Nina Leen (1914? - 1995) was a photographer for LIFE Magazine for over 40 years.
Biography Nina Leen was a Russian photographer who was born in Russia and grew up in Europe. She came to the US in 1939. She had no formal training in photography but still ended up becoming one of the first female photographers hired by Life magazine. She became a permanent Life staff photographer in the 40's. She was part of a group of female Life photographers including Margaret Bourke-White, Marie Hansen and Martha Holmes.
Career Nina didn't like giving the date of her birth or where she was born to the public, but her own artwork includes art from Russia, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. In her later years, she was married to Serge Balkin. The exact date of her death in 1995 is not known.
Published Nina Leen did a lot of work for LIFE Magazine. She was a master portrait photographer and her portraits include: the "Irascibles," (a group of abstract painters who in 1950 posed for her portrait at the time they compelled the Metropolitan Museum of Art to include their work in a show of American painting). She also did a series on American teenager (showing bobby-soxers), she showed a turtle that lived with a family for 5 years in a 7 page published photo essay, as well series pictures of her pet dog Lucky and then her pet Ocelot. Nina Leen also contributed to five books in a Time-Life series on evolution, starting in 1972.
Famous Photographs Nina Leen is probably best known for her slice of life pieces in the post war US. She also was a master fashion photographer and always showed a perspective from the 50's that showed the joy and excitement of entering a new social era. Particularly memorable are her pictures of fashionable women dressed for social occasion.
Nina Leen's work with LIFE magazine truly captured the essence of mid-century America. Her photographs of teenagers in the 1950s feel simultaneously nostalgic and timeless. Thanks for sharing her story!
I've always been fascinated by 'The Irascibles' group portrait. Such an iconic image of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Leen had a gift for capturing personalities through her lens.
Her animal photography is just as compelling as her human subjects. The way she captured animal behavior was revolutionary for its time - showing them with dignity and natural behavior rather than as props.
It's interesting how little is known about her early life - the mystery around her birth date and childhood adds another layer of intrigue to her work. Her visual legacy speaks volumes though, even with the biographical gaps.