'She strikes swift, hard and sharp, then comes to a dead stop, for her work is devoid of all extraneous devices or exaggerations'
Lisette Model’s dynamic, humanistic approach to photography is exemplified in Café Metropole, made in 1946 during the most prolific period of her career. Taken at Cafe Metropole, a popular jazz venue near t.mes s Square in Manhattan, the singer in Model’s photograph is captured mid-refrain, an electric moment frozen in t.mes . While Model initially pursued a career as a songstress, studying in Paris with renowned composer Arnold Schoenberg, Model abandoned music for photography after her sister Olga introduced her to basic camera techniques. Radically independent for her t.mes , Model seized upon the opportunities that a career in photography afforded her in a creative landscape dominated by men.
The Austrian-born Model arrived in 1937 to New York City, where she quickly became acquainted with leading photographers, designers, and curators such as Alexey Brodovitch and Beaumont Newhall. She earned a living through magazine commissions, working extensively for Harper’s Bazaar, Cue, and PM Weekly. Like many other photographers of the period, she used a 35-mm camera which afforded her the freedom to move quickly and to shoot as candidly as possible.
‘We photograph not only what we know but also what we don’t know. A moment is caught that was and never will be again – and lives on in the picture.’
In the earliest years of her career, Model produced a body of work that would later be recognized as the bedrock of her idiosyncratic style. One of her earliest efforts, the La Promenade des Anglais series, evidences the daring, unique approach that Model adopted from the outset. With the freedom provided by a lightweight 35-mm camera, she utilized unusual angles and tight compositions. Perhaps most notably, she sought portraiture subjects that were not traditionally beautiful or broadly appealing. In the present photograph, the singer’s hair appears to swing wildly behind her head. A closer look reveals that she wears a stylish headpiece adorned with a black feather. By capitalizing on the placement of the hat and the right angle from her camera, Model expresses in one image the palpable energy of nightclub life.
Model’s years in New York were incredibly productive. She became a member of the New York Photo League, a cooperative of photographers established in 1936, including many of the most notable photographers working in New York at the t.mes , including Sid Grossman, Ruth Orkin, Morris Engel, and Louis Stettner. Model’s expressionistic photographs perfectly define the “New York School” of the 1950s- a personal, visceral, intuitive approach to the medium. Her style is not only a direct line to contemporary artists such as Nan Goldin, but also highly influential to one of her most well-known students, Diane Arbus.
Early prints of this image are rare and seldom appear at auction.