Known for introducing a strong and refreshingly feminine aesthetic to the world of fashion photography, Deborah Turbeville died at the age of 81 after a battle with lung cancer. She took her last breath at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan.
She was born in Stoneham, Mass on July 6, 1932. As a young woman she moved to New York, where she served as a fit model for fashion designer
Claire McCardell and later on turned an editor at Harper’s Bazaar. She worked alongside icons such as Diane Arbus, Polly Mellen, and Isabella Blo.
Deborah almost single-handedly turned fashion photography from a clean, well-lighted thing into something dark, gloomy and filled with sensual strangeness.
Her photographs were featured in magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Mirabella; in newspapers including The New York Times; in advertisements for clients like Ralph Lauren, Bruno Magli, and Nike and in books including “Unseen Versailles”. Her most famous shoot was the 1975 Bath House series for American Vogue. She was distinguished from other photographers for manipulating her negatives by scratching, tearing, scattering dust on them and distressing them.
Turbeville continued working into her eighties, shooting Valentino’s spring/summer and autumn/winter 2012 advertising campaigns last year and publishing her final book, Deborah Turbeville: The Fashion Pictures, in 2011.
