Toni Frissell

Antoinette Frissell Bacon, known as Toni Frissell, took many of the photographs in this exhibit while on a mission sponsored by the U.S. government to document war conditions in Europe. Taken in March 1945, her photographs may possibly be the only photos taken of the Tuskegee Airmen in Europe by a professional photographer.

The photographer was born into a world of privilege which she later photographed. In 1931, Frissell started work at Vogue magazine as a caption writer. She later became a noted photographer of fashion, and of the rich and powerful. Creative and versatile, Frissell was one of the first photographers to capture her subjects in the outdoors and away from the studio.

Although best remembered for assignments such as the Kennedy wedding in 1953, and fashion photography Frissell's assignments during World War II captured iconic images of the African American 332nd Fighter Group at Ramitelli, Italy as well as images of soldiers, women in uniform and orphaned children.