio in Paris while a cigar dangles precariously from his mouth!!! Maybe one day it might emerge.....

Anyway thanks all once again for your thoughts!

Cheers,
Sam
 

benjiboy

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It definitely isn't Lee Miller, It's Eve Arnold when she was a young woman for my money.
 

miha

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Bunny Yeager.
 

Regular Rod

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benjiboy said:
Vivian Maier was children's nanny in Chicago, and wasn't a pro, the picture was shot in New York.
Click to expand...

Dead Link Removed

I think she worked wheresoever she found herself...

Compare the photographs, see the nose? See the eyebrows?

I'd gladly put a fiver on it.

RR
 

Richard S. (rich815)

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Regular Rod said:
Dead Link Removed

I think she worked wheresoever she found herself...

Compare the photographs, see the nose? See the eyebrows?

I'd gladly put a fiver on it.

RR
Click to expand...

I disagree. That person looks to be dressed, as in her gloves, hair, etc in a style much more fancy than every photo I've seen of Vivian Meyer. Meyer much more dour.
 

Regular Rod

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It was normal in those days for ladies visiting places to dress in that manner, to make an effort. I think it's very credible that she would dress up for going to New York for a special trip. I think she probably had her camera with her no matter what she was wearing...

She was born in New York.


RR
 
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cliveh

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Could it be Jane Bown?
 

lxdude

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What I am amazed at is that two photographers were present at the exact moment that a small thermonuclear device detonated on top of a woman's head.
 
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