Pioneering US photographer Eve Arnold dies

EVE Arnold, the world-travelling photojournalist whose subjects ranged from the poor and dispossessed to Marilyn Monroe, has died at the age of 99.

By The Newsroom

Published 6th Jan 2012, 10:03 BST

Magnum spokeswoman Fiona Rogers said Arnold died peacefully on Wednesday in a London nursing home.

Born in Philadelphia in 1912 to Russian immigrant parents, Arnold lived on Long Island when she became interested in photography while working in a photofinishing lab.

She began her career in the 1940s, working for publications including Picture Post, Time and Life during a golden age of magazine photojournalism. Her subjects included migrant labourers, Cuban fishermen and Afghan nomads, as well as celebrities such as Joan Crawford and Elizabeth Taylor and political figures including Jacqueline Kennedy and Margaret Thatcher.

Arnold was renowned for her rapport with those she photographed. “If you’re careful with people and if you respect their privacy, they will offer part of themselves that you can use,” she told the BBC in a 2002 interview.

She is survived by her son, Frank, and three grandchildren.