Artist with the camera, the eye and the desire
These are striking, not to mention often familiar, images: Mikhail Baryshnikov in classical ballet gear; cool Lauren Hutton smoking a cigar; an oh-so-youthful-looking Brad Pitt. Celebrated as much as his celebrated subjects, behind the camera stands Francesco Scavullo. Portraits of the late American photographer in (mostly) black-and-white are currently on display at the Herakleidon, Experience in Visual Arts venue, a private museum in downtown Athens. Showcasing 90 works, the exhibition is part of the International Month of Photography and is organized in cooperation with the Francesco Scavullo Foundation and the Motion Picture Group. The exhibition follows previous stops in the United States and marks only the second time it is going on display outside the United States, following its international premiere at the Galleria Carla Sozzani in Milan in 2004. Essentially, the exhibition is a tribute to the man and his relationship with all that he felt was beautiful. «Francesco really wanted to bring out the best in everyone,» says Sean Byrnes, his partner in life and work of 30 years. Since Scavullo’s death, Byrnes has dedicated his efforts to keeping the Scavullo torch alive. «His main goal was to bring out the best in people. And almost sometimes bring out the soul in people. Most of his subjects came to give their best, because they trusted him and they knew that he would not make them look bad. He would try his utmost to make them look the best they ever looked.» «There is a picture of Barbra Streisand in the show that is amazing. I think he made her look more beautiful that she ever looked in her whole life. That’s why she booked him every five years to take her picture, because she wanted to see how she was aging – a genius idea.» Scavullo’s lifelong relationship with beauty was apparent from early on: At the movies with his grandfather one afternoon, young Francesco leapt up to kiss Greta Garbo on screen. There was obvious beauty, like the perfect looks of ill-fated model and great friend Gia Carangi, but also a celebration of all that is beautiful and powerful in the people we like and admire: Take the dark expression of Luchino Visconti, for instance. «He didn’t care if you were fat or skinny – he would just make you look great,» adds Byrnes. From the ladies who lunch to Hollywood and Andy Warhol’s Factory to rock stars and the supermodels, Scavullo captured a long-lasting era of affluence, excess, creativity, experimentation and style. And then there was Cosmo. «Fashion and sex – classy sex,» says Byrnes, of his and Scavullo’s contribution to the publication which led to 30 years of empowered Cosmo Girls covers, beginning in the early 1970s. Besides all the very familiar faces, Scavullo also shot commissioned portraits for private moments: members of the Kashoggi and al Fayed families, among others. He took pictures of friends and their children – a Brooke Shields on film when she was 5 months old. While in the 1960s the photographer sought simplicity, in 1974, he was behind the camera for the first-ever black cover girl of American Vogue, Beverly Johnson. Besides endless magazine covers, Scavullo developed a series of much-coveted photo silkscreens. Then came the books: «Scavullo Women» and «Scavullo on Beauty,» among others. «I learnt a lot from Francesco. He really was a Renaissance man,» says Byrnes. «I’d put him on the level of a great artist who could do many things in the modern world.» Multifaceted Scavullo could be at the same time a photographer, a director of commercials, an actor, a painter. He enjoyed throwing lavish parties and assisted friends on various projects (for a month he coached Margaux Hemingway for her role in »Lipstick»). There were great times as well as lows, the latter largely courtesy of his manic depression, with crises occurring when asked to execute extremely difficult assignments. «He was told when he was 25 that he had arthritis in his whole body, and that he could never walk. You know what he did? He got up and went to Switzerland and started skiing and then he bought a horse and started riding the horse. He beat arthritis by going macrobiotic, carrying food with him to parties in silver tins,» says Byrnes. Despite his health, Scavullo lived life to the fullest. «Oh yes, he was a happy person,» says Byrnes. «I think that when we were together I think he was really really happy. We had many great things together, the books, we were very good for each other.» «He always said to people: ‘You can give anybody a camera, you can take a picture with any camera if you have an eye. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter if you have the best equipment in the world and the best assistants, you will not take a good picture,’» says Byrnes. In Scavullo’s case, the eye was accompanied by a voracious appetite for work and refusing to change his style. Spanning more than five decades, his impressive body of work is defined by his own lighting technique which led him to get as close to daylight as possible. Credited by many with changing the face of beauty in the 20th century, for the unstoppable New Yorker it all came down to doing what he liked best. «I get a kick out of photography,» he used to say. »I love it. I live for it. I don’t look back. I don’t look ahead. I just look around.» Herakleidon, Experience in Visual Arts: 16 Herakleidon, Thiseion, tel 210.346.1981. Opening hours: Mon-Sun 1-9 p.m. To December 2. The man behind the lens You want names? Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Mick Jagger, Sting, Janis Joplin, Diana Ross, Luciano Pavarotti, Lena Horne, Deborah Harry, David Bowie, Lauren Bacall, Sophia Lauren, Liza Minnelli, Faye Dunaway, Susan Sarandon, Elizabeth Taylor, Glenn Close, Bette Midler, Bette Davis, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Newman, Isabella Rossellini, Muhammad Ali and Salvador Dali – just some of Francesco Scavullo’s portrait material. Born on Staten Island, NY, in 1921, Scavullo moved to Manhattan at the age of 6, where his father owned a chic supper club. From a very young age, Scavullo showed an interest in fashion, turning his little sisters into movie stars. He made his photographic debut in his early teens, before entering the fashion world via a catalog studio. He moved to Vogue, where for three years he assisted Horst P. Horst. He was 19 when Seventeen published his first cover and went on to a successful career in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1952, he married model Carol McCallson; the marriage lasted five years. In 1965, Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown invited the photographer to revamp the magazine’s covers. Scavullo’s works are part of various permanent collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MOMA. In the early 1980s, Scavullo was diagnosed as a manic depressive. He died in January 2004 of heart failure. Partner in life and work The lifetime relationship between Sean Byrnes and Francesco Scavullo began in 1971. Fascinated by the photographer’s Cosmopolitan covers, Byrnes became Cosmo’s creative/fashion director and photo editor from 1973 to 2000. From 1974 to 1979, the duo also collaborated with Andy Warhol’s Interview. Under Grace Mirabella, Byrnes became creative and fashion director at American Vogue from 1980 to 1983. Over the years, Byrnes assisted Scavullo in countless assignments for major publications, including Harper’s Bazaar, Seventeen, Vogue (Italia), Vogue (Nippon), Vogue (France), Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper’s and Queen, Rolling Stone, Town and Country, Newsweek, Time and L’Officiel.
