Lillian’s Secret
Bassman applied the tissue-paper-diffusion and bleaching techniques to this image, creating striking tonalities. “We had three, four, five darkrooms in our home. Wherever she was, she would build a darkroom within a week. She had no problem converting bathrooms into darkrooms, wherever there was water,” says Himmel. Bassman and her husband (also a photographer) worked at a young age with an enlarger made from a coffee can, constructed by Himmel’s grandfather.
An advertisement for Warner’s Merry Widow, circa 1954.
“Her first love was printing,” says Himmel. Her mother saw the darkroom as her playground, a place where rules could be broken in order to carry out her vision. Later in life—in her 80s, in fact—Bassman embraced the digital darkroom as well, viewing PhotoShop and ink-jet printers as new tools. “My mother would mix the ink cartridges to get a color she liked. She just thought, Why not try anything?” This was the last print Bassman ever worked on, re-inventing a neutral-toned image as a high-contrast study.
Betty Beihn: Nude I, 2012.
The background of this print is bleached and burned, complementing Bassman’s attention to the figure lines. During the last five years of her life, Bassman focused more on printmaking than on photographing, although this print is one of the least reworked of her later period. “[Computer or darkroom], she liked all of it,” said Hillman. “Not only working on it but the end result of it.”
The Mold of the Princesse, 1954; lingerie by Lily of France. The photograph appeared in the March 1954 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
Although she would later rework this process with digital tools, Bassman originally printed this image using the tissue-paper technique for diffusion. She also employed a bleaching technique in which she applied agents like potassium cyanide to a print, selectively brightening certain areas.
Circa 1950.
“The straight picture is of the model sitting in a chair, and there is no background,” says Himmel. “My mother had no fear of saying, ‘I’m going to shoot it this way, but I want to do this later,’ especially as she didn’t want to lose the line of the body in that moment by focusing on the quality of the background, because she knew she could do it later.” This background was later added using digital alteration.
The Line Lengthens, 1955; lingerie by Lily of France.
Bassman, often photographing subjects alone early in her career, had a disarming ability with her female lingerie models. She elicited a calm naturalness by discussing the subjects’ lovers, husbands, and babies during their sittings. The Roliflex camera was one of her favorites, because of the three-dimensional quality of the images captured by its twin lens—but she often took a Hasselblad with her to sittings as well. The latter’s pre-film-loaded-interchangeable-backs allowed for fewer interruptions for film reloading.
Silo, Bra and Panties, 1948; an advertisement for Firestone Contro elastic yarn.
An alternate version was originally printed for lingerie company Peter Pan’s advertisements, but Bassman reworked the image later using digital tools, shown here.
An unknown model wears an “all-in-one” Basque Slip by Peter Pan, 1955. An alternate version was published in an ad for the lingerie-maker.
Martin Harrison once described Bassman as a “medieval alchemist,” as she was always experimenting with new chemistry techniques and treatments. For this print, Bassman used “solarization”—a process where the paper is re-exposed to light after partial chemical development.
Spider Legs, mid-1960s.
“She knew exactly where she wanted the light,” says Himmel. This image was edge-lit to illuminate the model’s silhouette. Bassman experimented not only with darkroom chemistry but also with the mechanics of a camera. One of her favorites to work with was an 8x10 Deardorff camera, and she would take out parts of the front lens to create softness in the capture, like she did with this image.
Lighter Girdles, Rounder Curves, 1948; model Margie Cato in a bra and girdle by Warner’s. The photograph appeared in Harper’s Bazaar.
Bassman created softness in this image by diffusing it during printing. She placed tissue paper that had a hole in it over the print during exposure. Another one of her favorite diffusion methods involved cigarettes; she’d blow the smoke over prints as they were exposed to light, creating a translucent obstruction for the light to pass through. “My mother wouldn’t let the assistants clean the smoke buildup on the enlarger lenses—she thought it helped create an iridescence in prints.”
*It’s a Cinch, *1951; model Carmen wears lingerie by Warner’s.
Originally a color negative, Bassman turned this into a black-and-white image, while also digitally adding the moon shape to the background.
Shaped and Supple, 1954; model Alicia Mendoza in a corselet by Warner’s. An alternate version was published in the October 1954 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
Bassman loved a day spent with a great model, and the sentiment was mutual. “Carmen [the model seen here] would always say, ‘I never wanted the day to end,’” says Himmel. Using a refined bleaching technique, by applying potassium cyanide to particular areas of this print, Bassman carefully reconstructed Carmen’s lips, brow line, and eye to create dramatic contrast. She also “burned” the left side of the face—a process in which an area of the print is given a longer exposure to light to darken it.
Model Carmen, early 1950s.
Another image for Peter Pan, later reimagined and manipulated on a computer.
A second photograph of the Basque Slip, 1955.
