Scavullo, Francesco

▪ 2005

      American photographer (b. Jan. 16, 1921, Staten Island, N.Y.—d. Jan. 6, 2004, New York, N.Y.), developed the concept of the magazine “cover girl,” which celebrated the beauty of women and focused on sexuality and glamour, over the course of a half-century career, more than 30 years of which were spent shooting “Cosmo girl” covers for Cosmopolitan magazine. As an assistant to several world-famous photographers at Vogue, Scavullo developed techniques that would make him one of the most in-demand portrait photographers of his time; he used cloth filters or reflective surfaces with his light source to blur imperfections. Among his subjects were Farrah Fawcett, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Kim Basinger, and Madonna, as well as Brooke Shields in a famous and controversial photo as a child.

* * *