Frances McLaughlin-Gill
The Figure Suspended in Reality: Meet Frances McLaughlin-Gill, a pioneering fashion photographer who shaped the visual landscape of mid-20th century fashion.
Model in Ben Zuckerman, Vogue (1957-03-15) by Frances McLaughlin-GillCondé Nast Archive
When Frances McLaughlin-Gill signed a contract to shoot for Vogue, she was just 24. Fresh out of a BFA program at Pratt, she submitted a photo of Jacqueline Bouvier (later to become Jackie O.) to Vogue's Prix de Paris contest, won, and her whirlwind career took off.
Photography was heavily dominated by men in the 1930s, but as the 40s rounded, women like Lee Miller, Dorothea Lange, and Berenice Abbott began to break the mold. One such pioneer was Toni Frissell, a mainly self-taught artist, who started shooting for Vogue as early as 1931.
Frissell became a mentor to Frannie, as she was known, and introduced her to Alexander Liberman, Vogue’s freshly appointed art director. Liberman was enamored with Frannie's candor and spontaneity, and encouraged her to follow her instincts by using fast film, handheld cameras.
Her signature "snaphot" style might have seemed casual, but it was precisely the transitory moment - between sharp detail and blurred motion - that Frannie sought to capture.
Dorothea McGowan in Catalina, Vogue (1960-06-01) by Frances McLaughlin-GillCondé Nast Archive
It was a philosophy that could equally apply to color and black-and-white photography alike.
In the 1951 photography bible "The Art and Technique of Color Photography," Frannie wrote "the figure suspended in reality before one's view by the eye of the camera–whether in motion or repose–is what I try to catch, each composition... within its sphere a world unto itself."
The freedom Frannie gave to her subjects allowed her to capture the feeling of a moment passing–a smile, a wistful gaze, the flash of recognition when eyes first meet.
Model in a Nasturtium-Printed White Dress, Vogue (1954-01-01) by Frances McLaughlin-GillCondé Nast Archive
Over the course of 35 plus years, Frannie photographed covers and editorials for Vogue, Glamour, and House & Garden. From the end of the 1970s, she taught photography at the School of Visual Arts until she passed away in October of 2014.
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