John w rawlings wikipedia

John rawlings artist
John Rawlings was a Condé Nast Publications fashion photographer from the 1930s through the 1960s.
John Rawlings.

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John Rawlings, elevated Commercial Photography to an Art Form

John Rawlings (1912-1970) was a Condé Nast Publications fashion photographer from the 1930s through the 1960s. Though Rawlings left a significant body of work, including 200 Vogue magazine and Glamour magazine covers to his credit, he never achieved the name and fame of his lengendary colleagues and masters Cecil Beaten and Horst P. Horst.

The introduction of American photographer John Rawlings to Vogue’s visual team in 1936 was certainly one of Conde Nast’s best strategic moves. At a time when opulence, pretentiousness, and theatrical lighting were prevalent in fashion photography – fueled by the European school led by the British Beaton, the German Horst, and the Russian Hoyningen-Huene – Nast and Vogue’s editor in chief Edna Woolman Chase decided they needed a change of direction and placed their bets on a talented but unknown twenty-four-year Midwesterner.

In two memos sent by Chase, one to her staff in 1937 and another to the photographers in 1938, she demanded more inf

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John Rawlings

Born: Ohio, U.S., 1912
Died: New York, U.S., 1970

John Rawlings was born in Ohio in 1912. He studied at the local Wesleyan University and relocated to New York after graduating in 1930.

For his first job, he became freelance store window dresser. It’s during that period that he discovered himself an interest for photography.

During the 1930s up to the early 1940s, he kept a list of his favorite models amongst which he favoured working with Dana Jenney, Helen Benett or Betty McLauchlen. However, one of his all time favorite was Meg Mundi, discovered in a waiting room at the CBS studio.

In 1936 he was hired by Condé Nast as a prop builder, a studio hand and an apprentice to both photographers Cecil Beaton and Horst P. Horst and was soon promoted first assistant to both of them. By September of that same year, he had his first pictures published in Vogue.

Rawlings explored new photographic and lightning techniques, experimenting with mirrors and combining natural and artificial sources of light.

His work was impressive and soon made its way into the internati

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John Rawlings, the photographer who changed fashion magazines forever

January 13, 2020

John Rawlings was a mid century fashion photographer who created portraits of just about every star of the 1940s and 50s you can name, from all realms of culture. He photographed Salvador Dali and Marlene Dietrich as well as many fashion models in the latest works by Dior, Schiaparelli and Hartnell.

Starting as an unappreciated assistant to the famous Vogue photographers, John Rawlings learned to surpass his mentors with a huge body of stunning work. His photograph of Cecil Beaton, now in the National Portrait Gallery, captures a quiet dignity in the usually flamboyant fashionista. He also turned standard advertising commissions into photographs that were real works of art.

Photo John Rawlings. Image via Pinterest.

He used studio lighting to create an incredible chiaroscuro effect, so his models appeared like sculptures and every detail of their clothes, hats and jewellery was clear. These are some photos from the 1940s.

This effect was even stronger when,