Betty Kuhner : the American family portrait
(Book)

A monograph of the groundbreaking photography of Betty Kuhner (1916–2014), who was the first to take midcentury family portraits of the affluent social set out of the studio and into the environment. Her long and prolific career built an archive of over five decades of extraordinary documentation of America’s most distinguished dynasties―with assorted Kennedys, Fords, and the families of style icons Lilly Pulitzer and Esteé Lauder included in her inspiring body of work. By choosing to work exclusively in black and white, Kuhner unknowingly created a powerful genre that would not only impact family photography, but also all fine contemporary wedding, portrait, fashion and advertising imagery as we now know it. Today, the black and white “environmental portrait” is considered the preeminent, highly regarded standard, thanks to one remarkable visionary Betty Kuhner.