# Lisette Model artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/lisette-model/
Profile generated: 2026-05-25T13:26:51.287Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1901-11-10
- Death date: 1983-03-30
- Nationality: Austrian, American
- Movements: Street Photography, Humanist Photography
- Common media: gelatin silver prints, black-and-white photography

## About Lisette Model

Lisette Model (born Élise Amélie Félice Stern, 1901–1983) was an Austrian-born American photographer celebrated for her unvarnished, humanist approach to street photography. After studying music in Paris, she turned to photography in the 1930s, producing a striking series on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice that brought her early critical attention. Emigrating to New York in 1938, she turned her lens on the city's streets, bars, and beaches, capturing candid portraits of everyday people with a directness that rejected formal compositional conventions. Her work appeared in Harper's Bazaar under art director Alexey Brodovitch and influenced a generation of photographers. Model also taught at the New School for Social Research, where her students included Diane Arbus. Major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate in London hold her photographs in their permanent collections.

## Common works and media

Collectors and appraisers most commonly encounter Lisette Model's work as gelatin silver prints, typically in black and white. Her photographic subjects include candid street portraits, urban crowds, beach scenes (notably Coney Island), and observations from the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Works may range from smaller format prints to larger exhibition-sized photographs. Estate-stamped or signed prints carry stronger attribution than unsigned examples. Reproductions in books and exhibition catalogs are also widespread but hold no independent market value.

## Market and appraisal context

Lisette Model's photographs appear at auction primarily as gelatin silver prints within Photographs and Prints & Multiples sales. Key factors affecting appraisal include whether a print is vintage (made close to the negative date) versus a later printing, the presence of estate or gallery stamps, provenance history, and condition. Her best-known series — the Promenade des Anglais images from Nice and her New York street and Coney Island work — tend to attract the strongest market interest. Collectors should verify attribution through provenance documentation, as her images have been widely reproduced. Published auction results and comparable lots provide useful benchmarks for individual prints.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine independent artist-identity research from museum records, library authority files, and biographical sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Lisette Model, sources include the Museum of Modern Art, Tate, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), and Wikidata.

## Sources

- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4036
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/lisette-model-11249
- RKD – Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/223394
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500000242
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/7469443/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79067
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisette_Model
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82130278