LYNN KOHLMAN

Photographer, LYNN KOHLMAN, began her life as a lover of art history and photography.  She was eight years old, when she asked for her birthday present to be a camera, replacing her Box Brownie. The first photograph she took was a black and white portrait of her grandmother.  She had her sit on her piano stool at her Steinway upright.  One hand rests under her chin, and she has a bit of a grin on her face.  Above the piano you can see a bit of another portrait –her grandmothers’ hands entwined in her grandfathers,’ on their wedding day. The Steinway piano now resides at Lynn’s house, on Springs Fireplace Road, above it the portrait of Grandma Kate.

When Lynn graduated Oberlin College, she began a career as a fashion model, appearing on the covers of all the major fashion bibles worldwide.  This gave her closer look at the techniques and creative moments of the greatest photographers of the time, Avedon, Penn, Helmut Newton, David Bailey and Guy Bourdin to name but a few.

By the late seventies, Lynn tested her own abilities, and again, fell in love with portraiture.  These caught the eye of Andy Warhol, leading to a long, successful stint at Interview Magazine, then, closely behind, Vogue, GQ and Glamour, even, advertising campaigns for Perry Ellis and Anne Klein, designed by Louis dell’ Olio and Donna Karan.

In the mid-eighties, Lynn was appointed fashion, then creative director, of the new Donna Karan. A decade later,  she was appointed the executive V.P.  of the newly created women’s line at Tommy Hilfiger.  Throughout all these transformation, Lynn’s signature style, creative eye and humor prevailed.

It was late 2002, when she was diagnosed with breast, and then brain cancer, that one could see the depths of her dignity.

Her visual autobiography, LYNN; FRONT TO BACK, was published in 2005 to much acclaim, prompting an appearance on Oprah, and feature articles in worldwide publications including, American Vogue, and People Magazine.

She has now returned, full circle, to what has always attracted her, photography.  It is with camera always in hand, that she enjoys finding beauty where others may not, in the series she calls, THE UN-HAMPTONS.