Esther Lewittes Mipaas: Photography for the History of Art and Architecture
Presentation Type
Event
Start Date
8-3-2026 10:58 PM
Description
This talk presents photographs and writings from the personal collection of Esther Lewittes Mipaas (1911–1995), an art historian, draftsperson, and industrial designer who specialized in photographing art, design, and architecture. Her images for Los Angeles’s public housing program circulated widely in the 1940s, and later projects documented cast iron in New York City and murals in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although she did not earn a steady income from photography, Mipaas created a rich archive of negatives, slides, and prints, often accompanied by her own texts, now preserved at the Getty Research Institute and Columbia University. Incorporating an oral history segment with her daughter Judith Hibbard‑Mipaas, this paper considers what can we learn about the role of photography in art and architectural history when we look beyond institutional collections or those of the most famous art historians.
Nicole Krup Oest is a historian of art and photography and an instructor at City College of San Francisco. She received her doctorate from the University of Zurich in 2020. Her book Photography and Modern Public Housing in Los Angeles was published with support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, and is available open access via arthistoricum.net.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
Oest, Nicole Krup, "Esther Lewittes Mipaas: Photography for the History of Art and Architecture" (2026). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day. 56.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2026/schedule/56
Esther Lewittes Mipaas: Photography for the History of Art and Architecture
This talk presents photographs and writings from the personal collection of Esther Lewittes Mipaas (1911–1995), an art historian, draftsperson, and industrial designer who specialized in photographing art, design, and architecture. Her images for Los Angeles’s public housing program circulated widely in the 1940s, and later projects documented cast iron in New York City and murals in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although she did not earn a steady income from photography, Mipaas created a rich archive of negatives, slides, and prints, often accompanied by her own texts, now preserved at the Getty Research Institute and Columbia University. Incorporating an oral history segment with her daughter Judith Hibbard‑Mipaas, this paper considers what can we learn about the role of photography in art and architectural history when we look beyond institutional collections or those of the most famous art historians.
Nicole Krup Oest is a historian of art and photography and an instructor at City College of San Francisco. She received her doctorate from the University of Zurich in 2020. Her book Photography and Modern Public Housing in Los Angeles was published with support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, and is available open access via arthistoricum.net.