John Swope (August 23, 1908 – May 11, 1979) was a photographer for Life,[1][2] and a commercial pilot who trained United States Army Air Forces pilots during World War II.[2]
John Swope | |
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Born | |
Died | May 11, 1979 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 70)
Known for | Photography |
Spouse | |
Children | 2, including Topo Swope |
Website | www |
He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1908.[3]
He attended Harvard University in 1930. There, he joined the theatrical group University Players, where Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan and Joshua Logan were also members.[4]
His interest in photography began when he brought a camera to a yacht race from Los Angeles to Hawaii in 1936.[3]
Together with Leland Hayward and John H. Connelly, he co-founded Southwest Airways (no connection to the present day Southwest Airlines), a company that developed the Thunderbird Fields, which trained thousands of military pilots during the Second World War.[2][5]
He was married to actress Dorothy McGuire in 1943 until his death on May 11, 1979.[citation needed] Together they had two children.
He started his career by documenting federal housing projects, a part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal Program.[6]
1936 — He worked as an assistant to Leland Heyward.[7]
1938 — He was commissioned to photograph the work of nurses in Harlem and the Lower East Side by Henry Street Settlement House.[3]
1939 — He was assigned by Harper's Bazaar in South America with Joshua Logan.[3]
1941 — He began training Aviation cadets in Thunderbird Airfield right after he joined the Army.[6]
1942 — He collaborated with John Steinbeck on an illustrated book, Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team, which documented the training of army cadets.[6]
1945 — He joined the Naval Reserve as a photographer. His first assignment, in June 1945, was to photograph an overseas military flight from Maryland to Paris.[8]
1946 — Began his freelancing career again after his discharge from the Navy. He produced a theatrical play at the La Jolla Playhouse.[6]
1975 — Photographed palaces of the maharajahs in India for the James Ivory book, Autobiography of a Princess[9]
John Swope broke the mold of Hollywood's glamour shots when he burst in the scene in 1936.[10] What makes his work unique is how he used available light, shot from unusual angles, and informal portraits. This might come from his influence of Mondrian's use of linear space.[11]
Swope was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1908. ... died in Los Angeles in 1979.
They enlisted John Swope, a commercial pilot and photographer who had once shared a bachelor pad with Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda and who would later collaborate with John Steinbeck on the book Bombs Away.