Zaida Ben-Yusuf
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Zaida Ben-Yusuf (21 November 1869 – 27 September 1933) was an English-born, New York–based
portrait photographer Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective Photographic lighting, lighting, Painted photography backdrops, backdrops, and poses. A portr ...
noted for her artistic portraits of wealthy, fashionable, and famous Americans during the turn of the 19th–20th century. In 1901, ''
The Ladies Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In ...
'' featured her and six other photographers as "The Foremost Women Photographers in America". In 2008, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery mounted an exhibition dedicated solely to Ben-Yusuf's work, re-establishing her as a key figure in the early development of fine art photography.


Biography


Early life

Ben-Yusuf was born as Esther Zeghdda Ben Youseph Nathan in London, England, on 21 November 1869, the eldest daughter of a German mother, Anna Kind Ben-Youseph Nathan and an Algerian father, Mustapha Moussa Ben Youseph Nathan.Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1869–1898
on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009
By 1881, her mother was living in Ramsgate and working as a governess after separating from her husband and four daughters . Later in 1888, Anna Ben-Yusuf emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts where she had established a
milliner Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of ...
's shop on Washington Street in Boston by 1891. In 1895, Ben-Yusuf followed in her mother's footsteps and emigrated to the United States where she worked as a milliner at 251 Fifth Avenue, New York. She continued this for some time after becoming a photographer, writing occasional articles for ''
Harpers Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...
'' and ''The Ladies Home Journal'' on millinery.Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1898–1900
on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009


Photography career

In 1896, Ben-Yusuf began to be known as a photographer. In April 1896, two of her pictures were reproduced in '' The Cosmopolitan Magazine'', and another study was exhibited in London as part of an exhibition put on by ''
The Linked Ring The Linked Ring (also known as "The Brotherhood of the Linked Ring") was a British photographic society created to propose and defend that photography was just as much an art as it was a science, motivated to propelling photography further into t ...
''. She traveled to Europe later that year, where she met with George Davison, one of the co-founders of The Linked Ring, who encouraged her to continue her photography. She exhibited at their annual exhibitions until 1902. In the spring of 1897, Ben-Yusuf opened her portrait photography studio at 124 Fifth Avenue, New York. On 7 November 1897, the ''
New York Daily Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the dom ...
'' ran an article about Ben-Yusuf's studio and her work creating advertising posters, which was followed by another profile in ''
Frank Leslie's Weekly ''Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper'', later renamed ''Leslie's Weekly'', was an American illustrated literary and news magazine founded in 1855 and published until 1922. It was one of several magazines started by publisher and illustrator Frank ...
'' on 30 December. Through 1898, she became increasingly popular as a photographer, with ten of her works in the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
-hosted 67th Annual Fair of the American Institute. This was where her portrait of actress
Virginia Earle Virginia Earle (née Earl; August 6, 1873 – September 21, 1937) was an American stage actress remembered for her work in light operas, Edwardian musical comedies and vaudeville over the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th century. Early ...
won her third place in the Portraits and Groups class. During November 1898, Ben-Yusuf and
Frances Benjamin Johnston Frances Benjamin Johnston (January 15, 1864 – May 16, 1952) was an early American photographer and photojournalist whose career lasted for almost half a century. She is most known for her portraits, images of southern architecture, and various ...
held a two-woman show with their works at
the Camera Club of New York Since 1884, The Camera Club of New York has been a forum to explore photography. Though the Club was created by well-to-do 'gentlemen' photography enthusiasts seeking a refuge from the mass popularization of the medium in the 1880s, it accepted i ...
. In 1899, Ben-Yusuf met with F. Holland Day in Boston, and was photographed by him. She relocated her studio to 578 Fifth Avenue, and exhibited in a number of exhibitions, including the second Philadelphia Photographic Salon. She was also profiled in a number of publications, including an article on female photographers in ''The American Amateur Photographer'', and a long piece in '' The Photographic Times'' in which
Sadakichi Hartmann Carl Sadakichi Hartmann (November 8, 1867 – November 22, 1944) was an American art and photography critic, notable anarchist and poet of German and Japanese descent. Biography Hartmann, born on the artificial island of Dejima, Nagasaki, to ...
described her as an "interesting exponent of portrait photography". In 1896 Ben-Yusuf was included in an exhibition organized by Linked Ring, Brotherhood of the London and continued to exhibit with them until 1902.Schwendener, Martha. "Ben-Yusuf, Zaida." ''Grove Art Online.'' 11 Feb. 2013; Accessed 26 Mar. 2020. https://www-oxfordartonline-com.ezproxy.ithaca.edu/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7002229182. In 1900, Ben-Yusuf corresponded with Johnston about an exhibition of American women photographers in Paris timed to coincide with the
Universal Exposition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
. Ben-Yusuf had five portraits in the show, which traveled to
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. She was also exhibited in Holland Day's exhibition, ''The New School of American Photography'', for the Royal Photographic Society in London, and had four photographs selected by Alfred Stieglitz for the
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
International Exhibition of 1901,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
.Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1901–1906
on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009

31 October 2018
In 1901, Ben-Yusuf wrote an article, "Celebrities Under the Camera", for the '' Saturday Evening Post'', where she described her experiences with her sitters. By this stage she had photographed
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
, Franklin Roosevelt, and
Leonard Wood Leonard Wood (October 9, 1860 – August 7, 1927) was a United States Army major general, physician, and public official. He served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Military Governor of Cuba, and Governor-General of the Philipp ...
, amongst others. For the September issue of '' Metropolitan Magazine'' she wrote another article, "The New Photography – What It Has Done and Is Doing for Modern Portraiture", where she described her work as being more artistic than most commercial photographers, but less radical than some of the better-known art photographers. ''The Ladies Home Journal'' that November declared her to be one of the "foremost women photographers in America", as she began the first of a series of six illustrated articles on "Advanced Photography for Amateurs" in the ''Saturday Evening Post''. Ben-Yusuf was listed as a member of the first American Photographic Salon when it opened in December 1904, although her participation in exhibitions was beginning to drop off. In 1906, she showed one portrait in the third annual exhibition of photographs at
Worcester Art Museum The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ranks among th ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, the last known exhibition of her work in her lifetime.


Travels to Japan

In 1903, Ben-Yusuf traveled to Japan, where she toured
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
, Kobe,
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...
,
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...
(where she rented a house), Tokyo and
Nikkō is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 80,239 in 36,531 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a popular destination for Japanese and ...
. This tour formed the basis for a series of four illustrated articles, "Japan Through My Camera", published in the '' Saturday Evening Post'' from 23 April 1904. In February 1905, her essay on Kyoto appeared in ''Booklovers Magazine'' and ''Leslie's Monthly Magazine'' published an illustrated article on "Women in Japan". She also wrote about Japanese architecture and lectured on the subject, with some of her photographs illustrating a January 1906 article by Katharine Budd in ''
Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...
'', for which she submitted an article, "The Period of
Daikan ''Daikan'' (代官) was an official in Japan that acted on behalf of a ruling monarch or a lord at the post they had been appointed to. Since the Middle Ages, ''daikan'' were in charge of their territory and territorial tax collection. In the Edo ...
", which appeared the next month. In 1906, she published three photographs from a visit to Capri in the September issue of '' Photo Era'', and in 1908, wrote three essays on life in England for the '' Saturday Evening Post''. She returned to New York in November 1908, but was back in London the following year. The London
phone book A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into ele ...
for 1911 listed her as a photographer in
Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
.Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1907–1933
on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009
In 1912, Sadakichi Hartmann wrote that Ben-Yusuf had given up photography, and was living in the
South Sea Islands Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...
. On 15 September, following the outbreak of World War I and the German invasion of France, Ben-Yusuf returned to New York from Paris, where she had been living at the time. She applied for naturalization in 1919, describing herself as a photographer, and taking ten years off her age. She continued to travel, visiting
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
in 1920 and
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
in 1921.


Later life

Ben-Yusuf took a post with the ''Reed Fashion Service'' in New York City in 1924, and lectured at local department stores on fashion related subjects. In 1926, she was appointed style director for the ''Retail Millinery Association of New York'', an organisation for which she later became director. By 1930, census records showed that Ben-Yusuf had married a textile designer, Frederick J. Norris. She died three years later on 27 September in the Methodist Episcopal Hospital in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.


Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

Ben-Yusuf's work was the subject of an exhibition, ''Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer'' at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, which ran from 11 April through 1 September 2008. The curator, Frank H. Goodyear III, first learned about Ben-Yusuf when he discovered two of her photographs in 2003, depicting Daniel Chester French and
Everett Shinn Everett Shinn (November 6, 1876 – May 1, 1953) was an American painter and member of the urban realist Ashcan School. Shinn started as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia, demonstrating a rare facility for depicting animated movement, a ...
, and set forth to discover more about a photographer who had been almost completely forgotten. Goodyear suggested that
gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
might have led to Ben-Yusuf being forgotten, despite her significant contributions towards developing photography as a medium of artistic expression. Photographic history had tended to focus on male photographers such as Stieglitz, and less so on the female photographers, even though it was one of the few occupations considered a respectable career for a single woman in late 19th and early 20th century New York. Even in relatively progressive New York, where innovators in the arts, science, journalism and politics gathered, it was difficult for a single professional woman to support herself. Another reason for Ben-Yusuf's obscurity was that she had not bequeathed a significant archive of her work to a single institution, making it difficult to pull together enough examples to give her career the appropriate historical assessment. Goodyear's exhibition at the Smithsonian acted as a showcase for Ben-Yusuf's work, re-establishing her as a key figure in fine art photographic history.


References


Further reading

* Goodyear, Frank H.; Wiley, Elizabeth O.; and Boone, Jobyl A.; ''Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York portrait photographer'' (London, New York: Merrell; Washington: In association with National Portrait Gallery, 2008). .


External links


Smithsonian web photo exhibit of Ben-Yusuf's work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Yusuf, Zaida 1869 births 1933 deaths 19th-century Algerian artists 19th-century American photographers 20th-century Algerian artists 20th-century American photographers Algerian artists Algerian people of German descent Algerian women artists American people of Algerian descent American people of German descent American portrait photographers Artists from London British emigrants to the United States English people of Algerian descent English people of German descent Milliners 19th-century American women photographers 20th-century American women photographers