Dal Wolfe, Louise

Louise Emma Augusta Dahl was born November 19, 1895 in San Francisco , California , into a family of Norwegian immigrants . She was the youngest of three daughters. In 1914, Louise enrolled at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Institute of Fine Arts), where she studied design with Rudolf Schaeffer and painting with Frank Van Sloan (American artist, 1879-1938). Louise was enrolled in painting courses from life, anatomy , figure composition and others. In 1923, she studied design, decor, and architecture at Columbia University , New York .

In 1928, Louise married the sculptor Meyer Wolfe, who was the background designer of most of her works ^{[2] [3]} . She wanted to take her husband's surname, but later, in order to be different from photographers with the same name, Louise combined the surnames - “Dal-Wulf” ^[4] .

Dahl-Wulf is known for her photographs taken outdoors under natural (sunlight) lighting in various countries from South America to Africa . These photographs are called "environmental photos." Louise preferred portrait painting to fashion photography. She painted famous portraits from personalities such as May West , Cecil Beaton, Udora Welty , Whisten Hugh Auden , Christopher Isherwood , Orson Welles , Carson Mackalers , Edward Hopper , Colette and Josephine Baker . Louise is known for her involvement in the formation of a star such as Lauren Bacall , whom she photographed on the cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine in March 1943. Dal-Wolfe's favorite model was Mary Jane Russell, who, according to some estimates, captured about 30% of her photographs. ^{[5] [6]}

Louise had a great influence on photographers such as Irving Penn , Horst Paul Horst and Richard Avedon ^[4] . One of her assistants was fashion and celebrity photographer Milton Green ^[4] .

From 1933 to 1960, Louise worked at a New York photo studio , where she created ads and other items for various stores, including Bonwit Teller department stores and Saks Fifth Avenue shopping center. In 1936, Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of the American publication Harper's Bazaar , invited Dahl-Wulf to join the magazine as a personal fashion photographer. Louise accepted the offer and worked in the publication from 1936 to 1958, actively collaborating with Diana Vreeland ^[7] and traveling a lot. From 1958 until her retirement in 1960, Louise worked as a freelance photographer for magazines such as Vogue , Sports Illustrated, and other periodicals.

On December 11, 1989, she died of pneumonia in New Jersey . The last years of her life, Louise spent in Nashville , Tennessee . A complete archive of Louise Dahl-Wulf’s works is available at the Center for Creative Photography of the University of Arizona at Tucson ^[8] .

In 1999, Louise Dahl-Wolfe's career became the main theme of a documentary called Louise Dahl-Wolfe: Painting with Light . It presents the only surviving late shots and extensive interviews with Louise.

• "Women of Photography" at the Historical Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (1975);
• “The History of Fashion Photography” at the International Museum of Photography, at George Eastman’s House in Rochester ( New York ) (1977);
• "Recollections: Ten Women of Photography" at the International Museum of Photography, New York (1979);
• Portraits at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona , Tucson (1986).

Retrospectives included:

• Show at New York University's Gray Art Gallery (1983);
• Show at the Cheekwood Center for the Arts, Nashville , Tennessee (1984);
• "Louise Dahl-Wolfe: A Ninetieth Birthday" at the Museum of Modern Photography, Chicago (1985).

• Louise Dahl-Wolfe. A Photographer's Scrapbook. - 1st ed. - New York: St. Martin's / Marek, 1984. - 145 p. - ISBN 978-0312499112 .