One of the world’s leading photographers, Eve Arnold was born in Philadelphia to Russian immigrant parents. Her success is all the more impressive since she had virtually no formal training in photography, apart from a 6-week course at the New School for Social Research, which she entered in 1952. Her teacher, however, was the legendary Alexei Brodovitch, the art director of Harper’s Bazaar. With his encouragement, Arnold embarked on a career as a photographer at a time when magazine photojournalism in America was at its height.
Arnold became a star photographer for Life magazine with a special affinity with Marilyn Monroe, whom she met when both were relatively unknown. Her images of her on the set of The Misfits are her most well known.
“She was going places but she hadn’t arrived,” Arnold recalled. “It became a bond between us… Marilyn was very important in my career. I think I was helpful in hers.”