John Phillips (November 13, 1914 in

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– August 22, 1996 in

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) was a photographer for

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from the 1930s to the 1950s who was known for his

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photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

s. French by birth, John Phillips was born in

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, to a

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emigre father and an

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mother. He spent his early childhood in an Arab world, before his family moved to

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in 1925, first to

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and then to

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."Free Spirit in a Troubled World" book synopsis
at

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's web site He was hired by

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in 1936 and his first assignment was to cover Edward VIII's opening of Parliament. His pictures were included in the magazine's first issue (on November 23, 1936) and he went on to cover many events of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.John Phillips profile
at the National Portrait Gallery web site He photographed Yugoslav guerrilla leader Draža Mihailović in June 1946 during his Communist show trial in Belgrade. He shot the last images of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1944. Saint Exupery, days before he disappeared, gave Phillips a manuscript, "Letter to an American " which Phillips eventually donated to France. He documented the

expulsion of Jews This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews. Timeline The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees. Assyrian captivity ; ...

and the destruction and sacking of the Jewish Quarter that took place during the

Battle for Jerusalem The Battle for Jerusalem took place during the 1947–1948 civil war phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It saw Jewish and Arab militias in Mandatory Palestine, and later the militaries of Israel and Transjordan, fight for control over ...

during the 1947–1949 Palestine war. Phillips disguised himself as a British member of the

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of independent Jordan, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 195 ...

to get in, managing to avoid censorship from the Arab authorities. John Phillips has been described as the ''"grand-godfather of photo-journalism, a master of lenses and multiple languages; elegant, exuberant and chrome-steel effectual, who has recorded in his own peripatetic way some of the freshest footprints of history." He had almost completed his autobiography when he died. The book was published posthumously by Scalo as "Free Spirit in a Troubled World" In 2010 the United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating WW II cartoonist Bill Mauldin. The stamp features a portrait of Mauldin taken in December 1943 by John Phillips.

Books

* "Odd World: a photo-reporter's story" (1959) Simon & Schuster, NY * "Bled to the Gutter: a photo-reporter's story" (1960) Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London. * "The Italians: face of a nation" (1965) Mcgraw-Hill, NY. * ''Jerusalem: A Will To Survive'' (1976) Dial Press * ''Yugoslav Story'' (1984) * ''It Happened in Our Lifetime'' (1985) Little, Brown * ''Poet and Pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery'' (1994) Scalo * ''Free Spirit in a Troubled World'' (1996) Scalo

References

People from Bouïra 1914 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Algerian photographers 20th-century American photographers Algerian people of American descent Algerian people of Welsh descent American people of Welsh descent World War II photographers Migrants from French Algeria to France French emigrants to the United States {{Algeria-bio-stub