Recognized as one of the most talented and influential fashion photographers of our time, Francesco Scavullo was such a masterful portrait photographer that the Washington Post once declared him, "the court painter of our time."
     A life-long New Yorker, Scavullo was born in Staten Island on January 16, 1921. When he was six, his family moved to Manhattan. At a young age, it became evident that he was fascinated by images of beauty. The aspiring young photographer began by taking snapshots with his father's camera, drafting his sisters as models. As his skill improved, he worked on posing and dressing them to look like glamorous movie stars.
     While still in his teens, Francesco Scavullo's first professional photography job required that he take pictures of passengers as they boarded cruise ships. He found the exercise exceptionally boring, however, one day without notice, he experienced a transitional moment in his life when he spotted, and then captured on film, the glamorous movie star, Carmen Miranda.
     Motivated by both photography and fashion, Scavullo worked at Vogue magazine and found himself working alongside prominent fashion photographers, Cecil Beaton, John Rawlings, and Horst P. Horst. His talent recognizable, Horst invited him to become his assistant, a position he held for 3 years, during which time he studied his mentoršs methods assiduously, learning how to employ camera angles and lighting techniques that would become a part of his indelible style.
     At just 19 years old, Scavullo created his first cover photo. It was for a 1948 issue of Seventeen and it so impressed the editors of the magazine that they immediately signed him to contract. Throughout the 1950s and early '60s, Scavullo was in high demand for fashion photography, but a turning point came in 1965 when Cosmopolitan editor, Helen Gurley Brown sought him out to develop a new, sexier look for the magazine's covers. Taking complete charge by selecting models, wardrobe, make-up, and hair styling - in addition to plying his matchless photographic skills - Scavullo successfully created the image that was forever to become known as "the Cosmo girl."
     As his technique matured, it was clear that Francesco Scavullo brought a new sensibility to fashion photography, celebrating the sexuality of women and the strength of their desires. He went on to shoot every Cosmopolitan cover for the next thirty years. Scavullo created memorable images for movie posters including one of Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson for A Star is Born (1976), and for Broadway shows such as a portrait of Julie Andrews in Blake Edwards's Victor Victoria (1995). Mikhail Baryshnikov engaged Scavullo to photograph the dancers of the American Ballet Theatre in motion for a 1981 program. The stunning shots were so popular that they formed the basis of an exhibition that was shown in a nationwide tour.
     Over the years, Scavullo created portraits of a long list of celebrities including Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Cher, Mick Jagger, Luciano Pavarotti, Gloria Vanderbilt, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sissy Spacek, Diana Ross, Brooke Shields, Madonna, Kim Bassinger, Barbara Streisand, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger among many, many others. His photography has been reproduced and published in six books - "Scavullo," "Scavullo on Beauty," "Scavullo on Men," "Scavullo Women," "Scavullo: Photographs 50 Years," and "Scavullo Nudes." In addition, his original photographs are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Guggenheim and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
     Francesco Scavullo worked until the very end of his life, and both his passion for photography and his artistry remained strong. He died in New York on January 6, 2004.