Famous Women Photographers

Famous women photographers, not unlike like women painters, were initially forgotten by history as history books have been written for the most part by men.

The prevailing attitude towards female photographers in the early days was that women were not suited to carrying heavy camera equipment or to working with the chemicals that were involved in developing. But the contribution that women such as Fay Godwin, Eve Arnold and Margaret Bourke-White made was important and historians and researchers today, often women themselves, are helping to reclaim these women and give them the recognition they deserve.

Below you will find a list of famous women photographers - and they are all women! Some are well known and others not so well known. The list includes famous black photographers such as Eslanda Robeson (who was also an anthropologist) and Adine Williams. I will be adding a page about famous black photographers in the very near future, but in the meantime you can use this list as a starting point for further explorations into the amazing world and work of female photographers of all colours and nationalities.

The list is grouped into three sections. The first is female photographers who worked mostly in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the second group is women who mostly lived, worked and died in the 20th century; and the third group are women photographers who are still alive today, to the best of my knowledge. I hope you find this list useful as a jumping off point for your explorations into the lives and work of women photographers - their contribution to the field of photography deserves greater recognition and we can learn so much from them.

Look for a series of books using the words "women photographers" with the Amazon search box - there are some fascinating photographs and some surprises too!.

Amazon.com Widgets

1. Famous women photographers from the 19th and early 20th centuries

Gertrude Käsebier 1852-1934
Eva Watson-Schütze 1867-1935
Frances Benjamin Johnson 1864-11952
Berenice Abbott 1898-1991
Doris Ulmann 1884-1934
Karimeh Abbud 1896-1955
Claude Cahun 1894-1954
Julia Margaret Cameron 1815-1879
Frances Benjamin Johnston 1864-1952
Ruth Harriet Louise 1903-1940
Tina Modotti 1896-1942
Lucia Moholy 1894-1989
Gerda Taro 1910-1937
Laure Albin-Guillot 1880-1962
Anna Atkins 1799-1871
Alice Austen 1866-1952
Emma Barton 1872-1938
Alice Boughton 1866-1943
Anne W. Brigman 1869-1950
Christina Broom 1863-1939
Mary Cassatt 1844-1926
Nancy Ford Cones 1869-1962
Clementina Hawarden 1822-1865
Frances Benjamin Johnston 1864-1952
Agnes Warburg 1872-1953
Catharine Barnes Ward 1851-1913
Jane Wigley
Bessie Buehrmann
Theresa Llwelyn

Above: In Real Life: Six Women Photographers

2. Famous women photographers who lived and worked during the 20th century

Eslanda (Essie) Goode Robeson 1896-1965
Ruth Bernhard 1905-2006
Margaret Bourke-White 1906-1971
Toni Frissell 1907-1988
Esther Bubley 1921-1998
Imogen Cunningham 1883-1976
Louise Dahl-Wolfe 1895-1989
Gisèle Freund 1908-2000
Laura Gilpin 1891-1979
Masumi Hayashi 1945-2006
Hannah Hoch 1889-1978
Martha Holmes 1923-2006
Lotte Jacobi 1896-1990
Dorothea Lange 1895-1965
Fay Godwin 1931-2005
Linda McCartney 1942-1998
Lee Miller 1907-1977
Lisette Model 1906-1983
Inge Morath 1923-2002
Barbara Morgan 1900-1992
Ruth Orkin 1921-1985
Leni Riefenstahl 1902-2003
Dorothy Norman 1905-1997
Diane Arbus 1923-1971
Lola Àlvarez Bravo 1907-1993
Shima Ryu 1823-1899
Mieko Shiomi 1909-1984
Jo Spence 1934-1992
Anya Teixeira 1913-1992
Adine Williams
Marion Post Wolcott 1910-1990
Francesca Woodman 1958-1981
Mary Bayard Wootten 1875-1959
Madame Yevonde 1893-1975

Above: Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

3. Famous women photographers who are still alive today (ordered by year of birth):

Eve Arnold 1913-
Lillian Bassman 1917-
Grace Robertson 1930-
Hilla Becher 1934-
Eleanor Antin 1935-
Mary Ellen Mark 1940-
Heather Angel 1941-
Sylvia Plachy 1943-
Lynn Davis 1944-
Markéta Luskac 1944-
Joyce Tenneson 1945-
Tina Barney 1945-
Sandy Skoglund 1946-
Susan Meiselas 1948-
Annie Leibovitz (1949-)
Linda Wolf 1950-
Sally Mann 1951-
Bettina Reims 1952-
Sophie Calle 1953-
Nan Goldin 1953-
Carrie Mae Weems 1953-
Cindy Sherman 1954-
Shirin Neshat 1957-
Brigitte Lacombe 1958-
Lorna Simpson 1960-
Carolyn Cole 1961-
Anna Fox 1961-
Catherine Opie 1961-
Catherine Yass 1963-
Inez van Lamsweerde 1963-
Mary Fitzpatrick 1968-
Alexandra Hedison 1969-
Loretta Lux 1969-
Lori Nix 1969-
Elinor Carucci 1971-

If you are doing women's studies or an aspiring photographer yourself, I highly recommend A History of Women Photographers which has some great images of portraiture, advertising, and photojournalism, over 200 black-and-white illustrations and 36 color plates.

The last section contains valuable thumbnail biographies of approximately 240 female photographers from the obscure to the famous whose illustrations appear in the text. This a prime tool and stimulus for research.

I want to grow this list so that all women photographers who ought to be included are on this page. If you would like me to add anyone to the list please contact me.