Francesco Scavullo Biography

Born: 16 January 1921, Staten Island, N.Y.

Died: 6 January 2004, New York, N.Y.

Somebody's got to come out for a view of life that is beautiful. I know there are times of unrest. But I also know there is beauty. - Francesco Scavullo

Francesco Scavullo was an American photographer known for his magazine covers for Cosmopolitan and Rolling Stone magazines. Scavullo used innovative lighting techniques to create a glamorous style, such as using pieces of cardboard as reflectors to highlight his models' faces, and using muslin sheets to reduce spotlight glare.

Francesco was interested in photography from a young age, dressing his sisters and friends to imitate movie stars of the era, and photographing them with his father's camera. After high school, Francesco Scavullo worked at a retail catalog studio, and followed that with stints at Harper's Bazaar, Seventeen, Town & Country, Ladies' Home Journal and McCall's. In 1955 he was hired by Vogue, and for the next 10 years, he photographed most of the leading stars of the day. In 1965 he was hired by Cosmopolitan magazine. It was at Cosmo, over the next three decades, that he did his best-known work. He also shot movie posters, album covers, and, occasionally, advertisements.

In 1952, Francesco Scavullo married model Carol McCallison. They divorced after only three years of marriage.

Sean M. Byrnes began assisting Scavullo in 1972. Bynes would remain with Scavullo both as editor/assistant and as life partner, until Scavullo's death more than 30 years later.

In 1981, Franceso Scavullo was diagnosed as manic-depressive. He claimed that this condition helped with his photography, and that his photography helped with his condition. He said "When I'm manic, everything is intensified. It's exciting and scary, my creativity peaks, my mind races. I work through the depressions photographing intensely." But he didn't display his mood swings to his subjects. They found him agreeable to work with.

Scavullo published his first book in 1976, Scavullo on Beauty, which became a bestseller. He later published collections of his work as Scavullo on Men (1977), Scavullo Women (1982), Scavullo (1984), and Scavullo: Photographs, 50 Years (1997). Scavullo's work is in the permanent collections of the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA, and the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, Texas.