UNDER THE RADAR, AMONG THE STARS
Gyula Kosice, 1975
Henry Kissinger and Pelé, 1976
Lisl Steiner, 1954
Join us for the OPENING RECEPTION with Ingrid Rockefeller on Friday, August 22nd from 5-7pm
Lisl Steiner was one the most original photojournalists of the past century, yet her work has just recently begun to receive recognition and acclaim — An exhibit of her photographs, The Intuitve Lens of Lisl Steiner, opened at the University of Alicante in Spain in March of 2022.
Born in Vienna, Austria in 1927, Lisl and her family emigrated to Buenos Aires in 1938 as the Nazi Empire grew in power. She began her career in photojournalism in 1955, photographing the President of Argentina, Pedro Aramburu, fishing in Ushuaia; those pictures won her publication in Time and Life Magazine. A photographer with Keystone Press Agency, she freelanced for Time and Life, Newsweek, Associated, O’Cruziero, New York Times and many other publications in South America and the United States. Her photographs of artists, musicians, athletes, politicians, dictators are captivating. She captured a period of history with dynamic spontaneity and character, never taking “No” for an answer. Lisl had an uncanny ability to photograph noteworthy figures in unlikely but revealing settings. Her magnetic personality and authenticity won people over in seconds.
In the early 1970’s Lisl and her husband, Michael Monchek, moved to Pound Ridge, NY where she became a friend and artistic mentor to Anne-Marie Rasmussen, the wife of Steven Rockefeller, Nelson Rockefeller’s son and the father of Ingrid Rockefeller. Ingrid and Lisl were close friends until her death in June of 2023. Their relationship was life-long and deep; a mother-daughter bond. Ingrid shared, “She was my ‘fire department’ for 52 years.”
Ingrid Rockefeller has worked with photographer/filmmaker Lawrence Schiller for seven years, archiving Lisl’s entire body of work. in 2024 Ingrid donated all of Lisl’s negatives and a large archive of over 25,000 assets to The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History in Austin, Texas. She retains the rights and copyright to all of Lisl’s work.
A documentary film, fourteen years in the making, LISL BABY, is currently in post-production. Directors/Producers Ingrid Rockefeller and Vivian Winther will soon bring Lisl and her lifetime of work closer to the public eye. The film includes more than a decade of intimate interviews and conversations with Lisl, Ingrid and Vivian as well as interviews with Lisl’s close friends and fellow artists.
GLADSTONE will be presenting an exhibition of Lisl Steiner’s photographs opening August 22nd and on display through the fall of 2025. Included are images of Andy Warhol, Norman Mailer, BB King, Pelé, Henry Kissinger, Fidel Castro, Martin Luther King and a fabulous portrait of Gyula Kosice, the revolutionary Argentinian sculptor who was one of the founders of Grupo Madi.
LINKS TO PUBLICATIONS:
Lisl Steiner and Ingrid Rockefeller
