In 1941, at age twenty-four, the American artist Lillian Bassman (1917–2012) took a design job at Harper’s Bazaar, where a group of artists and editors were reimagining how the magazine should look. With them, she helped introduce an avant-garde sensibility to the American newsstand, advancing new possibilities for photography in print. Bassman started making images so abstract that you could barely see the clothes—products of darkroom distortion, achieved with tissues, brushes, and bleach.
Using recordings of the artist in the New York City home studio alongside vintage prints, collages, and maquettes, this film offers a rare look into the life and work of the artist in her own words.
Lillian Bassman: Bazaar and Beyond is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue through July 26, 2026.
