You can't miss Eve Arnold's centenary

Blog Eye Magazine took the centenary of Eve Arnold to discuss her brilliant photojournalism pieces throughout her career.  The post suggests that while Arnold photographed many celebrities throughout her career, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Malcom X, she should not be remembered for simply being a celebrity photographer.

Courtesy of

theworldofphotographers.wordpress.com

 The above picture is from a photo shoot that Arnold did with MM. The photo is beautiful and simple and all too captivating MM's vulnerability (a task at which Arnold excelled in capturing).  I'm a Monroe fan, so of course I think this photo is lovely and I absolutely wouldn't mind adding it to my collection.  However....

As I kept reading the post on Blog Eye, the photos drew me in so deeply.  Much deeper than the Monroe picture.  The below photo is from a collection called Divorce in Moscow, circa 1966:

At first you see that yes the photo is beautiful, but look beyond that.  Blog Eye did an amazing job of highlighting a few of the important things to note:

"The body language of the couple shows a chasm of physical and emotional distance between the two. It is a painful scene to witness, even from the distance of the viewer. There is a certain religiosity to it, too: while central, the woman is subservient, wearing a headscarf, with a lachrymose and distant look on her face.

Many independent players have their part. A man hides behind his newspaper while another stares out of the room’s only window, but the more removed they try to become the more they implicate themselves. The setting is cold, the room unadorned and bureaucratically sterile. The grimness of the proceedings is captured by Arnold, but her intervention adds space for compassion."

Personally, I don't follow photographers very much, but if you haven't seen any of Arnold's other work, I suggest you do so in some of your spare time.