John Rawling
(1912 - 1970)
John Rawlings was born in Ohio in 1912. He studied at the local Wesleyan University, and in 1930 upon graduation he relocated to New York. He worked as a freelance store window dresser and during this time discovered his interest in photography. In 1936 he was hired by Conde Nast as prop builder, studio hand, and apprentice to photographers Beaton and Horst.
Rawlings was soon promoted to first assistant to both photographers and had his first photograph published in the September 15 issue of Vogue. In 1937, Conde Nast offered him a job at the British Vogue studio in London where he worked until early 1940s. During his training in England, Rawlings had the opportunity to explore new photographic and lighting techniques. He started to experiment with mirrors, and combining natural and artificial lighting. Rawlings work during his first months in London was so impressive that many of his British editorial pages found their way in the international circulation of both French and American Vogue.
Though Rawlings restricted himself to sets in his prewar fashion photography, his models acted with casual allure. The photographer's recently rediscovered archive includes photographs of stage, screen, and society stars of the 1940s and 1950s, including Marlene Dietrich, Salvador Dali, Veronica Lake, Bridget Bate Tichenor and Montgomery Cliff. In 1945, Rawlings turned to New York and opened his own studio where he adopted the natural light, locations, and sunny models especially favored by the American magazines. Through the 1960s, Rawlings contributed to American Vogue and took advertising commissions. With his informative style, Rawlings was an acknowledged groundbreaker in fashion photography. During this time, Rawlings achieved a fresher, more American and lifestyle-driven look. He was the first American photographer to shed fashion in this way. Like many of the photographers of that time, Rawlings had a list of favorite models. During the late 1930s and the early 1940s these included Dana Jenney, Helen Bennett and Betty Mclauchlen. Meg Mundy, whom he discovered in a waiting room at the CBS studios, proved to be an all-time favorite of his.
Rawlings became the first photographer to systematically associate fashion with Hollywood celebrities. Rawlings is one of the most prolific and important photographers of the twentieth century, with more than two hundred Vogue and Glamour covers to his credit. He showed fashion in a direct, informational way that combined beauty with clarity. Rawlings single-handedly elevated commercial photography to an art form, and expanded the selling power and scope of the fashion press. Previously, magazine covers were staid and uninspired, and were shot solely in black and white. Rawlings' glamorous shots utilized light, reflections and color, permeated with the rich mystique of an underlying storyline.
John Rawlings died in 1970 at the age of fifty-eight. Rawlings spent the last years of his life with the fashion designer Adri. Adri donated his archive to the Fashion Institute of Technology, which, in collaboration with Cond 1/8 Nast Publications, mounted the exhibition, ''John Rawlings: 30 Years in Vogue,'' which was also the title of a book published by Arena Editions. This retrospective of the photographer's work, curated by Kohle Yohannan and Irving Solero, was opened on June 12, 2001.
