Louise Dahl-Wolfe (1895-1989) was born and raised in San Francisco. After attending the San Francisco Institute of Art, where she studied painting and color theory, she worked as an interior designer. When she turned her attention to photography, she applied her prior training to her new career. “I believe the camera is a medium of light, that one actually paints with light,” she said.
Dahl-Wolfe began her association with Harper’s Bazaar in 1936, when photography was becoming increasingly prevalent in American fashion magazines, replacing illustration. Dahl-Wolfe’s skill as a colorist offered a new perspective. Using a Graflex camera, or occasionally a more portable Rolleiflex, she developed an elegant, easy style of photography. Color photographs had appeared in Bazaar before, but her knack for accuracy and tone made Dahl-Wolfe’s work notable. As Carmel Snow said, “She revolutionized the Bazaar . . . because she developed color photography to its ultimate.”