Lisette Model (Relié)

LISETTE MODEL (1901-1983) was born in Vienna and received her early training in music as a student of Arnold Schönberg. She moved to Paris in 1926 to continue her music and voice studios. By the early 1930's she had begun to paint, and in 1934 she began a series of photographs of the Promenade des Anglais on the French Riviera. In 1940, two years after moving to the United States with her husband, the painter Evsa Model, she applied for a job in the photographie laboratory at the weekly magazine P.M.
On reviewing her portfolio, picture editor Ralph Steiner recognized the outstanding quality of her photographs, and instead of hiring her to work in the darkroom, he published the Promenade des Anglais images. The series won her instant acclaim, and numerous exhibitions followed. In 1941 Model began a fifteen-year association as a freelance photographer with Harper's Bazaar. From 1951 to 1982 she taught at the New School for Social Research and conducted workshops and private classes.