Nationality American Name James Abbe Children Patience Abbe | Known for photography Role Photographer Books I Photograph Russia | |
 | ||
Born July 17, 1883 Alred, Maine Notable work I Photograph Russia published in 1934 Spouse(s) married many times including to Polly Shorrock which ended in divorce in the late 1930s Died November 11, 1973, San Francisco, California, United States | ||
Fashion Photographers - James Abbe
James Abbe (July 17, 1883 – November 11, 1973) was an American photographer.
Contents
james abbe
Background
James Abbe was born in 1883 in Alfred, Maine. He traveled throughout Europe as a young photojournalist recording the unstable power struggles of the early 20th century. However, he first made a name for himself photographing theatre stars of the New York stage and subsequently movie stars in New York, Hollywood, Paris, and London throughout the 1920s and 1930s. His unusual technique of working outside the studio set him apart from other photographers of the period. To make money, Abbe sold his photographs to magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair, which brought his subjects greater fame.
Famous images
After gaining some public attention, Abbe began submitting his work to major publications, including The London Magazine and the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung. He also took photographs during the Spanish Civil War and the Nazis' rise in Germany.
"His life would make a good movie," his daughter Tilly said. In the 1920s and '30s Abbe photographed politicians, stage and film stars—Hitler and Mussolini, Charlie Chaplin and Josephine Baker—and scored the biggest coup of his career when he finagled his way into the Kremlin and, according to Miss Tilly, "tricked" Stalin into posing for him. The result: a rare snapshot of the Soviet dictator smiling. His portrait of Joseph Stalin was famously used to stop rumors that the Soviet leader was dead.
"He called his photography 'a ticket' to the world," Tilly says. "It was partly because of him that I became a dancer. In fact, I'm named after a dancer he photographed, Tilly Losch. He loved ballet, and his favorite subject to photograph was Anna Pavlova. I knew how much he loved dancers, and of course it was very important to me to please my father."
Personal life
Abbe was married several times and had a number of children.
His son James Abbe Jr was born in about 1912; he became a photographer who worked for Harper's Bazaar.
In the late 1930s, Abbe's marriage to Polly Shorrock ended in divorce. That marriage produced three children, Patience Abbe, Richard, and John.
According to a 2006 interview with his daughter, Tilly Abbe, he was married three times before he met her mother, Irene, and abandoned his third wife and three children to marry Irene. Tilly was born when her father was 56 years old, which would have been about 1939.
One of the obituaries for Patience mentions that she had a surviving (presumably step-)sister Linda.
Books
Abbe’s book I Photograph Russia was published in 1934. This work includes eighty photographs taken by Abbe.