Jessie Mann
Born in Perth on 20th January 1805, Jessie Mann (1805-1867) is regarded as the first Scottish woman photographer....
Historical Heroines
Women photographers active at some point between the late 18th Century and the mid-20th Century
Heroines Past
Research Resources Archive
Delve into our online archive to find out more about the photography pioneers of the past
In order to make space for the women photographers of today, we highlight the women who have been obscured over the years and celebrate the strides they made. Find out more in our online archive – researched, written and curated by our volunteers.
Legacy Heroines
Women photographers active at some point between the mid-20th Century and the present day.
As part of its mission, the organisation tracks down, preserves and celebrates archives that might have been forgotten or mislaid, which involves working with numerous estates, from Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first female photojournalist, to Hong Kong photographer Nancy Sheung.
How to buy an Eve Arnold image for only £30 . . . and other initiatives to champion female photographers, The Financial Times
Latest Posts
Clementina Hawarden
Lady Clementina Hawarden (1822-1865) was a prolific amateur photographer, best known for taking portraits of her daughters...
Carolee Schneemann
Carolee Schneemann (1939 – 2019) was an experimental visual artist known for her works on the body, sexuality, and gender....
Margaret Gross Michaelis-Sachs
Margarethe (Margaret) Gross was born in 1902 into a Jewish family in Dzieditz, near Cracow, in what was then Austria (now Poland). Her liberal upbringing led her to studying photography at the Institute of Graphic Arts and Research in...
Liselotte Billigheimer Grschebina
Liselotte studied painting and graphic design at her local art academy – Badische Landeskunstschule, Karlsruhe (BLK) – and took up the then–new course in advertising photography at the School of Applied Arts in Stuttgart....
Grete Kolliner
Grete attended the Höhere Graphische Bundes-Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt from 1910 – 1915 and worked as an assistant at the school until 1916....
Heroines Past
Tour our A-Z of Heroines past, as our archives grow we hope to provide a detailed photographer’s profile for each name. Fancy writing a bio that’s missing? Or know a name that should be on the list? Email us at hello@hundredheroines.org
A
- Aase Goldsmith (1942 – 2015)
- Abigail Heyman (1942 – 2013)
- Agnes Varda (1928 – 2019)
- Alexandra Boulat (1962 – 2007)
- Alice Austin (1866 – 1952)
- Alice Guy Blaché (1873 – 1968)
- Alice Hughes (1857 – 1939)
- Alice Schalek (1874 – 1956)
- Alison Gernsheim (1911 – 1969)
- Amelia Elizabeth Guppy (1808 – 1886)
- Amélie Galup (1856 – 1943)
- Ana Mendieta (1948 – 1985)
- Anja Niedringhaus (1965 – 2014)
- Ann Cooke (1796 – 1870)
- Anna Atkins (1799 – 1871)
- Anne Brigman (1869 – 1950)
- Anne Fischer (1915 – 1986)
- Anni Schulz (1897 – 1943)
- Annie Blake (1848 – 1928)
- Annmarie Minne Renée Schwarzenbach (1908 – 1942)
- Anno Wilms (1935 – 2016)
- Arlene Gottfried (1950 – 2017)
- Aubrey Le Blond, Mrs (1860-1934)
- Augusta Mostyn/Henrietta Augusta Nevill , Lady (1830 – 1912)
B
- Barbara Ker-Seymer (1905 – 1993)
- Barbara Morgan (1900-1992)
- Barbara Pflaum (1912 – 2002)
- Beatrice Freyberger (1901 – N/K)
- Běla Kolářová (1923 – 2010)
- Berenice Abbott (1898 – 1991)
- Bertha Beckmann (1815 – 1901)
- Bessie Raynor Parkes (1829 – 1925)
- Betti Mautner (1892 – 1988)
- Birgit Jürgenssen (1949 – 2003)
- Blanche Henrietta Pechell née Shelley (1841 – 1898)
- Bobbi Baker Burrows (1945 – 2018)
C
- Camilla Koffler/Ylla (1911 – 1955)
- Carolee Schneemann (1939 – 2019)
- Caroline Emily Nevill, Lady (1829 – 1887)
- Caroline Margaret Kerrison, Lady (1819 – 1895)
- Caroline Taylor (1810 – 1876)
- Catherine Leroy (1944 – 2006)
- Catherine Verschoyle (1800 – 1882)
- Cecilia Glaisher (1828 – 1892)
- Charlotte Perriand (1903 – 1999)
- Christina Broom (1862 – 1939)
- Claire Aho (1925 – 2015)
- Claude Cahun (1894 – 1954)
- Clementina Hawarden, Lady (1822 – 1865)
- Compton Collier (1899 – 19770
- Constance Fox Talbot (1811 – 1880)
- Consuelo Kanaga (1894 – 1978)
- Corinne Day (1962 – 2010)
- Constance Stuart Larrabee (1914 – 2000)
- Cui Xiuwen (1970 – 2018)
D
- Daisy Edis (1888 – 1964)
- Diane Arbus (1923 – 1971)
- Dickey Chapelle (1918 – 1965)
- Dora Horovitz (1897 – 1979)
- Dora Kallmus/Madame d’Ora (1881-1963)
- Dora Maar (1907 – 1997)
- Doreathea Lange (1895 – 1965)
- Dorothy Frances Edith Wilding (1893 – 1976)
E
- E Lennie (1818 – Unknown)
- E Toussaint Welcome, Madame (1885 – 1956)
- Edith Barakovitch (1896 – 1940)
- Edith Glogau (1898 – 1970)
- Edith Tudor Hart (1908 – 1973)
- Eiko Yamazawa (1899 -1995)
- Elisabeth Buchmeyer Lewis (1935 – 2018)
- Elisabeth Hase (1905 – 1991)
- Elisabeth Meyer (1899-1968)
- Elise Forrest Harleston (1891 – 1970)
- Elizabeth Anne Finn née McCaul (1825 – 1921)
- Elizabeth Eastlake, Lady (1809 – 1893)
- Elizabeth Fulhame (fl. 1794)
- Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Le Blond/Hawkins-Whitshed (1860 – 1934)
- Elizabeth Louisa How (1821 – 1893)
- Elizabeth Stockdale Wilkinson (1799 – 1871)
- Elizabeth Vignoles (1813 – 1880)
- Elizabeth Withington née Kirby (1825 – 1877)
- Ella Maillart (1903 – 1997)
- Ellen Auerbach (1906 – 2004)
- Elly Niebuhr (1914 – 2013
- Else Ernestine Neuländer-Simon/Yva (1900 – 1944)
- Emily Anne Payne-Frankland,Lady (1821 – 1913)
- Emma Frances Johnston (1834 – 1905)
- Emma Jane Gay (1830 – 1919)
- Emma Rayson Barton (1872 – 1938)
- Emma Thomasina Llewellyn née Talbot (1808 – 1881)
- Emmi Fock (1898 – 1983)
- Emmy Andriesse (1914 – 1953)
- Emmy Bernatzik (1904 – 1977)
- Erika Hubatschek (1917 – 2010)
- Esther Bubley (1921 – 1998)
- Eugenie Goldstern (1893 – 1942)
- Eva Besnyö (1910 – 2003)
- Eve Arnold (1912 – 2012)
- Evelyn Hofer (1922 – 2009)
F
- Fanny Foster/Georgiana Fanny Julia Foster (1891-1975)
- Fay Godwin (1931 – 2005)
- Florence Henri (1893 – 1982)
- Florestine Perrault Collins (1895 – 1988)
- Frances Anna Georgiana Kinnaird née Ponsonby, Lady (1817 – 1910)
- Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864 – 1952)
- Frances Elizabeth Bree* (1795 – 1906)
- Frances Jocelyn, Lady (1820 – 1880)
- Frances Monteith (1805 – 1898)
- Frances Sally Day (1816 – 1892)
- Francesca Woodman (1958 – 1981)
- Franki Raffles (1955 – 1994)
- Franziska Möllinger (1817 – 1880)
- Friedl Dicker (1911 – 1944)
* dates not verified
G
- Galina Sanko (1904 – 1981)
- Georgiana Fanny Julia Foster/Fanny Foster (1891-1975)
- Gerda Taro (1910 – 1937)
- Germaine Krull (1879 – 1985)
- Gerti Deutsch (1908 – 1972)
- Gertrud Arndt (1903 – 2000)
- Gertrude Käsebier (1852 – 1934)
- Geta Brătescu (1926 – 2018)
- Gisèle Freund (1908 – 2000)
- Gisèle Wulfsohn (1957 – 2011)
- Grace Robertson (1930 – 2021)
- Grete Kolliner (1892 – 1933)
- Grete Stern (1904 – 1999)
H
- Hanna Maynard (1834 – 1918)
- Hannah Höch (1889 – 1978)
- Hannah Wilke (1940-1993)
- Hansel Mieth (1909 – 1998)
- Harriet Ann Tucker (1808 – 1875)
- Harriet V S Thorne (1843 – 1926)
- Harriet Tytler (1828 – 1907)
- Hazel Larsen Arche (1921 – 2001)
- Helena Almeida (1934 – 2018)
- Helen Chadwick (1953 – 1996)
- Helen Gee (1919 – 2004)
- Helen Levitt (1913 – 2009)
- Helen Messinger Murdoch (1862 – 1956)
- Henrietta Augusta Nevill , Lady/Augusta Mostyn (1830 – 1912)
- Hilde Hubbuch, Hilda Isay (1905 – 1971)
- Hilla Becher (1934 – 2015)
- Hilja Raviniemi (1915 – 1973)
- Homai Vyarawalla (1913 – 2012)
- Hou Bo (1924 – 2017)
I
- Ida Kar (1908 – 1974)
- Ilsa Stern (1912 – 1970)
- Ilse Bing (1899 – 1998)
- Imogen Cunningham (1883 – 1976)
- Inge Breder (1855 – 1933)
- Inge Morath (1923 – 2002)
- Ingeborg Strobl (1949 – 2017)
- Ira Wright Martin (1886 – 1960)
- Irena Blühová (1904 – 1991)
- Isabel Agnes Cowper (1826 – 1911)
J
- Jan Groover (1943 – 2012)
- Jane Bown (1925 – 2014)
- Jane Martha St. John (1801 – 1882)
- Jane Wigley (1820 – 1883)
- Jennie Louise Van Der Zee/Madame E Toussaint Welcome (1885 – 1956)
- Jessica Piazzi Smyth (1815 – 1896)
- Jessie Fergus (1794 – 1863)
- Jessie Mann (1805 – 1867)
- Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870 – 1942)
- Jo Spence (1934 – 1992)
- Joan Leigh Fermor (1912-2003)
- Judit Kárász (1912 – 1977)
- Julia Margaret Cameron (1815 – 1870)
- Julia Pirotte (1908 – 2000)
- Julia Shannon (1812 – 1852)
- Justine Henrietta Ross née Macrae (1813 – 1894)
K
- Karimeh Abbud (1893 – 1940)
- Käthe Buchler (1876 – 1930)
- Kati Horna (1912 – 2000)
- Katt Both (1905 – 1985)
- Khadija Saye (1992 – 2017)
L
- Lallie Charles (1869 – 1919)
- Laura Aguilar (1959 – 2018)
- Laura Gilpin (1891 – 1979)
- Laure Albin-Guillot (1879 -1962)
- Lee Miller (1907 – 1977)
- Lena Connell (1875 – 1949)
- Letizia Battaglia (1935 – 2022)
- Lilian Maria Fayer (1917 – 2014)
- Lillian Bassman (1917 – 2012)
- Linda McCartney (1941 – 1998)
- Lisa Larsen (1925 – 1959)
- Lisalotte Grschebina (1908 – 1994)
- Lisette Model (1901 – 1983)
- Lizzie Le Blond/Elizabeth Le Blond (1860-1934)
- Lola Álvarez Bravo (1903 – 1993)
- Lora Webb Nichols (1883 – 1962)
- Lotte Hendrich-Hassman (1932 – 2007)
- Lotte Jacobi (1896 – 1990)
- Lotte Stam-Beese (1903 – 1988)
- Lou Landauer (1897 – 1991)
- Louise Dahl-Wolf (1895 – 1989)
- Lourdes Grobet (1940 – 2022)
- Lucia Moholy/Schulz (1894 – 1989)
M
- Madame d’Ora/Dora Kallmus (1881 – 1963)
- Madame E Toussaint Welcome/Jennie Louise Van Der Zee (1885 – 1956)
- Madame Yevonde/Yevonde Middleton (1893 – 1975)
- Margaret Bourke-White (1904 – 1971)
- Margaret Dreghorn Baillie (1821 – 1870)
- Margaret Harker (1920 – 2013)
- Margaret J Newton (fl. 1849)
- Margaret Watkins (1884 – 1969)
- Margarethe (Margaret) Gross (1902 – 1985)
- Margarita “Rita” Weir Martin (1875 – 1958)
- Maria Chambefort (1818 – 1875)
- Mariana Yampolsky (1925 – 2002)
- Marianne Bergler (1897 – 1980)
- Marianne Brandt (1893-1983)
- Marie Cosindas (1923 – 2017)
- Marie Hansen (1918 – 1969)
- Marie Høeg (1866 – 1949)
- Marion Palfi (1907 – 1978)
- Marion Post Wolcott (1910 – 1990)
- Marta Astfalck-Vietz (1901 – 1993)
- Marta Hoepffner (1912 – 2000)
- Martha Holmes (1923 – 2006)
- Martine Franck (1938 – 2012)
- Mary Ann Robb (1829 – 1912)
- Mary Dillwyn (1816 – 1906)
- Mary Ellen Mark (1940 – 2015)
- Mary Emma Lynn (1813 – 1903)
- Mary Jane Matheson née Percival, Lady (1821 – 1896)
- Mary Rosse, Lady (1813 – 1885)
- Maud Sulter (1960 – 2008)
- Minna Keene (1861 – 1943)
N
- Nadja Massün (1963 – 2022)
- Nancy Newhall (1908 – 1974)
- Nancy Sheung (1914 – 1979)
- Nina Leen (1909 – 1995)
- Norah Lyle-Smyth (1874 – 1963)
O
- Olive Cotton ( 1911 – 2003)
- Olive Edis (1876 – 1955)
- Ottilia Reizman (1914 – 1986)
P
- Pamela Chandler (1928 – 1993)
- Pauline Trevelyan, Lady (1816 – 1866)
- Penny Tweedie (1940 – 2011)
- Pepa Feldscharek (1899 – 1962)
- Polixeni Papapetrou (1960 – 2018)
Q
Why not be the first to nominate a historical or legacy Heroine whose name begins with Q?
R
- Reva Brooks (1913 – 2001)
- Rita (Margarita) Weir Martin (1875 – 1958)
- Rollie McKenna (1918 – 2003)
- Rosa Jenik (1853 – 1913)
- Rose Mandel (1910 – 2002)
- Ruby Washington (1952 – 2018)
- Ruth Bernhard (1905 – 2006)
- Ruth Orkin (1921 – 1985)
S
- Sarah Angeline Acland (1849 – 1930)
- Sarah Anne Bright (1793 – 1866)
- Sarah Holcomb (early 19th C.)
- Sarah Louise Judd (1802 – 1886)
- Shima Ryū (1823 – 1900)
- Shirley Baker (1932 – 2014)
- Susan Eliza Evans née Gisborne (1834 – 1891)
- Sibylle Bergemann (1941 – 2010)
T
- Tee Corinne (1943 – 2006)
- Thereza Story-Maskelyne (1834 – 1926)
- Tina Modotti (1896 – 1942)
- Tish Murtha (1956 – 2013)
- Toni Frissell (1907 – 1988)
- Trude Fleischmann (1895 – 1990)
- Trude Geiringer (1890 – 1981)
U
Ursula Pariser (1917 – 2010)
V
- Vivian Maier (1926 – 2009)
- Vera Chytilova (1929 – 2014)
- Vera Jackson (1912 – 1999)
- Virginia Oldoini (1837 – 1899)
W
- Winifred Casson (1908 – 1969)
- Winifred Hall Allen (Active 1930s)
XYZ
- Yevonde Middleton/Madame Yevonde (1895 – 1975)
- Ylla/Camilla Koffler (1911 – 1955)
- Yva/Else Ernestine Neuländer-Simon (1900 – 1944)
- Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869 -1933)
- Zofia Rydet (1911 – 1997)
