Appreciate John Rawlings

As I’ve been spending a lot of time reading about Richard Avedon, Audrey Hepburn, Dorian Leigh and all, another photographer who has been appearing over and over is John Rawlings.
After looking at an abundance of his photography and studying more
about his career, I realize why his name holds such impressive company…

In 1936, fashion photography was full of opulence, pretentiousness, and theatrical lighting – fueled by the European school led by the British Beaton, the German Horst, and the
Russian Hoyningen-Huene – Conde Nast and Vogue’s editor-in-chief Edna Woolman Chase made a brilliant decision to change their direction and work with a talented but unknown twenty-four-year-old Midwesterner…John Rawlings.

Rawlings worked with Conde Nast as a fashion photographer from the 30s through the 60s. He photographed over 200 Vogue and Glamour covers, and there are over 30,000 of his photos in his archive, which is now maintained by curator Kohle Yohannan (you may have heard of him and his Yonkers, NY castle – read more here).

“Rawlings was certainly the first major Conde Nast photographer to demonstrate a truly American eye ; John Rawlings’s photography has a practical, no nonsense feeling . He
focused his lens on the vibrant world surrounding him.” writes Charles Dare Scheips Jr., former director of the Conde Nast Archives, in his introduction to Kohle Yohannan’s book, John Rawlings: 30 Years in Vogue. “Rawlings brought a realistic visual style, presenting fashion as a force rather than a decoration.”

I think it is important to understand the breadth of his work and how much his work influenced – from beauty to fashion to portraits to still life. Rawlings brought women, fashion, celebrities,
and America to life in a new way that is still being appreciated today.