Lisette Model
PhotographerKnown for:
New York street photography; teacher of Diane Arbus
Education:
Studied music with Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna; self-taught in photography
Lisette Model began photographing in the 1930s on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice - frank portraits of vacationing bourgeoisie - before moving to New York, where she worked for Harper's Bazaar and published in PM magazine. She taught at the New School for nearly three decades, and Diane Arbus credited Model's workshop with changing the direction of her work. Her photographs anticipated the raw directness of street photography by a decade.
Lisette Model's Gear List(1)
Rollei
Connection note
Model used a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex for her street photography; the waist-level viewfinder allowed her to photograph from below without raising the camera to eye level, contributing to the dramatic low angles of her portraits.
Product description
The 2.8F, produced from 1960 to 1981, is the final production version of the twin-lens Rolleiflex. It uses a Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8 taking lens and produces 6×6cm negatives on 120 film.
Know something Lisette Model uses that's not listed?
Log in to submitRelated artists
Last updated March 20, 2026
