Glamour and Pinup Photographer Peter Gowland Dies at 93

 

Jayne Mansfield. Photo by Peter Gowland.

Peter Gowland, the famed glamour photographer who captured six decades worth of fashion magazine covers, beauties in bikinis and Hollywood movie stars, died on March 17 after complications from hip surgery. He was 93.

During his long career, Gowland shot over 1,000 magazine covers — from Rolling Stone and Playboy, to Modern Photography — and was the author of 26 books on photography. He shot many of the most famous movie stars of the ’50s and ’60s, including Rock Hudson and Robert Wagner, and became known for inventing his own large-format cameras which would go on to be used by contemporary masters like Annie Leibovitz.

Of course, Gowland’s most memorable images were of sun-soaked women in bathing suits, the kinds of photographs that adorned every male locker and shaving mirror across the country. Gowland photographed Ann Margret, Jayne Mansfield, Julie Newmar and Raquel Welch in the stunning pinup poses that would influence countless fashion and magazine photographers in the second half of the 20th century.

Growing up in the ’20s and ’30s, Gowland learned the art of lighting from motion pictures. Both his parents were actors, and he himself appeared in at least 12 films, but he would eventually go on to develop a fascination with photography.

Gowland and his wife, Alice, had their first date on the same day Pearl Harbor was bombed, and (despite it being a “date which would live in infamy,” as he later joked) they eloped two weeks later in Las Vegas. She would sell his pinup photography when he was drafted into the war. Later, her presence would set models at ease when they sat in front of his camera.

In the 60+ years to follow, Peter and Alice Gowland would revolutionize the world of photography together.

Jeff Racheff:

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  • First I hoped that it's an April's Fool prank, but no. It's always sad when somebody dies, but it makes me very sad when I hear that a famous photographer dies. Rest in peace Peter Gowland!