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Tony Vaccaro: A Lens Into History

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Tony Vaccaro's home offers every visitor a quick glimpse into contemporary history. Living in a spacious house in the heart of Brooklyn, the 93 year-old photographer's residence resembles to a messy junk shop. Countless piles of old papers and memorabilia occupy every corner of the house. But don't rush to set out, you may find yourself surrounded by familiar faces.
Images may include World War II Gen. Patton and Sophia Lauren or Ms. Roosevelt and Charlie Chaplin.

But with 2,000 portraits of famous figures and 75 years of photography career, chances are you would recognize someone."I decided to photograph portraits of famous people because I always thought that those people who do something for mankind deserve a good portrait," Vacarro said in an interview at his residence. "Those people may have died long time ago, but gave mankind something special."

Vaccaro made his debut as a professional photographer in the battlefield frontlines. With one hand he held the gun and with the other the camera, trying to depict what he witnessed: a world of fighting, blood, and death. It was the World War II era, and the 18-years-old student had been enlisted to serve in the 83rd Infantry Division.

An artistic student with a promising talent in sculpture and photography, Vaccaro had tried to join The Cigna Corp after enlisting, but he was turned down for being "too young."

Vaccarro had to come to terms with the idea of not becoming an official war photographer. Instead fighting as a regular soldier, who carried a camera, proved a blessing and not a major setback.
Fighting the war gave him the opportunity to get in the heart of the battlefield and witness the action as it was unfolding. Amidst the echoing sound of machine guns and fighting, Vaccaro was taking his shots. The result was a photo collection documenting a unit's advance from the beaches of Normandy to Berlin. His pictures were later described as some of the most realistic, graphic, and even roughest ones of the war.

But before taking pictures, Vacarro had to find a way for carrying his camera ashore. The 83rd Infantry Division had camped into Southampton of England in preparation for the invasion of Normandy.
While everyone was preparing for the landing, Vacarro used 10 layers of cellophane to wrap and tie his camera.

The next day the wind was blowing. The soldiers of the unit waited patiently until the northern coastline of France appeared in the horizon. Vacarro hold on tight to the small cellophane package. He closed his eyes and jumped into the deep sea.

Vacarro and his camera survived the day. As he was leaving, he turned back and stared at the choppy waters of the bloody shore. He had just got a first taste of the war. What seemed, however, to disturb him was that he lacked the necessary equipment for producing his photos.

They left Normandy behind and proceeded into the French mainland until their way led them to a destroyed village called Santini. As they approached the outskirts of the village, Vaccaro saw camera advertising on a wall.

"I said my God that place was a camera store. Let me see if I can find anything. And I found cameras, I found films, developers and everything else that you can imagine," Vaccaro recounted. "So I took a sack of everything."

The war was still going on. As the 83rd Infantry Unit roamed France and proceeded to Belgium, Luxemburg, and Berlin, Vacarro used his camera to immortalize the pain, misery, and destruction that conflict had left behind.

Using his 35mm Argus C3 camera and the supplies of Santini's destroyed camera store, he took more than 8,000 photographs of combat and life after war.

One of his most iconic and world acclaimed pictures of war is a shot of joy and life. A photo depicting an American soldier kneeling to hug a French girl while a group of young children are dancing in a revolving circle.

Postproduction was among the most demanding tasks for Vaccaro during the war. Taking the decision to work as a not officially sanctioned photographer deprived him of the ability to have a dark room at his disposal. Improvisation and creativity was his only available options.

After asking persistently, he convinced his fellow soldiers to let him borrow their helmets. When he found enough helmets, he used them as containers for blending the processing chemicals and producing his photos.

Learning to take initiative and using imagination for solving problems was not a new experience for Vaccaro. When he was mixing the chemicals in the quietness of the darkness, the young soldier starred at the light of stars. His mind traveled in the past, where he had to learn to deal with his problems alone at for a very young age.

Vaccaro was born from Italian parents on the 20th of December 1922 in Greensburg Pennsylvania. His father, a well-established businessman, was providing services for the city's highways.
Life was going well for the immigrant family until one afternoon Vaccaro's father returned home and announced to his wife that she must take their three children and return to their native Bonefro village in Italy.

It was the 1930s, and the powerful local mafia branch was pressing senior Vacarro to concede his business and let them reap the highway profits. Worried for the safety of his family, Vaccaro father decided to send them back to the homeland.

When word got to America, his father was devastated. Not being able to stand the loss of his beloved wife, Vaccaro's father passed away before returning to Italy and reuniting with his children. The three orphans spent their childhood in Bonefro living with their elder grandmother.

When war erupted in Europe, 13 year old Vaccaro attempted to escape Italy's fascist regime. He left the village and traveled alone to the American Consul General in Rome for obtaining a U.S. passport. Consulate employees informed him that it would take up to one week for his passport to get issued.

During this week, Vaccaro paid a visit to Vatican, where he wondered and marveled at the cultural treasures of the city.

"I entered the museum and I saw a Greek sculpture; no legs, no arms, no head, just the torso. But the torso was so carved and powerful," Vaccaro remembered. "When I saw that I said, 'oh my God you can do so much with marble, I want to become a sculptor.'"

When he returned to America and settled down at this aunt house in New Rochelle, N.Y., the image of the sculpture was still in his mind.

He attended the local Isaac E. Young High School and demonstrated quickly a talent in sculpture and arts in general. One of his school masterpieces, which he stills keeps at his house, was a statue bust of Lincoln. But one professor's advice was meant to change the course of his life.

"I show that (Lincoln statue) to Mr. Lewis," Vaccaro explained.

"Tony this is wonderful, but I have been watching you. I think photography is better for you because I have never seen a boy that has so many ideas like the ones you want to do with photography," was Mr. Lewis advice to Vaccaro.

When he was discharged from the army, Vaccaro stayed in Europe, where he worked as a photographer for various publications, documenting the aftermath of war and life recovery. He returned to America without a specific plan, wondering what he should do next with his life."I began to think that here I risked my life for America and I really did not know anything about it. So I decided to travel from New York to go around America and come back," Vaccaro explained. "One day I filled my second-hand Chevrolet with gas, suitcases, few suits, socks, and things, and left for the West Coast to find out about America."

He drove westward exploring the heart of the "unknown" American mainland.

During his trip, Vaccaro stopped randomly at local towns, cities and farms, observing the land and the people. After endless hours of driving, he encountered the Pacific sea. It occurred to him that he had an aunt living in San Diego. So he decided to settle down with her for a couple of months and begin to learn how the Americans were living.

One thing that he quickly learned was that every Sunday Americans buy the Sunday papers. So one morning he decided to go himself and buy the Sunday papers without telling his cousin.

While he was browsing the pages, he saw the cover of a magazine that drew his attention. Without hesitation, he grasped the paper and rushed at home for preparing his luggage. His trip to east coast had come to an end.

Once again Vaccaro found himself back at New Rochelle. He went to the darkroom and assembled a special portfolio for Flair. When he polished his pictures, he headed towards Manhattan.

Vaccaro had not forgotten D Day, the war, and the concentration camps. Memories of death and horror were still alive. So he wanted to move forward by changing chapter in his career as photographer.

"Anything after that (the war) was life. More than anything I wanted to celebrate life; to surround myself with beauty," he explained.

Vaccaro was not the only one who wanted to leave the gloomy past behind. Postwar years were the era of color, lifestyle, and explosion of magazine industry.

When he arrived at 488 Madison Avenue, he went to see Fleur Cowles, the legendary founder of Flair Magazine.

"Fleur saw my pictures and they were all about World War II. And she said 'I don't need a combat photographer. I need a fashion photographer. Have you ever done fashion?'" Vaccaro remembered.

It happened that he had done only one fashion story for the weekend magazine of Star and Stripes. Unfortunately, he could not show her the pictures because his work was back in Europe.

But Vaccaro agreed to take on the challenge to photograph three models. Cowles was not content with the final product. So Vaccaro shot again the photos and came back the next day until he convinced her to take a shot on him. They finally became not only colleagues, but also dear friends.

Flair opened for Vaccaro the window of opportunity. Very soon he expanded his portfolio and became a portrait and fashion photographer. In the three decades that followed, 40s, 50s and 60s, he worked for some of the most well esteemed magazines such as Look, Life, and Flair.

During the legendary magazine years, Vaccaro shot more than 2000 pictures, taking photos of artists, starlets, and politicians. Some of them include Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, and John F. Kennedy.

Vaccaro's talent to meet and befriend interesting people provided him with a steady feed of photo assignments. One of his favorite spots, where he used to spend his free time, was Cedar Tavern; a Greenwich bar that had become a gathering place of many prominent beat writers and abstract expressionist painters.

Some of his Cedar Tavern friends and portrait subjects were alternative artist; well known into Greenwich circles, but not big names into the popular culture. Some, however, of his friends were worldwide famous by their first name. One of these guys was going by the name Pablo.

Most photographers knew that Picasso tended to pose for his pictures. But Vaccaro wanted to depict a real Pablo moment, so he crafted a plan. While they were chilling at Picasso's balcony, watching the sunset and drinking champagne, Vaccaro left his camera aside and pretended that he was not working.

When he caught Picasso off guard, the photographer had his wished moment. At the end he decided to switch roles with Picasso. Vaccaro handed to the painter the camera and asked him to shoot him.

His Picasso lucky break was not always the case. Although Vaccaro outsmarted the Spanish painter, it was Sophia Lauren who caught the Italian-American photographer off guard.

The "golden age" of magazines belonged to the past. As cameras became gradually smaller, film disappeared, and a new digital world emerged, Vaccaro grew to become a 93 years old retired great grandfather.

But the man, who witnessed "everything" with his eyes and depicted contemporary history with his camera, is still dreaming and having goals for the future.

Vaccaro has one more dream; working currently on the latest great project of his life.