Fernand Fonssagrives met his wife Lisa Bernstone at dance school in Paris. By 1936 Lisa’s career as a model escalated and she became the first recognizable ‘model’ working for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Their unique partnership produced a memorable series of pictures, including Fernand's nude work of Lisa for which he is best known and most respected.

Eileen Ford said of Fonssagrives: "I wish for Xmas I could give one of Fernand's prints to every photographer who works with our models. If they lived with these pictures, they could learn how it should be done."

The period between 1936 and 1945 were the most productive and memorable, and Fonssagrives was one of Alexey Brodovitch’s star pupils at his famous Design Laboratory in New York.


Lisa Fonssagrives, as she was known, became Irving Penn’s wife after her separation from Fernand. Penn and Horst, amongst others, photographed her endlessly, and she became one of the most celebrated models of her day.