Howell Thomas Conant, Sr. (March 13, 1916 – March 11, 1999) was an American fashion photographer noted for his portraits of the American actress and later Princess Consort of Monaco, Grace Kelly.

Life

Conant's father was a professional photographer who owned a studio in Marinette, Wisconsin. Conant studied photography at the University of Wisconsin and at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. During World War II Conant was stationed at Pearl Harbor and was part of the Naval photographic team operating under Admiral

Chester W. Nimitz Chester William Nimitz (; February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in C ...

. Conant later took pictures for '' Life'', ''

Look To look is to use sight to perceive an object. Look or The Look may refer to: Businesses and products * Look (modeling agency), an Israeli modeling agency * ''Look'' (American magazine), a defunct general-interest magazine * ''Look'' (UK ma ...

'' and '' Paris Match'' among other publications, and photographed celebrities from

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

and

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...

to American presidents Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Conant died at his home in Carefree, Arizona in 1999. He was survived by his wife, Dorothy; with whom he had four children.

Grace Kelly

In 1955 Conant was commissioned by ''

Photoplay ''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...

'' magazine to do a cover shoot with Grace Kelly, then a leading film actress. Following the ''Photoplay'' shoot, Grace Kelly holidayed in Jamaica, with her sister, and invited Conant. He photographed her without makeup in a naturalistic setting, a departure from the traditional portrayal of actresses. The resulting photographs were published in the June 24 issue of ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...

'' magazine, with a celebrated photo of Kelly rising from the water with wet hair making the cover. Conant wrote that he thought that Grace Kelly's sole flaw in her appearance was her jaw, which he considered too square. He would use a dog or a baby to disguise it when photographing her below her jaw. Conant later said that "You trusted Grace's beauty...You knew it wasn't built from clothes and makeup...this was Grace: natural, unpretentious". Grace Kelly sailed on the ''

SS Constitution The SS ''Constitution'' was an ocean liner owned by American Export Lines, sister ship of the SS ''Independence''. Both were constructed in the United States and made their maiden voyages in 1951. History Commissioned in 1951, she starte ...

'' from New York to Monaco for her marriage to Prince Rainier in 1956. Many photographers were on board the ship, but only Conant had access to Grace Kelly. Following her marriage Conant was the unofficial photographer to the

House of Grimaldi The House of Grimaldi ( , also , , ) is the current reigning house of the Principality of Monaco. The house was founded in 1160 by Grimaldo Canella in Genoa and became the ruling house of Monaco when Francesco Grimaldi captured Monaco in 1297 ...

, and extensively photographed Grace Kelly, her husband and their three children. In 1992 Conant published ''Grace'', a book of photographs that he took during Kelly's 26-year reign as Princess of Monaco. In September 1982, Conant was planning a trip to Monaco to take the family's official Christmas portrait. Upon hearing that Princess Grace had died in a car accident, he left without his photographic equipment. Conant remained friends with Prince Rainier until his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conant, Howell 1916 births 1999 deaths People from Marinette, Wisconsin Art Center College of Design alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni 20th-century American photographers Fashion photographers 20th-century American writers United States Navy personnel of World War II People from Carefree, Arizona People from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin 20th-century American non-fiction writers