Beatrice Tonnesen (January 24, 1871 - May 12, 1958) was an American artist and photographer based in Chicago, Illinois, from approximately 1896 to 1930. She is credited with having pioneered the use of photographs of live models in print advertising. In addition, her photos, and illustrations by leading artists based on her photos, were widely used in the calendar art of the era. Early life Beatrice Tonnesen was born June 24, 1871, in Winneconne, Wisconsin, to Tonnes Tonnesen and Mary Sumner Tonnesen. Beatrice, who was hearing impaired, studied photography under Cook Ely, Oshkosh, Wisconsin's leading photographer of the day, and at the Oshkosh Normal School. Tonnes Tonnesen was an immigrant from Norway, and one of the representative pioneer business men of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. Mary Sumner Tonnesen was a direct descendant of William Sumner of Bicester, England, who came to New England in 1636 and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Career In 1895, Tonnesen opened her first photographic art studio in Menominee, Michigan. While operating that studio, Tonnesen traveled to Chicago and arranged to purchase the business and studio of a prominent society photographer, Simon L. Stein, at 1301 Michigan Avenue. Her widowed sister, Clara Tonnesen Kirkpatrick, invested in the project and relocated to Chicago to handle the business aspects of her sister's new venture. Tonnesen quickly became a favorite portrait photographer of many of Chicago's most prominent families, including the Armours, Pullmans, and Palmers. But portrait photography did not remain her only specialty for long. She and her sister Clara soon hit upon an idea that was to revolutionize the world of print advertising. As Tonnesen herself put it in an interview with the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern in 1954: "One day we thought up a fine scheme. We would make advertising pictures using live models, which had never been done before." The idea took off, and Tonnesen and her "Famous Tonnesen Models" gained nationwide fame. A 1903 advertisement "Introducing The Famous Tonnesen Models" proclaimed, "We operate the largest Photographic Print establishment in America." At the same time, Tonnesen was cultivating a specialty in calendar art. Creating photos of appealing family scenes, as well as more risque (for the time) studies of beautiful ingenues and glamorous flappers, Tonnesen sold her work not only to advertisers, but also to publishers and artists. A November 18, 1896, article in the Chicago Daily Tribune titled "Ideas for Dull Artists" outlined the various uses of