Eve Arnold

CHINA. Retired woman. 1979

Eve Arnold, OBE (Hon.), FRPS was an American photojournalist. She joined the Magnum Photos agency in 1951 and became a full member in 1957.

Arnold was born Eve Cohen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the middle of nine children born to immigrant Russian-Jewish parents, William Cohen (born Velvel Sklarski), a rabbi, and his wife, Bessie (Bosya Laschinger). Her interest in photography began in 1946 while working for Kodak in their photo-finishing plant in Fair Garden, New Jersey. 

Over six weeks in 1948, Arnold learned photographic skills from Harper’s Bazaar art director Alexey Brodovitch at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan. She married Arnold Schmitz (later Arnold Arnold) in 1941.

Arnold photographed many of the iconic figures who shaped the second half of the 20th century, yet she was equally comfortable documenting the lives of the poor and dispossessed, “migrant workers, civil rights protests of apartheid in South Africa, disabled Vietnam war veterans and Mongolian herdsmen.” Her joyful picture of a Cuban couple with their child was selected in 1955 for the world-touring Museum of Modern Art exhibition, “The Family of Man,” and seen by 9 million visitors. 

Arnold’s images of Marilyn Monroe on the set of The Misfits (1961) were perhaps her most memorable, but she had taken many photos of the actress from 1951 onward. Her previously unseen photos of Monroe were shown at a Halcyon Gallery exhibition in London in May of 2005. She also photographed Queen Elizabeth II, Malcolm X, Marlene Dietrich, and Joan Crawford, and traveled around the world, photographing in China, Russia, South Africa and Afghanistan. 

Arnold left the United States and moved permanently to England in the early 1970s with her son, Francis Arnold. While working for the London Sunday Times, she began to make serious use of color photography.

Find original Eve Arnold photography on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Lions Gallery)