This is a timeline of women in photography tracing the major contributions women have made to both the development of photography and the outstanding photographs they have created over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
Early 19th-century pioneers edit
1839 edit
Sarah Anne Bright (1793–1866) produces what is possibly the earliest surviving photographic image taken by a woman.[1]- Constance Fox Talbot (1811–1880), wife of the inventor Henry Fox Talbot, experiments with the process of photography, possibly becoming the first woman to take a photograph.[2]
1842 edit
Franziska Möllinger (1817–1880) becomes the first female photographer in Switzerland, taking daguerreotypes of Swiss scenes which she publishes as lithographs in 1844.[3]
1843 edit
- Anna Atkins (1799–1871), also a friend of Henry Fox Talbot, publishes Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, the first book with photographic illustrations.[4]
Bertha Beckmann (1815–1901), opens a studio with her husband in Leipzig, running the business herself from his death in 1847.[5]
1844 edit
Jessie Mann (1805–1867) takes a photograph of the King of Saxony, probably becoming the first woman photographer in Scotland.[6]
1845 edit
Brita Sofia Hesselius (1801–1866) makes daguerreotypes in her photographic studio in Karlstad, moving her studio to Stockholm in 1857.[7]
1847 edit
Geneviève Élisabeth Disdéri (c.1817–1878) assists her husband André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri in their Brest studio, later operating the business alone.[8]
1848 edit
Sarah Louise Judd (1802–c.1881) makes daguerreotypes in spring 1848, continuing for two years in Stillwater, Minnesota.[9]
1849 edit
Elise L'Heureux (1827–1896), together with her husband, sets up a daguerreotype studio in Quebec City, taking over the business in 1865.[10]
-
Sarah Anne Bright's Quillan Leaf (1839) -
Anna Atkins' photogram of Algae (1843) -
Franziska Möllinger's daguerreotype of Thun Castle (c.1844) -
Geneviève Élisabeth Disdéri's Interior of St Mathieu (1869)
Later 19th century edit
1850 edit
- Julia Shannon (c. 1812 – c. 1852), the first known woman photographer in California, advertises her work with daguerreotypes in 1850.
Thora Hallager (1821–1884) begins making daguerreotypes in Copenhagen, opening her own studio around 1857.[11]
1852 edit
- Emilie Bieber (1810–1884) opens a daguerreotype studio in Hamburg.[12]
- Marie Kinnberg opens a daguerreotype studio in Gothenburg.[13]
1854 edit
- Caroline Emily Nevill (1829–1887) and her sisters Henrietta (1830–1912) and Isabel (1831–1915) exhibit at the London Photographic Society.[14]
1856 edit
Virginia Oldoini (1837–1899) began taking photographs, mainly of herself in theatrical costumes.[15]- Julia Ann Rudolph (also known as Julia Ann Swift and Julia Ann Raymond; c. 1820–1890) sets up her own photography studio in Nevada City, California.
1857 edit
- Lady Clementina Hawarden (1822–1865) begins photographing in Ireland, later setting up her own private studio in London where she produced some 800 albumen prints.[16]
1863 edit
Emma Kirchner (1830 – 1909) sets up as the first woman photographer in her studio in Delft, Netherlands.[17]
1864 edit
- Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879) begins taking photographs, becoming famous for her portraits of celebrities.[18]
- Louise Thomsen (1823–1907) establishes a business in Hellebæk near Helsingør.[19]
1867 edit
Elizabeth Pulman (1836–1900) assists her husband in his Auckland studio, taking over the business on his death in 1871.[20]
1869 edit
- Thora Hallager photographs Hans Christian Andersen.[11]
1871 edit
Adelaide Conroy was operating from 56, Strada Stretta, Valletta, Malta, until mid 1879 specialising mostly in carte de visite and albumen print.[21]
1876 edit
- Frederikke Federspiel (1839–1913) is the first woman in Denmark to obtain a licence to trade in photography.[22]
1880s edit
- Mollie Fly (1847–1925) ran a photo studio from the 1880s to the early 1910s in Tombstone, Arizona.
1881 edit
- Geraldine Moodie (1854–1945) establishes a studio in Battleford, Saskatchewan. She was later commissioned to create photographic records of western Canada.[23]
1888 edit
- Mary Steen (1856–1939) becomes Denmark's first female court photographer.[24]
1890 edit
- Sarah J. Eddy (1851–1945) begins exhibiting photographs. Her most important exhibitions were at the New School of American Photography and the selection of American Women photographers at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900.[25]
1894 edit
- Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952) becomes the first woman to open a studio in Washington, D.C.[26]
1895 edit
- Julie Laurberg (1856–1925) opens a large successful photography business in Copenhagen's Magasin du Nord where she employed many women. Supported women's professional participation in photography.[27]
1896 edit
Harriett Brims (1864–1939) opens a studio in Ingham, Queensland, working as a professional photographer for 16 years.[28]
1899 edit
- Laura Adams Armer becomes active as a photographer in San Francisco photographing Chinatown and other areas of interest.[29]
-
Viscountess Hawarden's daughter Clementina Maude (1863) -
Julia Margaret Cameron's portrait of her daughter Annie (1864) -
Thora Hallager's portrait of Hans Christian Andersen (1869) -
Emilie Bieber's Quatuor Florentin (c.1875) -
Elizabeth Pulman's portrait of Rewi Manga Maniapoto (1879) -
Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione self portrait (1895) -
Mary Steen's photograph of Queen Victoria and Princess Beatrice (1895)
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Early 20th century edit
1900 edit
- Gertrude Käsebier (1852–1934) sold prints of her 1899 photograph "The Manger" (a portrait of fellow photographer Frances W. Delehanty) for $100, "the highest price ever paid for a photograph" to that time.[30]
1901 edit
- Ladies' Home Journal featured a series of articles, "The Foremost Women Photographers in America", edited by Frances Benjamin Johnston and including Gertrude Käsebier (May), Mathilde Weil (June), The Allen Sisters (July), Emma J. Farnsworth (August), Eva Watson-Schütze (October), Zaida Ben-Yusuf (November), and Elizabeth Brownell (January 1902).[31]
1903 edit
- Sarah Acland is taking colour photos whilst on holiday in Gibraltar.[32]
- Christina Broom (1862–1939) starts selling photographs as postcards, later becoming the first female press photographer.[33]
1906 edit
Signe Brander (1869–1942) is charged by the City of Helsinki to document photographically the changing face of the city.[34]
1907 edit
Dora Kallmus (1881–1963) establishes a fashion studio in Vienna, later creating portraits of celebrities.[35]
1909 edit
- The Women's Federation of the Photographers Association of America holds its organizational meeting in Rochester, New York, with Mary Carnell as its first president.[36]
1913 edit
- Margaret Watkins (1884–1969) works as an assistant in a Boston studio, opening her own business in New York City in 1920.[37]
1915 edit
- Katherine Russell Bleecker (1893–1996) makes three films about prison reform this year, using her own cameras. She is sometimes credited as the first professional camerawoman in American film.[38]
1916 edit
- Trude Fleischmann (1895–1990) embarks on her career as a professional photographer, creating outstanding portraits of intellectuals and artists.[39]
1917 edit
Naciye Suman (1881–1973) creates a studio in Istanbul, becoming Turkey's first female photographer.[40]
1920s edit
Marie al-Khazen (1899–1983) was a Lebanese photographer active in the 1920s; the photographs she created are considered to constitute a valuable and unique record of their time and place.[41]- Elise Forrest Harleston (February 8, 1891 – 1970) was an early African-American photographer who set up a studio in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1922 that lasted into the early 1930s.
- Ruth Matilda Anderson (1893 – 1983), a graduate of the Clarence H. White School of Photography, starts taking more than 14.000 documentary photographs of rural life in early 20th-century Spain for the Hispanic Society of America. Her work has found appreciation after her death in exhibitions and catalogs.[42]
1925 edit
- Ruth Harriet Louise (1903–1940) is hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to run their portrait studio, becoming the first female photographer to be active in Hollywood.[43]
1928 edit
- Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971) opens a studio in Cleveland, Ohio, becoming a photojournalist in 1929.[44]
1932 edit
Ylla (1911–1955) begins photographing animals, later becoming recognized as the world's most proficient animal photographer.[45][46]
1936 edit
- Ilse Bing (1899–1998) creates monochrome images which are exhibited at the Louvre and New York's Museum of Modern Art.[47]
- Gerda Taro (1910–1937) is killed while covering the Spanish Civil War, becoming the first woman photojournalist to have died while working on the frontline.[48]
1939 edit
Homai Vyarawalla begins contributing to The Illustrated Weekly of India, developing a career as India's first female press photographer.[49]- Berenice Abbott publishes her work of bird's eye and worm's eye view photographs of New York City in Changing New York.[50]
1940s edit
Tsuneko Sasamoto (born 1914) joins the Japanese Photographic Society in 1940, becoming Japan's first woman photojournalist.[51]- Carlotta Corpron (December 9, 1901 – April 17, 1988) begins making the "light drawings" that establish her as a pioneer of American abstract photography.
1941 edit
- Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971) becomes the first female war correspondent.[44]
- Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) is awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.[52]
1945 edit
- Marion Carpenter (1920–2002) becomes a White House photographer, frequently travelling with President Truman.[53]
Late 20th century edit
1950 edit
- Thousands of striking 19th-century photographs made by Staten Island photographer Alice Austen (1866-1952) are rediscovered and published.[54]
1954 edit
- Virginia Schau (1915–1989) becomes the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography.[55]
1962 edit
- Agnès Varda (born 1928) releases her French New Wave film Cléo from 5 to 7.[56]
1967 edit
Polish-born Rose Mandel (1910–2002), senior photographer in the art department at the University of California, is awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.[57]
1972 edit
Belgian-born Liliane de Cock (1939–2013), photographic assistant to Ansel Adams from 1963 to 1972, is awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.[58]- Lorraine Monk (born c.1926) is honoured as an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contributions to photography.[59]
1973 edit
Sara Facio and María Cristina Orive co-found La Azotea, the first publishing house in Latin America dedicated to photography.[60]
1974 edit
- Letizia Battaglia begins her career photographing the Sicilian Mafia.[61]
1978 edit
Graciela Iturbide (born 1942) becomes one of the founding members of the Mexican Council of Photography.[62]
1979 edit
- Sara Facio, Alicia D'Amico, Annemarie Heinrich, and Maria Cristina Orive are all part of the group of original founders of the Consejo Argentino de Fotografía.[63]
1980 edit
- Jane Evelyn Atwood receives the first W. Eugene Smith Grant for humanistic photography for her project on the lives of blind children.[64]
1991 edit
- Annie Leibovitz becomes the first woman to hold an exhibition at Washington's National Portrait Gallery.[65]
21st century edit
2005 edit
- Anja Niedringhaus (1965–2014) wins the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for her coverage of the Iraq War.[66]
- Bearing Witness, a documentary for American television, follows five women war journalists working in Iraq, including photographer Molly Bingham and camerawoman Mary Rogers.
2010 edit
- Raymonde April (born 1953) is awarded the Order of Canada for her contribution to photography.[67]
See also edit
References edit
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