In Photos: Lisette Model’s Street Photography

Opera, San Francisco, 1949

Among her students were Peter Hujar and Diane Arbus. The latter ascribed to Model the advice: ‘The more specific you are, the more general it’ll be’

Running Legs, Forty-Second Street, New York, circa 1940-41

Her pioneering street photography, made with a 35mm camera, primarily in Nice and New York’s Lower East Side is characteristically direct and forthright

Bois de Boulogne, Paris, 1933-1938

According to the International Center for Photography, Model redefined the concept of documentary photography in the US, shaping the direction of postwar photography