[Harper's Bazaar Cover Maquette]
Testing ideas for a cover design, Bassman reworked the face of a favorite model. Carmen Dell’Orefice’s eyes were shaded and lined, then papered over with tissues and text. This additive approach followed a subtractive one in the darkroom, in which Bassman eliminated all but her subject’s essential contours through selective exposure and applications of bleach. Nipping and tucking along cheeks and brows, she outlined a fresh face fit for print. Though this cover never ran, Bassman's series of drafts reveal her iterative process as if in real time.
Artwork Details
- Title: [Harper's Bazaar Cover Maquette]
- Artist: Lillian Bassman (American, Brooklyn, New York 1917–2012 New York)
- Date: 1949
- Medium: Gelatin silver print with collaged elements and applied media
- Dimensions: 13 × 9 1/2 in. (33 × 24.1 cm)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Gift of Lizzie and Eric Himmel, 2025
- Object Number: 2025.889.16
- Rights and Reproduction: © Estate of Lillian Bassman
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Lillian Bassman (American, Brooklyn, New York 1917–2012 New York)
1950
Lillian Bassman (American, Brooklyn, New York 1917–2012 New York)
1949
Lillian Bassman (American, Brooklyn, New York 1917–2012 New York)
1952
Lillian Bassman (American, Brooklyn, New York 1917–2012 New York)
ca. 1950
Lillian Bassman (American, Brooklyn, New York 1917–2012 New York)
1951
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