Elinor B. Cahn (1925–March 20, 2020) was an American photographer. Cahn, who became a photographer later in life, was known for her photographs of street and neighborhood life in East Baltimore, Maryland.
Elinor Cahn | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elinor Bonwit 1924[1] |
| Died | March 20, 2020 (aged 95–96)[2] Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Early life and education
editCahn was born in Baltimore to parents Ralph Bonwit and Leona Frank.[2] She married Charles M. Cahn Jr. at the age of 19.[2] During World War II, she volunteered as an ambulance and truck driver for the Red Cross.[2]
It was not until after the war that Cahn began her art career. As a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, she took a class on social documentary. She began to document her neighbors as part of the class, in a project that would eventually become the East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project.[3][4] Numerous photographs from the project would be acquired by the Smithsonian Museum and the University of Maryland, Baltimore.[1][5]
Career
editHer work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum,[1] the University of Maryland, Baltimore County[5] and the Jewish Museum of Maryland.[6] She was often invited into the homes of her subjects, where she would photograph them.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Elinor Cahn | Smithsonian American Art Museum". americanart.si.edu.
- ^ a b c d e Kelly, Jacques (27 March 2020). "Elinor B. Cahn, photographer of East and Southeast Baltimore, dies". baltimoresun.com.
- ^ Monroe, Rachel (6 April 2015). "Amazing Photographs of Baltimore in the 1970s". Baltimore Fishbowl.
- ^ "ELINOR CAHN: "EAST BALTIMORE DOCUMENTARY SURVEY PROJECT" (1970's)". AMERICAN SUBURB X. 2 August 2012.
- ^ a b "University of Maryland Digital Collections". cdm16629.contentdm.oclc.org.
- ^ "JMM online collections database". jewishmuseummd.pastperfectonline.com/.