Lida Moser

Lida Moser (August 17, 1920 – August 11, 2014) and the New York School. Her portfolio includes black and white commercial, portrait, landscape, experimental, abstract, and documentary photography, with her work continuing to have an impact. and The New York Times noted that she "excelled at photojournalism at a time when women were a rarity in the field." She has been also described, much to Moser's annoyance, as the "grandmother of American photojournalism."

Career Moser was born in 1920 in New York City. Her career started in 1947 as an assistant in Berenice Abbott's studio. She then earned her first assignment from Vogue in 1949, Her photography has fetched as much as $4,000 at Christie's and other auctions and continues to be collected and displayed by more than 40 museums worldwide. Moser's relationship to French photographer Eugène Atget can be seen in her photographs of Edinburgh as an early influence and that of American photographer Walker Evans.

Moser was a close friend of American artist Alice Neel, and she photographed Neel several times; in return Neel painted multiple portraits of Moser, which now hang is several museums in the U.S.

Scotland In 1949 Moser was assigned by Vogue magazine to travel to Scotland and photograph Scottish writers and artists. Over 100 of those photographs are now in the permanent collection of The National Galleries of Scotland.

Canada Vogue was so pleased with the result of Moser's work in Scotland, that a year later, in 1950, they assigned the young photographer an even more ambitious task: to visit the Canadian province of Quebec and deliver a photographic essay on Quebec.

Publications Earthman, Come Home (1966) A Life For the Stars (Cities in Flight, 2) (Avon SF, G1280) (1968) Construction of the Exxon Building, New York (1971) Fun in Photography, Amphoto U.S. (1974) Amphoto Guide to Special Effects, Watson-Guptill Pubns (1980) Photography Contests: How to Enter, How to Win, Amphoto U.S. (1981) Grants in Photography: How to Get Them (1979) Quebec a l'ete 1950 Libre Expression, French edition (1982) Career Photography: How to Be a Success As a Professional Photographer, Prentice Hall (1983)

Significant works

1949 "Queen's Parade, Edinburgh, Scotland" 1949 "Douglas Young" 1949 "Stanley Cursiter" 1949 "Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh Tapestry Company" 1950 "Farm Girls, Valley of the Matapedia, Quebec" 1961 "Judy and the Boys" 1965 "Office Bldg. Lobby, New York"

Collections Moser's work is in the following permanent collections: Museum of Modern Art, New York City A portrait of Moser, by painter Alice Neel, is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC Phillips Collection, Washington, DC Library of Congress, Washington, DC National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC New York Historical Society, New York Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto, Canada Trout Gallery at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

In popular culture Moser's 1971 book "Construction of Exxon Building, New York City" features a photo of window washers that has been recreated in Lego building blocks at Legoland Florida theme park.

Office Building Lobby, New York, in which Moser's wild overexposure has reduced organization men to near–stick figures and the lobby to an ill-defined blob, presaging by several years the visual distortions of 2001: A Space Odyssey.