Lisa Fonssagrives: Three Decades of Classic Fashion Photography [Hardcover]

Martin Harrison (Author), David Seidner (Author, Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Far from simply a "good clothes hanger", as she is known to have described herself, Lisa Fonssagrives brought her considerable talents as a dancer, fashion designer, photographer, and sculptor to her modeling, creating a persona at once earthly and larger than life. Lisa Fonssagrives: Three Decades of Classic Fashion Photography chronicles Fonssagrives's modeling years and establishes her role in bringing fashion photography to the level of high art. It's easy to forget the clothes in light of her sleek, athletic form and engaging Mona Lisa smile. While the tall columns of text may dissuade you from reading the essays, plug on. David Seidner's and Martin Harrison's essays are informed and engaging. The beautifully produced illustrations prove her more a muse than a model for fashion photographers such as Richard Avedon, Anton Bruehl, Horst, Man Ray, and Irving Penn. Readers have the pleasure of watching her become more beautiful as she ages.

Review

. . . with an essay by the art historian Martin Harrison, the photographer David Seidner has assembled more than 100 images . . . by 21 photographers. The pleasure of the collection, aside from its appeal to the fashion-afflicted, is the quality and variety of photographic vision. . . . [B]oth the woman and the clothes crackle with sex appeal. . . . -- The New York Times Book Review, Rosemary Ranck

Product Details

• Hardcover: 149 pages
• Publisher: Vendome Pr (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865659788
• ISBN-13: 978-0865659780
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,716,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUPERMODEL, October 24, 2001

By 

steve "[e-mail]" (Memphis, Tn USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lisa Fonssagrives: Three Decades of Classic Fashion Photography (Hardcover)

Lisa Fonssagrives was the first true supermodel. She had a cool easiness to her modeling, she was almost surreal. Her beauty was perfection. I do not believe there has ever been a model that can compare to her. The supermodels of today, Cindy, Naomi, Claudia are all beautiful, but not in the same way that Lisa was perfect. Its so nice to see her images captured in a book. I hope that in the future more will be done to regenerate her place in history.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply stunning, August 12, 2004

By 

Melissa Niksic (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lisa Fonssagrives: Three Decades of Classic Fashion Photography (Hardcover)

Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn was a beautiful woman and the world's first top model. This book is a collection of her most beautiful photos taken by some of the world's best photographers, including Lisa's husband, Irving Penn. There is some nice biographical information in the book, but it focuses primarily on the photographs, which are breathtaking. It's hard to find a nice copy of this book these days since it's been out of print for a while, but I highly suggest you do some searching on Amazon Marketplace or ebay: the book is totally worth it.

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful tribute to a beautiful woman!, May 15, 2008

By 

Rudi Franke - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lisa Fonssagrives: Three Decades of Classic Fashion Photography (Hardcover)

I not only grew up at a time when this lovely woman was modeling for some of the worlds best photographers but I was also getting into photography in a small way. Being a visual person I've spent too much time mooning over beautiful womens images and Lisa Fonssagrives was the loveliest. They don't make them like that any more in spite of the endless supply of beautiful women in our media. A lot of it has to do with the state of the world of couture where the women who buy most of the expensive gowns are featured in the fashion magazines, no matter that they are not ravishing beauties. Look at Lisas face and figure with a fashion photograpers eye and you'll know what I mean. Images of her in her later years show the ravages of time but I would still have felt honored to escort her around town as did some lucky photographers, Horst in particular. This book tells you something about her life and has a great collection of her images both from her work in fashion and in her real life with her family. I came away with the impression that she was also a beautiful person and quite unimpressed with all the fuss that was made over her. I paid an arm and a leg for my copy and I'm glad I have it now, still an inspiration to go out and find myself such a model.