The candid portraits of John Swope

Many of the portraits I feature in this blog were made in a studio, or at least in a controlled environment where the focus is obviously on the subject. Here's an exceptional candid shot that ends up providing as much insight into its three subjects as any posed portrait. It's by John Swope, and features Elsa Maxwell, Tyrone Power and the Duke of Windsor, at one of Maxwell's famous Hollywood parties in 1948.

The Swope photo is similar to one of my favourite portraits, a great shot of Paul Valéry by Henri Cartier-Bresson, from 1945.

Like all the great Life magazine photographers, Swope was able to blend in to his surroundings, whether he was at a nightclub, a film set or a private party. Here's his photo of James Mason on the set of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Julius Caesar, 1953.

John Swope's less formal style was a revelation when he first came to Hollywood in 1936; the carefully posed and lit glamour photos of the era were being replaced by the more documentary approach of the magazine photojournalists. I love this shot of W. C. Fields and Mack Sennett at the 1938 Academy Awards ceremony. The two comic geniuses must have been presenting; sadly, neither was given his proper due by The Academy.

Here's a posed portrait by John Swope, of the great cinematographer James Wong Howe, from 1939. Howe made four films in 1939, and another two in 1940. Swope was obviously at home on movie sets, though he was normally working for Life magazine rather than for the studio as a still photographer.

John Swope's 1951 portrait of Broadway producer and Hollywood agent Leland Hayward. Swope and Hayward became business partners in 1941, co-founding Southwest Airlines. So Swope was much more an insider than most of the magazine photographers; he was married to Dorothy McGuire from 1943 until his death in 1979.

Here's a lovely photo by John Hope of Dorothy McGuire, from 1948.

Here's John Swope himself, with the young Jane Fonda in a shot by his fellow Life photographer Allan Grant, from 1959. Now there's a true insider!

In 1969 John Swope took a series of photos of Carl Sandburg, Gene Kelly and a very young Liza Minnelli (she was 13). This Odd Trio came together for a 1959 TV show: The Gene Kelly Pontiac Special. Even at 13, Liza was a trouper, of course!

You can watch the entire show here on YouTube. My only disappointment is that Carl Sandburg didn't dance with Gene.

And speaking of dancers, here are two of my favourites: Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire, in a 1953 John Swope photo. This is, of course, from the set of The Band Wagon.

Another John Swope shot of Fred Astaire, from 1962. The cat's name is Carlyle.

The great Life photographers were never willing to stay in one spot too long. John Swope might have been well connected in Hollywood, but he had wide interests and Life was willing to send him around the world. This shot of a GI from 1945 is one of my favourite Swope portraits.