Eve Arnold facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eve Arnold
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| Born |
Eve Cohen
April 21, 1912 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
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| Died | January 4, 2012 (aged 99) London, England
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| Occupation | Photojournalist |
| Spouse(s) | Arnold Arnold (divorced) 1 son, Frank |
Eve Arnold, OBE (honorary), FRPS (honorary) (born Eve Cohen; April 21, 1912 – January 4, 2012) was an American photojournalist. She lived in the United Kingdom for a long time. She joined the famous Magnum Photos agency in 1951. In 1957, she became a full member. She was the very first woman to join this important photography group.
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Early Life and Photography Career
Eve Arnold was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the fifth of nine children. Her parents were immigrants from Russia and were Jewish. Her father, William Cohen, was a rabbi. Eve's parents accepted her choice to study photography. She had first thought about studying medicine.
Starting Photography
Eve married Arnold Schmitz in 1941. He later changed his name to Arnold Arnold. Her interest in photography began in 1946. At that time, she worked for Kodak. She worked in their photo-finishing factory in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. She received a camera called a Rolleicord as a gift. With this camera, she started taking pictures of her city. She wanted to show the human side of life.
In 1948, she spent six weeks learning photography. She studied with Alexey Brodovitch. He was the art director for Harper's Bazaar magazine. She learned at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan.
Early Photo Projects
While studying with Brodovitch, she took many photos. These pictures showed the lively fashion shows in Harlem. This collection of photos was published in 1951. It appeared in a London magazine called Picture Post. This series helped start her career. However, she later wrote that the magazine editor changed her captions. This made the photos tell a different, unfair story.
After this, she became interested in African American migrant workers. These workers faced unfair housing treatment in Long Island. Eve Arnold wanted to show their struggles.
Joining Magnum Photos
Eve Arnold became the first woman to join the Magnum Agency. She became a full member in 1957. She spent time photographing important political events. This included the McCarthy hearings, which were about finding communists in America. She also explored the topic of birth.
Arnold knew that there were not many women photojournalists. She also thought about how women celebrities were seen by the public. She explored these ideas in her photo book The Unretouched Woman. This book was published in 1976.
Photographing Famous People
Eve Arnold's photos of Marilyn Monroe are very famous. She took these pictures on the set of the movie The Misfits (1961). But she had been photographing Monroe since 1951. Her photos were very personal and natural. They showed Monroe's worries about being constantly watched by the media.
Arnold became friends with many of her subjects. This included Marilyn Monroe and Joan Crawford. Being friends helped her to write about them and photograph them better. Some of her never-before-seen photos of Monroe were shown in London in 2005.
Travel and Global Stories
Traveling was a big part of Arnold's work. She was interested in photographing the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. She also covered the Black Power movement. These movements were about fighting for equal rights. She also traveled to the strict Soviet Union and to China.
Arnold always wanted to go deeper with her photography. She wanted to show the truth. She even made a film in 1971 called Women Behind the Veil. This film focused on women's lives in Arabian harems and hammams.
She also photographed other famous people. These included Queen Elizabeth II, Malcolm X, Marlene Dietrich, and Joan Crawford. She traveled all over the world. She took pictures in China, Russia, South Africa, and Afghanistan.
Moving to England
In the early 1970s, Arnold moved to England permanently. She moved there with her son, Francis Arnold. Many of her famous photographs were published in big magazines. These included Look, Life, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Geo, Stern, Paris-Match, and Epoca.
While working for the London Sunday Times, she started using color photography. However, she still preferred black and white photos. She took both glamorous pictures of movie stars and photos of everyday life. She found it challenging to make ordinary things interesting.
Arnold was always interested in "the poor, the old, the underdog." Her photos showed the gentle, real side of people. She built trust with her subjects. This trust is clear in her photos, which often used natural light and simple poses.
Later Life and Recognition
In 1980, Eve Arnold had her first solo exhibition. This show featured her photos from China. It was held at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. In the same year, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was from the American Society of Media Photographers.
In 1993, she became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. She was also named a Master Photographer by New York's International Center of Photography. Arnold was one of only five women in a special exhibition called Magna Brava. She wanted to photograph the Vietnam War but was not allowed. Instead, she photographed shantytowns in South Africa. This work also showed the unfairness in the world.
In 1960, Arnold took a series of portraits of American First Ladies. These included Jackie Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, and Pat Nixon. In 1997, she joined the Advisory Committee of the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire. In 2003, she was given an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
She lived in Mayfair, London, for many years. When she became ill, she moved to a nursing home. When asked if she was still taking photos, Arnold said she could no longer hold a camera. She spent most of her time reading books by authors like Fyodor Dostoevsky, Thomas Mann, and Leo Tolstoy.
One of her last photos was of her grandson in 1994. He came to visit her for a photography lesson. In her diary, she wrote about the special connection between the photographer, the person being photographed, and the camera. She always believed in simple photos with natural light and no fancy poses. She summed up her driving force with one word: "curiosity." A friend described her career as "a one-woman cultural exchange."
Death
Eve Arnold passed away in London on January 4, 2012. She was 99 years old, just three months before her 100th birthday.
Selected Works
Photographs
- Fashion Show, behind the scenes, 1950
- Marilyn Monroe, 1960
- Jacqueline Kennedy arranging flowers with daughter Caroline, 1961
- Horse Training for the Militia in Inner Mongolia, 1979
Books
- The Unretouched Woman, 1976
- Flashback: The 50s, Knopf, 1978
- In China, Knopf, 1980
- In America, Knopf, 1983
- The Making of the White Nights, 1985
- Marilyn Monroe: An Appreciation, Knopf, 1987
- All in a Day's Work, Bantam, 1989
- The Great British, Knopf, 1991
- In Retrospect, Knopf, 1995
- Film Journal, Bloomsbury, 2002
- Handbook, 2005
- Marilyn Monroe, 2005
- Eve Arnold's People, 2010
- All About Eve, 2012
Awards
- Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 1997
- Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters, Staffordshire University
- Doctor of Humanities, Richmond, the American International University in London
- Master Photographer, International Center of Photography, NYC
- Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the British Government
- Lifetime Achievement Award, the Sony World Photography Awards, 2010
- National Book Award for In China, 1980
Images for kids
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Eve Arnold
See also
In Spanish: Eve Arnold para niños
