This card from Kathryn McLaughlin Abbe (1919-2014) is from the Local Artist Research Archive, which originated in the files of Guild Hall.
Abbe writes to Enez Whipple (1910-1999), Guild Hall’s director at the time, referring to a January 1980 article in Popular Photography on the work of Abbe and her twin sister, Frances McLaughlin-Gill (1919-2014). Kathyrn’s signature with her nickname, “Fuffy,” speaks to her familiarity with Whipple. The twins began visiting the East End during World War II and were active in the arts community here. Kathryn’s husband opened an antiques store in East Hampton later in life.
Kathryn and Frances began their careers in photography in the 1940s, with their big break coming after they were selected as finalists in Vogue’s Prix de Paris contest in 1941. Both sisters’ careers were encouraged by Toni Frissell, a photographer at Vogue. Frances was the only female photographer in Conde Nast’s studio and one of Vogue’s early contracted women doing that work. She was also the first woman to cover the Paris fashion collections for the magazine. She later transitioned into independent film, making commercials for major corporations.
Kathryn pioneered her own career as a freelancer, traveling extensively to photograph entertainers and artists. She was successful enough that by the time she married James Abbe (1912-1999) in 1946, she was able to buy a plane as a wedding gift for him. The two learned to fly, traveling by plane between their homes in New York City and Montauk, where they built a house overlooking the ocean with salvaged materials, including wood from East Hampton’s 18th-century Dominy House.
In 1950, the couple moved their family from Manhattan to Brookville, and Kathryn stopped taking professional assignments, focusing her passion for photography on her children instead. Her photos of children subsequently became popular with parenting and homemaking magazines like Parents and Good Housekeeping.
More can be learned about these sisters and their pioneering careers at today’s Tom Twomey Series talk, “Double Click: The McLaughlin Twins and Their Groundbreaking Work in Magazine Photography,” at 5 at the East Hampton Library, with Nina Rosenblum, a film director, and Carol Kino, the author of a book about the twins.
Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is head of collection for the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
