Betty Kuhner

The American Family Portrait

Kate Kuhner, Steven Stolman

• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781423651789
• eBook ISBN: 9781423651796
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Photography

Groundbreaking photographer Betty Kuhner truly revolutionized the American family portrait, taking it from the staid arrangement of mother, father and children dressed in their Sunday best, carefully arranged in front of the living room mantelpiece or on a sofa. Rather, she instructed her subjects to dress casually, many times similarly, and coaxed them to accompany her into the backyard, the garden or onto the beach. Once there, she would intuitively find the perfect location and, more importantly, exquisite light, all the while engaging Mother Nature and serendipity to serve as the ultimate stylist. Her long and prolific career built an archive of over five decades of extraordinary documentation of America's most distinguished dynasties—with assorted Kennedys, Fords, and the families of style icons Lilly Pulitzer and Esteé Lauder included in her inspiring body of work.

By choosing to work exclusively in black and white, Kuhner unknowingly created a powerful genre that would not only impact family photography, but also all fine contemporary wedding, portrait, fashion and advertising imagery as we now know it. Today, the black and white "environmental portrait" is considered the preeminent, highly regarded standard, thanks to one remarkable visionary—Betty Kuhner. This book has been been featured in national publications including PEOPLE Magazine, Garden & Gun Magazine, and Modern Luxury.

the portraits

Liza Pulitzer, Palm Beach, Florida, 1983.

Just don’t pay attention to me!

Betty Kuhner

armour family

Even after more than a century and a half of expansions, diversifications, acquisitions and sell-offs, the Armour name will always be associated with two words: meatpacking and Chicago.

In 1867, twenty-four-year-old Philip Danforth Armour used a windfall of $8,000 from the California gold rush to open wholesale grocery businesses, first in Cincinnati and then Milwaukee, ultimately moving to Chicago in 1875. The rest is history, becoming a part of the great American Gilded Age success story, while putting meat—primarily pork—on millions of dinner tables, along with numerous related animal products. “Everything but the squeal” was somehow, someway sold by the Armour Company. Descendants went on to thrive in banking in Chicago and ranching in Texas, accompanied by significant success in the oil business.

Mr. and Mrs. Laurance H. Armour Jr. and family, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1969.

Brooks, Laurance III and Steven Armour, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1965.

Laurance Jr. with daughter Brooks, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1969.

The Armour Family, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1969.

bancroft family

Originally from Boston, but equally associated with New York City, Southampton, Palm Beach and the storied Gold Coast of Long Island, the Bancroft family once owned Dow Jones & Company, publisher of the Wall Street Journal. Uniquely private, they remain an integral part of the American firmament as defined by the Social Register.

Margaret “Peg” Bedford’s father, Frederick, was a director of the Standard Oil Company. She and her first husband, Thomas Bancroft, had one daughter, Muffie. A second marriage to Prince Charles d’Arenberg produced one son, Pierre. In 1968, Peg married yet again to the Duke d’Uzes.

Peg, Duchess d’Uzes, and her daughter, Muf...

Table of contents

• Forward
• Preface
• Portraits by a Lady
• The Portraits