Toni Frissell

Toni Frissell
"I'd Rather Stalk with a Camera Than a Gun", c. 1935
Born	March 10, 1907 Manhattan, New York, United States
Died	April 17, 1988 (aged 81) Long Island, New York, United States
Occupation	Photographer
Spouse(s)	Francis M. Bacon III
Children	2

Antoinette Frissell Bacon (March 10, 1907 — April 17, 1988), known as Toni Frissell, was an American photographer, known for her fashion photography, World War II photographs, and portraits of famous Americans, Europeans, children, and women from all walks of life.

Antoinette Frissell was born in 1907 to Lewis Fox Frissell and Antoinette Wood Montgomery. Her brothers were Phelps Montgomery Frissell and filmmaker Varick Frissell, who was killed in Newfoundland during the filming of The Viking in 1931. Frissell was the granddaughter of Algernon Sydney Frissell, founder and president of the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York, and the great-granddaughter of Mary Whitney Phelps and Governor of Missouri John S. Phelps. Ancestors include Elisha Phelps, US representative from Connecticut (1819–21, 1825–29) as well as Maj. Gen. Noah Phelps, Revolutionary War hero.

When Frissell was younger, she was passionate about theater, but after two roles in Max Reinhardt productions, she realized the theater was not for her. In her early twenties, she started taking pictures in part because of her brother, Varick Frissell, a filmmaker and photographer who taught her the basics of photography. She was married to Francis “Mac” Bacon on September 9, 1932 after a few months of the couple’s romance. She had a passion for skiing, and once went on a three month long skiing trip with her husband and daughter after her daughter’s graduation. Toni and her husband purchased a large, white house on Long Island at Saint James called 'Sherrewogue' on the water of Stony Brook Harbor where the two of them and their family lived for nearly fifty years.

In the early seventies, she began to have trouble with her memory. To counteract this, she began to write a memoir, one that turned into almost a thousand-page manuscript. Her memoir recounts the times from her childhood to her later life, detailing her privileged upbringing, exploration of Europe, parties in her twenties, youth romances, and adoration for the richer way of life. This early fascination with the privileged life influenced the choice in subjects of her photographs, and the more privileged sports such as skiing and golf, that she went on to photograph for Sports Illustrated.