The American photographer, who has died aged 97, was equally at home documenting war as she was shooting celebrity portraits
Photograph: Lynn Hilton/AlamyPhotograph: Lynn Hilton/Alamyarilyn Stafford was largely unknown until her 90s, when she had a belated and glorious brush with fame. Stafford, who has died aged 97, became celebrated in the way she should have been for decades. She was given a major retrospective at the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, published a magnificent book of her photographs, was interviewed by newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, and finally got to tell her stories.
Stafford was sassy and naturally funny. With a fabulous deadpan, she told me how her mother had died “of vanity” at the age of 103. Stafford would have made a superb character inA mother and children refugees in a camp near the bombed village of Sakiet along the Algerian frontier. First published in the Observer in March 1958.After graduating from Wisconsin University, she moved to New York where she played a few cameos in off-Broadway productions.
Next door to her in another attic bedroom was the singer Charles Aznavour. Of course, they became friends too. And, of course, she took photographs of Piaf and Aznavour. Stafford’s photos are endlessly surprising. Perhaps never more so than with Piaf, renowned for her sepulchral style and tragic air. Stafford’s portraits of the Little Sparrow are all light and laughter.Robert Capa
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