Talk:Thérèse Bonney
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Woman Comes to the Front during World War II THERESE BONNEY Foreword War's mindless uprooting of innocent civilians provided the principal subject for American expatriate photojournalist Therese Bonney (1894-1978) during World War II. Bonney's images of homeless children and adults on the backroads of Europe touched millions of viewers in the United States and abroad. Education Born and raised in the United States, Bonney received a bachelor of arts from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1916 and a master’s degree from Radcliffe College in 1917. She began doctoral studies at Columbia but fell in love with Paris in 1919 when she was appointed by the American Association of Colleges to select students who would study in the U.S. as part of an exchange program. She settled in Paris in 1919 to pursue photography and promote cultural exchange between France and the United States. Bonney was awarded a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne in 1921. She was the youngest individual, fourth woman, and tenth American to receive that honor. Career Paris in the 20s became a hub of creative expression – from fashion to fine arts, literature to design and beyond. The city’s bohemian atmosphere attracted artists, writers, and intellectuals from all over the world. Therese Bonney became the visual chronicler of Paris during this exciting time. She photographed street scenes and window displays, advertising and graphic design, facades and interiors, both commercial and domestic, as well as the people who inhabited the city. Her pictures included artifacts and fashion images, faces of the famous who were her friends, and anonymous Parisians. The outbreak of World War II appalled Bonney, who believed the conflict threatened European civilization itself. Of her "truth raids" into the countryside to document the horror of war, Bonney said: "I go forth alone, try to get the truth and then bring it back and try to make others face it and do something about it." Also said in her war reportage in 1943: "It is hard, hard work--bristling with risks--lucky if you come out of it, but a magnificent chance to contribute your brains and talent to a great cause, the world's--really a privilege." Not content with publishing solely in mass-circulation newspapers and magazines, Bonney sought other opportunities to present her work. She published the photo-essay books War Comes to the People (1940) and Europe's Children (1943) and mounted one-woman shows at the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, and dozens of museums overseas. Bonney's concept for a film about children displaced by war became the Academy Award- winning movie, The Search (1948). A media star herself, Bonney was the heroine of a wartime comic book, "Photofighter." Reports and Publications of Therese Bonney
Bonney's Account of War in Finland "How Peace Came to Finland," Photogravure Section, Washington Post, December 8, 1940 Serial and Government Publications Division (6)
Solo "Truth Raids" Won Public Spotlight Dorothy Dunbar Bromley, "Therese Bonney Brings Back Pictorial Record of Europe's Tragic Children," New York Herald Tribune, February 28, 1943, Section V, p. 3 Serial and Government Publications Division (7)
Bonney's Book Based on Exhibitions Therese Bonney, War Comes to the People, London: The Penndock Press, 1944 (left page) (right page) General Collections (11)
"Truth Raid" Photos Debuted at Library of Congress Invitation to Exhibition Opening, November 15, 1940 Rare Book and Special Collections Division (9)
Bonney Twice Decorated for Military Bravery [Therese Bonney wearing medal], February 1942 New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, Prints and Photographs Division (14) LC-USZ62-113325
War's Effect on Civilians Explored in Exhibits Therese Bonney, [Took Refuge in Barns], c. 1940 Prints and Photographs Division Reproduced courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (12)
Comic Based on Bonney's Adventures "Photofighter," True Comics, July 1944, pp. 14, 15, 16 Serial and Government Publications Division (15) LC-USZC4-9007 LC-USZC4-9008 LC-USZC4-9009 Aid for War Victims Therese Bonney, [So few have understood, the Quakers, Red Crosses---nuns,] c. 1940 Prints and Photographs Division (16) Reproduced courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
The Price of War for Children Therese Bonney, [Timidly---they climb the walls to would-be homes in gutted houses] c. 1940 Prints and Photographs Division (17) Reproduced courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Lives Uprooted by War Therese Bonney, [Meals cooked in the fields,] c. 1940 Prints and Photographs Division (18) Reproduced courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Bonney's Book of Photos of Children Therese Bonney, Europe's Children, New York: Plantin Press, 1943 Rare Book and Special Collections Division (19)
Bonney Story on the Big Screen Advertising poster for The Search, Loew's Inc., 1948 Prints and Photographs Division (21)
The Invention of Chic: Therese Bonney and Paris Moderne by Lisa Schlansker Kolosek
Book Description After graduating from the Sorbonne in 1921 until the outbreak of World War II, American Thérèse Bonney pursued a prolific career as a photojournalist. She founded the first American illustrated press service in Europe, whose specialty was modern French design and architecture. The Bonney Service did business with some twenty countries, but her homeland was always the chief focus of Bonney's tremendous energies. In America, she declared,"our offices, our cars, our clothes reflect modern life, but our furniture and our homes are of the past." She made it her mission to change that. This was an exciting time: Art Deco, still at its height, was increasingly being challenged by the more austere aesthetics of modernism. Housed at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Bonney's amazing and little-known archive comprehensively documents the modern movement in Paris between the wars. She photographed architecture and interiors, applied arts, and fashion in private residences, annual salons, and public exhibitions. She was dazzlingly well-connected and her captions read like a roll-call of Deco and Moderne: René Herbst, Jean Dunand, René Prou, Paul Poiret, Jacques-Emile, Ruhlmann, Pierre Chareau, Eileen Gray, Jean Puiforcat, Le Corbusier... her captions record the glory days of Art Deco and Moderne. Bonney also recorded the changing face of Paris as the city embraced the modernist aesthetic. She turned her lens on shop fronts and window displays, advertising and graphic arts, theaters, restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. The international public was hungry to glimpse the glamour and finery of Paris, and Bonney's photographs delivered haute couture, jewelry, beauty salons, and chic department stores. 180 duotone photographs and illustrations. Thérèse Bonney is usually remembered for her work as a war photographer; The Invention of Chic, based on Bonney’s amazing and little known archive, reveals an earlier episode in the life of this extraordinary woman, an influential player at a key moment in the history of twentieth-century design. About the Author Lisa Schlansker Kolosek studied decorative arts at the Parsons School of Design and has worked on the Thérèse Bonney Archive at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. Keywords: The Invention of Chic: Therese Bonney and Paris Moderne, Books, Lisa Schlansker Kolosek, Art, 20th Century Art, Documentary Photo Collections, Photography, Fashion, Travel - World/Europe, Individual Photographer, Design - General
