The Metropolitan Museum of Art

When Lillian Bassman submitted photographs like this one to Harper’s Bazaar, they came back with a warning...
“This is dangerous,” art director Alexey Brodovitch scrawled on one of the prints. Coming from Bassman's experimentally-minded mentor, the words had the ring of admiration. He allowed this work to run in the magazine, even though it more closely resembles illustration than anything made with a camera.
Bassman achieved this graphic effect in the darkroom by selectively exposing areas of the paper to light. Using a cardboard mask cut through with a pinhole, she traced the contours of the image. The results show silhouettes of the garment but leave much else to the imagination. 📣 See "Lillian Bassman: Bazaar and Beyond" on view at The Met through July 26.
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📸 Lillian Bassman, "Variant of 'The Yellow Smock Coat,'" 1950. Gelatin silver print with applied media. Gift of Lizzie and Eric Himmel, 2025 © Estate of Lillian Bassman