ProfileMark Shaw (June 25, 1921 – January 26, 1969) was an American fashion and celebrity photographer in the 1950s and 1960s. He worked for Life magazine from 1952 to 1968, during which time 27 issues of Life carried cover photos by Shaw. Shaw's work also appeared in Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Mademoiselle, and many other publications. He is best known for his photographs of John F. Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline Kennedy, and their children, Caroline and John F. Kennedy, Jr. In 1964, many of these images were published in the book The John F. Kennedys: A Family Album, which became a bestseller. BiographyMark Shaw was born Mark Schlossman to working-class parents of Eastern European heritage in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. His mother was a seamstress and his father a sales man. They divorced while Shaw was still a boy. Later he attended New York University, where he studied industrial design, and Pratt Institute, where he studied engineering and likely was exposed to photography as well. In 1942, a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Shaw enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force as Mark Schlossman(His mother and he later changed their surname from Schlossman to Shaw), recording his occupation at enlistment as "photographer". He served as a pilot throughout World War II, and was highly decorated, flying fighters with the British forces in the North African Campaign and later flying transports over The Hump from India to China. Due to his expertise with multiengine planes, he was then assigned to Russian General Georgy Zhukov as his personal pilot. Shaw also flew one of the escort planes accompanying General Douglas MacArthur on his way to Tokyo to accept the Japanese surrender. After the war, Shaw began his professional photography career in New York City, managing the photographic studio at Harper's Bazaar, where he came under the influence and mentorship of art director Alexey Brodovitch. From 1946 to 1948, Shaw did fashion photography for Harper's Bazaar and began acquiring advertising clients as well. In 1949, Shaw married Geraldine "Geri" Trotta, who was a professional fashion and travel writer for several publications including Mademoiselle. The couple bought a brownstone on the East side of midtown Manhattan. Shaw established his photography studio in a carriage house behind their home. Starting in 1951, Shaw contributed fashion images to Mademoiselle. In 1952, Shaw became a freelance photographer for Life magazine and preferred freelancing throughout his career so that he could retain the rights to all of his work—a goal which he was able to achieve even with his most famous images. His wife Trotta's connections further expanded Mark's access to celebrities and public figures, and his career flourished. Freelancing on over 100 assignments for Life, Shaw photographed many actresses, actors, politicians, and other celebrities, while also frequently working photo shoots in the fashion industry. He was the first photographer to portray the Paris fashion collections backstage in color. In 1953, probably because of his fashion experience, Shaw was assigned to photograph the young actress Audrey Hepburn during the filming of Paramount's Sabrina. Evasive at first, Hepburn became comfortable with Shaw's presence over a two-week period and allowed him to record many of her casual and private moments. This produced some of his best-known images, though most of the negatives were subsequently lost for many years. Life published several of these photos in the December 7, 1953 issue, which also carried a Shaw cover of Hepburn. The revealing, true-to-life photos that Mark took of Audrey are typical of his work and his photographic philosophy. He called his favorite pictures "snapshots." He preferred shooting on location to shooting in a studio—even though most of his financial success came from big ad campaigns, much of which was studio work. He liked a natural look and in order to keep his subjects relaxed he worked with as little photographic equipment as possible. Also during the 1950s, Shaw and fellow fashion and portrait photographer Richard Avedon contributed concurrently to a well-known, long-running ad campaign for Vanity Fair lingerie. Shaw won numerous Art Directors Club awards for his creative images in this campaign. By the late 1950s, Shaw's career was reaching its zenith. Among the famous figures he photographed were Brigitte Bardot, Cary Grant, Danny Kaye, Grace Kelly, Nico, Pablo Picasso, Yves St. Laurent, Elizabeth Taylor, and many others. In 1957 Shaw portrayed fashion designer Coco Chanel, actress Jeanne Moreau, and model Suzy Parker during a single shoot in Chanel's Paris apartment and fashion house. Life published several of these photos with a story on Chanel that appeared in the issue of August 19, 1957 (which was also Chanel's birthday). In 1959, Life chose Shaw to photograph Jacqueline Kennedy while her husband, Senator John F. Kennedy, was running for president. This assignment was the beginning of an enduring working relationship and personal friendship with the Kennedys that would eventually lead to Shaw's acceptance as the Kennedys' de facto "family photographer". He visited them at the White House and at Hyannisport; during this time he produced his most famous photographs, portraying the couple and their children in both official and casual settings. In 1964, Shaw published a collection of these images in his book The John F. Kennedys: A Family Album, which was very successful. In 1960, Shaw and his first wife Geri Trotta divorced. He and singer Pat Suzuki married on March 28, 1960. They had a son, David, two years later, and divorced in February 1965. Late in his career Shaw also worked in film, directing numerous television commercials for major companies. On January 26, 1969, Shaw died at his New York City apartment. His death was initially reported as a heart attack. An autopsy later revealed that Shaw had died of "acute and chronic intravenous amphetamine poisoning". At the time of his death, Shaw was being treated by physician Dr. Max Jacobson. Nicknamed "Dr. Feelgood" and "Miracle Max", Jacobson administered "vitamin shots" that consisted of a mixture of multivitamins, steroids, animal organ cells, hormones, placenta, bone marrow, and high doses of amphetamine to a number of high-profile celebrity clients. Shaw's death drew attention to Jacobson's practice which was publicly exposed in the media in December 1972. Jacobson eventually lost his medical license in 1975. Following Shaw's death, his estate, including his large body of photographic work, passed to his two ex-wives. In 1994, Shaw's son David Shaw and his wife Juliet Cuming took over management of Mark Shaw's photographic legacy and later purchased Geri Trotta's share of the collection. In 1999, they established the Mark Shaw Photographic Archive, in East Dummerston, Vermont, which is now the sole legal proprietor of Mark Shaw images. The Archive itself is housed in an off-the-grid straw-bale structure which they built themselves following sustainable principles. The building is powered by wind and solar energy. In December 2005, a few months after Geri Trotta, Mark Shaw's first wife's death, the long-lost negatives from 60 rolls of film Mark Shaw had shot on his 1953 Audrey Hepburn assignment were found in Trotta's residence. Selections from these rediscovered images were published in 2009 in the book Charmed by Audrey: Life on the Set of Sabrina. Further interest
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ProfileFiona Frances Elaine Campbell-Walter, formerly Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva, (born 25 June 1932) is a New Zealand-born British model. She had a successful career in the 1950s, and one of the three greatest British models of their time together with Barbara Goalen and Anne Gunningn. Named the most beautiful model of Vogue, Fiona Campbell was photographed by Henry Clarke, Cecil Beaton, Norman Parkinson, Henry Paisley, George’s Dambier, etc. Fiona Campbell-Walter became the third Baroness Thyssen after marrying Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva. Biography1932 Fiona Campbell-Walter (born Fiona Frances Elaine Campbell-Walter) was born on 25 June 1932 in Auckland, New Zealand. 1950s In the 1950s, Fiona was one of the most famous and photographed models, as the favorite muse of Cecil Beaton, she was also the protagonist under the camera of other famed photographers like Henry Clarke, John French, David Bailey, Norman Parkingson etc. As one of the top models of her day, she did not just appear in the major women's magazines like Vogue, but also the salons of the top Couturiers like Christian Dior, and Jacques Fath and Elsa Schiaparelli. 1956: Baroness von Thyssen On 17 September 1956, in a small Italian village of Castagnola, Fiona was married to Baron Hans Henrik Agost Gabor Tasso Friherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kaszon et Imperfalva, mostly known as Heini von Thyssen, who was heir to a fortune made from steel and arms, and a major art collector whose collection was said to be second only to Queen Elizabeth II. After her marriage, she lived with her husband in Villa Favorita beside Lake of Lugano, a life of elegance, culture and power. She had two children with Heini von Thyssen, one daughter named Francesca in 1958, and a son Lorne in 1963, and not long afterwards, she divorced her husband and moved to London with her two children. Since 1969, Fiona was involved romantically with Alexandre Onassis, the son of Aristote Onassis. who tried to stop the love affair because Fiona was 16b years older than his son Alexandre, but after the death of Alexandre in January 1973, he realized the two never really parted. Named the most beautiful model of Vogue, Fiona Campbell-Walter had a relative short career, mostly in the 1950s before her marriage, and occassionlly in the 1960s after her divorce, but she remained one of the greatest British models in that epoque, together with Barbara Goalen and Anne Gunning. And during her short career, Fiona von Thyssen, she has worked with most of the greatest photographers of her time: Henry Clarke, Cecil Beaton, Norman Parkinson, Henry Paisley, Georges Dambier, John Deakin, Frances McLaughlin-Gilln, John French, Milton Greene, and David Bailey. Further interestArticles:
David Mackenzie Ogilvy CBE (23 June 1911 – 21 July 1999) was a British advertising tycoon, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, and known as the "Father of Advertising". Trained at the Gallup research organisation, he attributed the success of his campaigns to meticulous research into consumer habits. BiographyDavid Mackenzie Ogilvy was born on 23 June 1911 at West Horsley, Surrey in England. His mother was daughter of a civil servant from Ireland. His father was a stockbroker. He was a first cousin once removed of the writer Rebecca West and of Douglas Holden Blew Jones, who was the brother-in-law of Freda Dudley Ward and the father-in-law of Antony Lambton, 6th Earl of Durham. Ogilvy attended St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, on reduced fees because of his father's straitened circumstances and won a scholarship at age thirteen to Fettes College, in Edinburgh. In 1929, he again won a scholarship, this time in History to Christ Church, Oxford. His studies were not successful, however, and he left Oxford for Paris in 1931 where he became an apprentice chef in the Hotel Majestic. After a year, he returned to Scotland and started selling AGA cooking stoves, door-to-door. His success at this marked him out to his employer, who asked him to write an instruction manual, The Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA Cooker, for the other salesmen. Thirty years later, Fortune magazine editors called it the finest sales instruction manual ever written. After seeing the manual, Ogilvy's older brother Francis Ogilvy—the father of actor Ian Ogilvy—showed the manual to management at the London advertising agency Mather & Crowther where he was working. They offered the younger Ogilvy a position as an account executive. In 1938, Ogilvy persuaded his agency to send him to the United States for a year, where he went to work for George Gallup's Audience Research Institute in New Jersey. Ogilvy cites Gallup as one of the major influences on his thinking, emphasizing meticulous research methods and adherence to reality. During World War II, Ogilvy worked for the British Intelligence Service at the British embassy in Washington, DC. There he analyzed and made recommendations on matters of diplomacy and security. Eisenhower’s Psychological Warfare Board picked up the report and successfully put Ogilvy’s suggestions to work in Europe during the last year of the war. Also during World War II David Ogilvy was a notable alumnus of the secret Camp X, located near the towns of Whitby and Oshawa in Ontario, Canada. After the war, Ogilvy bought a farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and lived among the Amish. The atmosphere of "serenity, abundance, and contentment" kept Ogilvy and his wife in Pennsylvania for several years, but eventually he admitted his limitations as a farmer and moved to Manhattan. Having worked as a chef, researcher, and farmer, Ogilvy now started his own advertising agency with the backing of Mather and Crowther, the London agency being run by his elder brother, Francis, which later acquired another London agency, S.H. Benson. The new agency in New York was called Ogilvy, Benson, and Mather. David Ogilvy had just $6,000 ($59,726.72 in 2016 dollars) in his account when he started the agency. He writes in Confessions of an Advertising Man that, initially, he struggled to get clients. Ogilvy & Mather was built on David Ogilvy's principles; in particular, that the function of advertising is to sell and that successful advertising for any product is based on information about its consumer. He disliked advertisements that had loud patronizing voices, and believed a customer should be treated as intelligent. In 1955, he coined the phrase, "The customer is not a moron, she's your wife" based on these values. His entry into the company of giants started with several iconic advertising campaigns: former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, did a commercial for Good Luck Margarine in 1959. In his autobiography, Ogilvy On Advertising, he said it had been a mistake to persuade her to do the ad – not because it was undignified, but because he had grown to realize that putting celebs in ads is a mistake. "Pablo Casals is coming home – to Puerto Rico", a campaign which Ogilvy said helped change the image of a country, and was his proudest achievement. One of his greatest successes was "Only Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream". This campaign helped Dove become the top selling soap in the U.S Ogilvy believed that the best way to get new clients was to do notable work for his existing clients. Success in his early campaigns helped Ogilvy get big clients such as Rolls-Royce and Shell. New clients followed and Ogilvy's company grew quickly. He was widely hailed as "The Father of Advertising" In 1962, Time called him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry". Ogilvy & Mather linked with H.H.D Europe in 1972. In 1973, Ogilvy retired as Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather and moved to Touffou, his estate in France. The Château de Touffou is a castle, converted into a mansion, in the commune of Bonnes 18 km east of Poitiers, 3 km north of Chauvigny in the Vienne département and on a long tall bank of the River Vienne, France. The château was constructed over several centuries. The Medieval Wing includes Romanesque and gothic elements (the keep). The east half dates back to the 12th century while the west half was constructed in the early 15th century. The Renaissance Wing was added during the 16th century by the Chasteigner family. The main difference between these two epochs in castle construction is that in the Middle Ages, a castle was built for defense. In the Renaissance however, a castle was a home for nobles. Rather than defense and protection, the castle-dwellers in the Renaissance strived for classy, fashionable residences. Today, the Medieval Wing is used to accommodate large business meetings and seminars, and the Renaissance Wing is the private residence of the castle proprietor. The castle has been privately owned throughout its existence. It passed from the Oger family (1127-1280) to the Montléon family (1280-1519) and eventually to the Chasteigner family (1519-1821). Jean Chasteigner III, a Chamberlain to Francis I, oversaw most of the castle’s renovation in the early Renaissance. Once the Chasteigners sold the castle, Touffou changed hands several times, finally being purchased in 1966 by David Ogilvy from the "de Vergie family". The castle is still owned by the Ogilvy family, even after David's death in 1999. In 1923 the castle was recognized as a monument historique, and in 2004 its gardens were classified as among the Notable Gardens of France by the French Ministry of Culture. While no longer involved in the agency's day-to-day operations, he stayed in touch with the company. His correspondence so dramatically increased the volume of mail handled in the nearby town of Bonnes that the post office was reclassified at a higher status and the postmaster's salary raised. “IT TAKES A BIG IDEA TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF CONSUMERS AND GET THEM TO BUY YOUR PRODUCT. UNLESS YOUR ADVERTISING CONTAINS A BIG IDEA, IT WILL PASS LIKE A SHIP IN THE NIGHT. I DOUBT IF MORE THAN ONE CAMPAIGN IN A HUNDRED CONTAINS A BIG IDEA.” Ogilvy came out of retirement in the 1980s to serve as chairman of Ogilvy, Benson, & Mather in India. He also spent a year acting as temporary chairman of the agency’s German office, commuting weekly between Touffou and Frankfurt. He visited branches of the company around the world, and continued to represent Ogilvy & Mather at gatherings of clients and business audiences. In 1989, The Ogilvy Group was bought by WPP Group, a British parent company, for US$864 million in a hostile takeover made possible by the fact that the company group had made an IPO as the first company in marketing to do so. During the takeover procedures, Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder of WPP, was described by Ogilvy as an "odious little shit", and he promised to never work again. Eventually he became a fan of Sorrell, and he was quoted as saying, 'When he tried to take over our company, I would liked to have killed him. But it was not legal. I wish I had known him 40 years ago. I like him enormously now.' Ogilvy was made a Commander of the Order of British Empire (CBE) in 1967. He was elected to the U.S. Advertising Hall of Fame in 1977 and to France's Order of Arts and Letters in 1990. He chaired the Public Participation Committee for Lincoln Center in Manhattan and served as a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 100th Anniversary Committee. He was appointed Chairman of the United Negro College Fund in 1968, and trustee on the Executive Council of the World Wildlife Fund in 1975. Mr. Ogilvy was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1979. David Ogilvy died on 21 July 1999 at his home, the Château de Touffou, in Bonnes, France. Further interestWebsites: Articles: THE 10 BEST DAVID OGILVY QUOTES ACCORDING TO BRIO![]() David Ogilvy was a pretty smart dude. Often called the father of advertising, he’s responsible for some of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time – success he attributes to his meticulous research into consumer habits. His philosophies on creativity and brand identity are legend, and many believe he is the inspiration for Don Draper, Jon Hamm’s character in Mad Men. In addition to building a wildly successful advertising empire, he also wrote numerous books, each containing their fair share of pearls of wisdom. read full article 10 Rules for Writing from David Ogilvy![]() For over a half century, David Ogilvy was the dapper executive behind New York’s powerhouse marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather. He was also the original “Mad Man,” a martini-slugging, pipe-puffing male now personified by Don Draper and idealized by a generation of guys who, like myself, have gone on one too many outings to Pottery Barn. full article |
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