Ben-Yusuf, Zaida. Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer by Frank H. Goodyear III, et al.

Merrill, 2008. First edition, fine hardcover with very good protected dust jacket that has small spots of wear at extremities. 240 pages. “Zaida Ben-Yusuf (November 21, 1869 – September 27, 1933) was an American portrait photographer based in New York.  She was known for her artistic portraits of wealthy, fashionable, and famous Americans during the turn of the 19th–20th century.  In 1901, The Ladies Home Journal featured her and six other photographers as "The Foremost Women Photographers in America".   In 2008, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery mounted an exhibition dedicated solely to Ben-Yusuf's work, re-establishing her as a key figure in the early development of fine art photography.” (Wikipedia) Portraits of sitters in this book, issued in conjunction with the 2008 exhibition, include Theodore Roosevelt, Leonard Wood, Jacob Riis, Lincoln Steffens, Thomas Nast, Grover Cleveland, William Merritt Chase, Edith Wharton, Sadakichi Harmann, Ada Rehan, Julia Marlowe, Elbert Hubbard, Francis Marion Crawford, Mary French Sheldon, et al.  Substantial book, originally issued at $59.95.  Summary:

Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer by Frank H. Goodyear III, with contributions by Elizabeth O. Wiley and Jobyl A. Boone, is a comprehensive photographic monograph and exhibition catalogue that revives the work and legacy of Zaida Ben-Yusuf—a seminal but long-overlooked figure in early American portrait photography.

The 240-page volume (published in 2008 in association with the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery) accompanies the first major museum exhibition dedicated to Ben-Yusuf’s work and presents a wide selection of her most striking portraits, many reproduced in large format. Ben-Yusuf (1869–1933), a British-born photographer based in New York, was one of the busiest and most innovative portraitists in the early twentieth century. She maintained a fashionable Fifth Avenue studio, produced work for major publications, and exhibited widely in the U.S. and Europe, yet her contributions were largely forgotten until this project sought to reestablish her place in photographic history.

The book combines her elegant and evocative black-and-white portraits of a broad range of subjects—including cultural figures, political leaders, stage performers, and fellow artists—with biographical context and commentary by Goodyear and his co-authors. It explores not only Ben-Yusuf’s technical achievements and stylistic innovations within the pictorialist movement but also her role as a “New Woman” photographer navigating the artistic and social currents of turn-of-the-century New York.

Through this combination of archive imagery, portrait essays, and historical narrative, the book celebrates Ben-Yusuf’s artistry and restores her reputation as a key figure in early modern portrait photography.