John Rawlings

Artist Biography

John Rawlings (1912-1970) was one of the most prolific art, prints and posters photographers of the 20th Century with more than 200 Vogue Magazine and Glamour Magazine covers to his credit as well as numerous ad campaigns and nude studies.

Rawlings' three-decade affiliation with Conde Nast began in 1936 when he was hired by the Vogue Studios as an apprenticed assistant working alongside many-legendary figures of photography such as Cecil Beaton Horst, P. Hors,t George Hoyningen-Huene, Irving Penn, and George Platt Lynes.

Though Rawlings early art, prints and posters for Conde Nast is clearly influenced by these figures by the late 1940s, he was experimenting with the compositional use of mirrors and reflective surfaces as well as the effect of combined natural and artificial light. This would eventually lead the art of fashion photography into a new and liberating direction during which time American style and fashion truly came into its own.

John Rawlings Art, Prints and Posters Collection