Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"He was one of a kind--my Tomaso. Bursting with energy and curiosity, he was always trying something new. Like flying a plane. Or baking bread. He couldn't swim, but he learned how to water-ski at Lake Tahoe anyway to show off to Yul Brynner's wife He once biked from New York to Montauk - that's over one hundred miles - just to see if he could do it and because then he could walk along a deserted stretch of beach, collect some shells, and then visit his first mentor, the photographer James Abbe Jr., who had a shack on the dunes.
Tom was sexy, ebullient, self-involved. He could be good guy, bad guy, tough and tender, Jekyll and Hyde. He took pictures of himself constantly. He dressed stylishly - Armani raincoats, expensive scarves flung about his neck. He looked greatin hats. He collected sports cars; we used to drive out to the Hamptons late at night when there was no traffic, so we'd go very fast.
He had a hot temper. But Tom was funny too. We'd laugh our heads off when we were first together. But he also made me cry. Still and all he usually treated everybody with grace. He had beautiful manners; he was sensitive; he really listened. He was a good friend. He called Diana Vreeland once a week for years. He'd talk even more on the phone with his buddies from the Actors Studio. They all told him their troubles; he never told them his."
--Patricia Bosworth, from the Introduction
He lead one helluva life: international travel, photographing beautiful women for the two best fashion magazines in America, the venerable Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and learning and perfecting his craft under the watchful, masterful eyes of legends Alexey Brodovitch, Carmel Snow, Diana Vreeland, and Alex Lieberman. His excellent eye and easy and adventuresome spirit all meant that he was always game and able to put whomever was in front of his camera in the most flattering light. People just felt comfortable around Columbo. That's why we see models strike the poses he was envisioning, and celebrities like Miles Davis (smiling no less ), Comden and Green, a young Mia Farrow and Jane Fonda, and Jack Kerouac all sit before his camera with utter ease.
These rediscovered photographs, celebrated in their time but not seen in decades, are presented here, in book form for the first time ever, by award-winning author and Palumbo's widow, Patricia Bosworth.
Despite being primarily recognized for his fashion work, Tom was interested in much more, and included in this book are three photo special series, all in important locales to Tom: an annual Catholic festival in his Italian hometown; an intimate, smoky Parisian cafe; and a street parade for John Glenn in his adopted New York City. Each sheds another angle on the life and talents of Tom Palumbo. For years he told Patricia that he always intended to make a book, but alas was never able to. She knows this is the one he would have made.
Synopsis
"He was one of a kind, my Tomaso. Bursting with energy, he was always trying to satisfy his curiosity by attempting something new. Like flying a plane, or baking bread. He once biked from New York City to Montauk - that's over a hundred miles - just to see if he could do it. Afterward he collapsed on the dunes, took out his Leica, and began clicking away, first at the sunset and then at two mysterious figures in raincoats embracing on a hill. He wanted to take photographs nobody else had ever taken - to prove that he could.
So it wasn't surprising that when we got together, he would talk off and on about doing a book of some of these photographs: 'a book about my life in pictures.'"
-Patricia Bosworth, from the Introduction
During the 1950s and 60s, Tom Palumbo was part of an influential group of young photographers working for the best fashion magazines in America - Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. Tom perfected his craft under the guidance of legends like Alexey Brodovitch, Carmel Snow, Diana Vreeland, and Alex Liberman. Tom's serene style contrasted with Richard Avedon's jazzed-up images and Lillian Bassman's soft blurred effects. Often Tom's particular layouts provided the balance in an issue. His pictures invariably enhanced the fashions of the 50s, where women were thought of as objects of worship, and beauty was thought of as an ideal. Tom photographed every day, producing unique images like jazz legend Miles Davis laughing. He loved taking pictures of artists like next-door neighbors Comden and Green; the young Mia Farrow and Jane Fonda; novelist Jack Kerouac. Late in life, Tom worked in theatre. But to him there was never much difference in the photographs he took or the plays he directed since both contained drama. Paradox and revelation-these two elements energized Tom Palumbo's life.
These rediscovered photographs, celebrated in their time but not seen in decades, are presented here in book form for the first time ever, by award-winning author and Palumbo's widow, Patricia Bosworth.