Tony Vaccaro
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Tony Vaccaro (born Michelantonio Celestino Onofrio Vaccaro; December 20, 1922 – December 28, 2022) was an American photographer who is best known for his photos taken in Europe during 1944 and 1945, and in Germany immediately following
World War II 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 opposing ...
. He subsequently became a fashion and lifestyle photographer for American magazines.


Biography

Michelantonio Celestino Onofrio Vaccaro was born in
Greensburg, Pennsylvania Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city lies within the Laurel Highlands and the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau. The city is ...
, on December 20, 1922, to
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
immigrant parents. He was the second of their three children and the only boy. His father Giuseppe Antonio Vaccaro (b. October 14, 1874) was from Bonefro in the
Molise it, Molisano (man) it, Molisana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 ...
region of Italy. In 1926, in the course of the family relocating to Italy, both his parents died; he was raised in Italy by his paternal grandmother where he was physically abused by his father's brother. With the outbreak of World War II, Vaccaro moved back to the United States in order to escape military service in Italy. He graduated from Isaac E. Young High School in New Rochelle, New York, in 1943, and was drafted a few months later into the U.S. Army. He sought an assignment as a photographer with the
Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...
offering photographs taken in high school as evidence of his talent. He was rejected because of his age. Instead, Vaccaro was sent to Europe as a private in the 83rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. He fought in
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, Belgium, Luxembourg, and
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. His usual position as a scout provided him with the opportunity to take photographs with the
Argus C3 The Argus C3 was a low-priced rangefinder camera mass-produced from 1939 to 1966 by Argus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The camersold over 2.2 million units making it one of the most popular American cameras in history. Due to its shape ...
compact 35mm
rangefinder camera A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder, typically a split-image rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus. Most va ...
that he was adept at using. In September 1945, he was discharged from the army. Vaccaro stayed in Germany, where he obtained a job first as a photographer for Audio Visual Aids (AVA) stationed at
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, and then with ''Weekend'', the Sunday supplement of the U.S. Army newspaper '' Stars and Stripes''. Until 1949, Vaccaro photographed throughout Germany and Europe, documenting post-war life. After his return to the U.S. in 1949, he worked for '' Flair'' and '' Look'' before joining the magazine ''
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
''. Between 1950 and 1973 Vaccaro worked extensively as a celebrity and fashion photographer. He settled in the West Village in 1951 and then on Central Park West in 1955. From 1970 to 1980 he taught photography at Cooper Union. In 1979 he moved both his residence and studio along with his archive of hundreds of thousands of images, to Long Island City. He continued to spend his summers in Rome. He married Anja Lehto (1939–2013), a Finnish model, in 1963. They had two sons and separated in 1997. They met when Vaccaro was shooting a series about
Marimekko Marimekko Oyj is a Finnish textiles, clothing, and home furnishings company founded by Viljo and Armi Ratia in Helsinki in 1951. Marimekko made important contributions to fashion in the 1960s. It is particularly noted for its brightly colored pri ...
for ''Life''. Although some 4,000 of his photographs were lost in an accident in 1947, photographs from his extensive wartime archive were published in 2001 in his book, ''Entering Germany: Photographs 1944-1949'' and 2002 in the book ''Shots of War''. In 1994, he was awarded France's
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
at the celebrations marking the fiftieth anniversary of the
Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
.Goepel, K.:
Bild-Ikonen zum Kriegsende: Tony Vaccaro s Werk, Icons
'', AKG-Images, August 15, 2005. In German. Accessed March 30, 2007.
A museum named after Tony Vaccaro was inaugurated in Bonefro on August 24, 2014. In 2002 German public television showed the film "Schnappschüsse vom Krieg" (Shots of War). The documentary film ''Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro'' premiered at the Boston Film Festival on September 22, 2016, where it won the award for "Best Story", and aired on HBO November 14. In 2021, Vaccaro's work was the subject of an exhibition in Helsinki, Finland. In 2022, the
American Battlefield Trust The American Battlefield Trust is a charitable organization ( 501(c)(3)) whose primary focus is in the preservation of battlefields of the American Civil War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 through acquisition of battlefield land. Th ...
produced and released a short video on Vaccaro and his photographs from World War II (includes graphic images).


Awards and honors

*1963 Art Directors Gold Medal, New York * 1969 World Press Photo Gold Medal, The Hague * 1985 Key to the City and "Tony Vaccaro Day", New Rochelle, New York (May 8) * 1994
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
, Paris, France (May 23) * 1994 Le Trophee du Hommages, Caen, France * 1994 La Flamme de la Liberté, Caen, France (June 12) * 1995 Medal of Merit, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg * 1995 Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Paris, France * 1996
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
:
First day of issue A first day of issue cover or first day cover (FDC) is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for useBennett, Russell and Watson, James; ''Philatelic Terms Illustrated'', Stanl ...
, Georgia O'Keeffe stamp (May 23). The sheet reprinted alongside the stamps a photo Tony Vaccaro took of O'Keeffe in 1960. * 1996 Diplome de Citoyen d'Honneur, Rochefort, France (August 4) * 2002 Medal of Honor, Luxembourg City (June 16) * 2002 Foire aux Noix, Bastogne, Belgium (December 21) * 2003 Das Verdienstkreuz, Berlin, Germany (August 26) * 2004 Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern, Knight Commander of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
, German Consulate, New York City (February 21) * 2014 f, Pescara, Italy (January 22) * 2017 Honoree, Queens Council on the Arts (February 16) * 2019 Inductee,
International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum The International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Louis, Missouri honors those who have made great contributions to the field of photography. History In 1977 the first Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Santa Barbara, California and a f ...


Publications

* * * * * * * * * * * Hennighausen, Amelia (Sept. 17, 2016). The Wall Street Journal, "Exposing a Life, From WWII to the West Village" https://graphics.wsj.com/glider/nyvaccaro0915-a879056d-64ed-4761-be46-f4a2d8e9e476 *


See also

*
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
* List of Legion of Honour recipients by name (V) * List of foreign recipients of the Legion of Honour by country * Legion of Honour Museum


References


External links

* * *Tannenbaum, S. V.:
PVT Henry Irving Tannenbaum
' – Some background on the family of the dead soldier pictured on one of Vaccaro's most famous photographs:

'. (Photo shot on January 12, 1945,
Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...
.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaccaro, Tony 1922 births 2022 deaths American war photographers United States Army personnel of World War II American people of Italian descent Artists from New Rochelle, New York People from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania 20th-century American photographers Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from Greenwich Village People from the Upper West Side People from Long Island City, Queens Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany United States Army soldiers American expatriates in Italy American centenarians Men centenarians World War II photographers Military personnel from New York (state) Military personnel from Pennsylvania