Victor Paul Skrebneski (December 17, 1929 – April 4, 2020) was an American photographer born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to parents of Polish and Russian heritage. He was educated at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

in 1943 and attended the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

from 1947 to 1949. He set up his own studio in Chicago in 1952. The Art Institute of Chicago had an exhibit of his work in 1969. Skrebneski is most known for his fashion photography and his work for the

ad campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conce ...

s of Estee Lauder, Inc., notably his fifteen-year collaboration (1970-1985) with model

Karen Graham Early life Karen Graham was born in Gulfport, Mississippi in 1945. Career After college, Graham moved to New York City to pursue a career as a French-language high school teacher. In 1969, Graham met model agency owner Eileen Ford via a chan ...

creating the portrait portfolio marketing campaign known as 'The Estee Lauder Woman.' The longevity and format of this campaign make it unique in the annals of marketing. A single portrait of Graham was placed in fashion magazines each month depicting an element in the idealized life of 'The Estee Lauder Woman,' often photographed in black and white, an unusual medium for cosmetics, fragrance, and skin care product lines, which commonly rely upon the visual impact of color photography. The focus on this one theme produced approximately 180 portraits of Graham, each remarkably individual yet highly recognizable, an accomplishment few photographers or promotional efforts can be said to have achieved. Their collaboration concluded amicably when Graham retired from the modelling profession. Skrebneski also photographed various celebrities, including

Cindy Crawford Cynthia Ann Crawford (born February 20, 1966) is an American model, actress and television personality. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was among the most popular supermodels and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers, runways, as well as fash ...

(whose first notable photos he took),

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

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 ...

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

Hubert de Givenchy Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (; 21 February 1927 – 10 March 2018) was a French aristocrat and fashion designer who founded the luxury fashion and perfume house of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the p ...

Diahann Carroll Diahann Carroll (; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. She rose to prominence in some of the earliest major studio films to feature black casts, including ''Car ...

and

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...

. He created numerous other ad campaigns. Skrebneski's black-and-white poster images shot for the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

often featured nude models and have become collectible over the years. Skrebneski died of cancer in Chicago on April 4, 2020, at the age of 90.

References

External links

* Official sit
SkrebneskiPhotographs.com
1929 births 2020 deaths Photographers from Illinois Artists from Chicago American people of Polish descent American people of Russian descent Fashion photographers School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Illinois Institute of Technology alumni 20th-century American photographers {{US-photographer-stub