Whether depicting African American women from the Harlem ghetto, the iconic Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, or women in 1969 Afghanistan, the intensity and expressive power of Eve Arnold’s photographs always reach extraordinary levels. The American photographer infused her feminine sensibility into a profession that was long denied to women, giving it a completely personal dimension. This exhibition at the Villa Bassi Rathgeb Museum is the first Italian retrospective dedicated to the great American photographer.

Eve Arnold, born Cohen, daughter of a rabbi who emigrated from Russia to America, shares with Inge Morath the distinction of being the first female photographer to join Magnum. Indeed, they were the first two female photographers to be admitted as full members to the Parisian agency founded by Robert Capa in 1947. Before them, the agency was reserved exclusively for male photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson or Werner Bischof.

Eve Arnold was invited to join Magnum in 1951 by Cartier-Bresson, who was captivated by her New York photographs of fashion shows in the African American neighborhood of Harlem. Those same images, rejected in America for being too “scandalous,” were published by the English magazine Picture Post.

In 1952, together with her family, Eve Arnold moved to Long Island, where she created one of the most touching reportages of her career, A baby’s first five minutes, documenting the first five minutes of life of newborns at Mother Hospital in Port Jefferson. In 1956, she traveled with a psychologist friend to Haiti to document the secrets of Voodoo practices.

Called to replace photographer Ernst Haas for a reportage on Marlene Dietrich, she began her association with Hollywood’s celebrities and the American star system. In 1950, she met Marilyn Monroe, marking the beginning of a deep partnership interrupted only by the actress’s death. Through her lens, Joan Crawford revealed the secrets of her magical beauty. In 1960, she documented the filming of the famous movie The Misfits, with Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, directed by John Huston and written by Marilyn’s husband at the time, Arthur Miller.

After moving to London in 1962, Eve Arnold continued to work with and for movie stars, but also dedicated herself to travel reportage in many countries of the Middle and Far East, including Afghanistan, China, and Mongolia. Between 1969 and 1971, she created the project Behind the Veil, which also became a documentary, testifying to the condition of women in the Middle East.

Cover: EVE ARNOLD, Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood, USA, 1960 © Eve Arnold / Magnum Photos