THEO GRAHAM’S BIOGRAPHY

Ann Theophane Graham (Theo), New York 1926 – Rome 1994.

Theo Graham was a successful American fashion model from the mid-Forties to the early Sixties. She was born on the Upper East Side in New York City, to a family of Scottish and Irish descent. At an early age, she and her family moved to New Jersey. As a teenager she decieded she wanted to become an artist, she studied art to achieve her dream and In 1942 Theo partecipated to the seventh annual exhibition “ Young America Paints”. But destiny was reserving her a different fate.

In New York,Theo became close friends with the young Richard Avedon and his sister Louise, with whom she shared a passion for art, photography and antiquities. Avedon had just returned from his U.S. Marine service, was starting his career as a fashion photographer and offered Theo a job working as his assistant. Gradually, however, Theo started receiving requests to work as a model. The legend goes that Avedon initially tried to discourage her from starting a modelling career, but, as offers continued to come her way he changed his mind and started to photograph Theo himself leading her to become one of the most sought after and best-paid junior models in the business. Alongside Louise and Avedon’s wife Doe she became one of the young photographer’s first muses. From the mid Forties through to the early Fifties they steadily worked together, experimenting on compositions and dynamic poses. Through some of these experiments, Avedon probably developed his personal and innovative approach to photography, a revolutionary way of presenting clothes in a fresh, spontaneous and realistic style. And Theo, with her graceful limbs and long neck, was perhaps the first of a long series of his “swans” which include Dovima, Audrey Hepburrn, Jacqueline de Ribes and Marella Agnelli.

Theo’s pictures started to appear regularly in the most important fashion magazines of the day; Junior Bazaar, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Glamour, Flair, Charm, Mademoiselle, Brides, McCalls and in 1949, on Avedon’s shoots, for Harper’s Bazaar in Paris, she was officially upgraded from junior to high fashion model. She became, also, the inspiration and personal friend of a number of American fashion photographers. She was photographed by James Abbé, Diane Arbus, Serge Balkin, George Barkentin, Lillian Bassman, Ernst Beadle, Kay Bell-Reynal, Clifford Coffin, Howell Conant,Ted Croner (who became her first husband), Gleb Derujinsky, John Engstead, Leslie Gill, Evelyn Hofer, Donald Honeyman, Ronny Jaques, Constantin Joffé, Herman Landshoff, Leombruno-Bodi, Maria Martel, Frances McLaughlin-Gill, Genevieve Naylor, Tom Palumbo, Gordon Parks, George Platt Lynes, Roger Prigent, Karen Radkai, Don Rice, Francesco Scavullo and Carmen Schiavone. Many of these artists gave Theo prints, contacts and negatives as gifts after photo-sittings, Avedon was definetly the one who gave Theo the most. Today, this material is collected in Theo’s personal archive. Thanks to these images one can go through decades of fashion photography and the creations of great American and European fashion designers. In 1949, Harper’s Bazaar ‘s editor-in-chief Carmel Snow, fashion editor Diana Vreeland and legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch decided to appoint Richard Avedon to cover the fall French Collections in Paris: he chose Theo and Dorian Leigh as his models. Avedon’s pictures of Theo wearing couture fashions by Cristobal Balenciaga, Pierre Balmain, Jacques Fath and Christian Dior were taken at the elegant Pré Catelan in the Bois de Boulogne, at Helena Rubinstein’s residence at the Quai de Béthune on the Ile St. Louis, at an orphanage in Neuilly surrounded by children and nuns, at the Theatre Marigny , at the Gare du Nord, at a Fête Foraine on the streets of Paris and and on the Champs Elisées in the company of cyclists from the Tour de France. Theo’s and Avedon’s understanding, a possible juvenile infatuation and closeness becames less intense by 1951, by then they seem to be working less together. At this time Theo meets and falls in love with Ted Croner, a good-looking, talented and successful, young photographer who she eventually marries.

Ted Croner (as Avedon) was of Russian descent, during the war he also had been in the US Air Corps as an aerial photographer in the South Pacific. He became a disciple of Edward Steichen and studied with Alexey Brodovitch (a white Russian himself) at the New School. Croner took part to Brodovitch’s famous Design Laboratory seminar, one of the most prestigious design classes in America. Despite Theo’s shy and reserved appearance, at this time was actually quite successeful, self assured and financially indipendent, she probably decided It was the right time to get engaged and consequently married. Ted Croner, early in his career, was greatly influenced by his friendship with Fernand and Lisa Fonssagrives (Lisa after divorcing Fonssagrives would marry Irving Penn, he also of Russian descent). They directed him towards fashion photography. Thanks to Steichen, Croner participated to several photography exhibitions at the MOMA and met Alexandre Lieberman through whom he worked for Vogue. Croner also worked for Glamour, Life and other magazines. In 1946 Croner had set up a studio on 58th Street with photographer William (Bill) Hellburn who also followed Brodovitch’s classes wich were taking place once a week at Richard Avedon’s studio and had been in the U.S. Air Force during the war. In William Helburn’s words: he, his wife model Susanne (Sue) Jencks, Ted and Theo would see each others all the time having dinner toghether at least twice a week. After marrying in 1951, Theo and Ted devided their time mostly between the City And the farm Croner bought in East Hampton, close to a group of artist-friends based in neighbouring Amagansett and Montauk. (Avedon would later also aquire a house in Montauk and early in her own marriage Carmel Snow had spent very happy and carefree summers there). Theo’s private archive holds not oly photographs and documents from this period but also some watercolors of Ted painted by Theo.

As her marriage with Ted Croner was coming to an end, Theo who’s modeling activity had slowed down for a while was energically resumed. She spent long periods of time in the Caribbean posing for photographers who would flock there in the winter. At that time she got, briefly but quite seriously, romantically involved with Jazz-man Artie Shaw who collected an impressive number of marriages (among others: to Lana Turner and Ava Gardner). Throughout her career, Theo and Leombruno-Bodi, a team formed by photographer Joe (Joseph) Leombruno and stylist Jack Bodi (John William von Bodenstein), were best friends. The three were part of the fashion elite in NewYork were they worked together a great deal together but also in the Caribbean, Mexico and especially in Italy. When Theo, Joe and Jack debarked in Rome in the mid-Fifties, they fell for the city and soon all moved into the same apartment building in Rome’s fashionable Parioli district. Joe & Jack’s glamorous penthouse was photographed for Town & Country and Vogue, as an example of the perfect Dolce Vita dwelling; it also served as backdrop for many of Theo’s fashion shoots. In the early Sixties, Theo, Joe and Jack, created the knitwear firm Micia, named after Theo’s Siamese cat. Articles about their collections soon began to appear in American newspapers and in January 1964 the line was successfully presented at Palazzo Pitti in Florence during the city’s biannual fashion shows. In Leombruno-Bodi’s pictures for American, French and Italian magazines, Theo wore creations by Italian fashion designers Emilio Pucci, Simonetta, Fabiani, Veneziani, di Gresy, Irene Galitzine and Sorelle Fontana. Those images contributed to introduce the newborn ‘Made in Italy’ to the American audience, making Italian ready-to-wear known in the USA and a to wider international public.

The screenplay for “Funny Face”, the 1957 romantic comedy film, may have partly drawn inspiration from Theo for its main female character, a reluctant-intellectual model (played by Audrey Hepburn) who falls in love with her photographer on a trip to Paris. The movie caricatures Harper’s Bazaar. When the movie was being cast in 1956, Theo was offered a part but by then she was in Rome starting a new adventure, she had taken the radical decision of leaving New York for Rome. Models Dovima and Suzy Parker were casted for the movie and Fred Astaire played Dick Avery, the role inspired by Avedon. Kay Thomson played Maggie Prescott, the editor of “Quality” magazine, based on Bazaar’s Carmel Snow and Diana Vreeland. In the movie she recits the famous pronouncement “Think Pink!”. Thomson herself moved to Rome living in the grand Palazzo Torlonia on the elegant via Condotti. Naturally Kay, Joe, Jack and Theo teamed up. Hepburn was also living in Rome, where in 1953 she had starred with Gregory Peck in “Roman Holidays”. At the time when Theo met her, she was married to Mel Ferrer with whom she had her first sun Sean (a photo from Theo’s personal archive shows Sean Ferrer, the Moncada, Scribani, Spinola children and Enrico Carlo, at a party at Johnny Moncada’s photographic studio on via Margutta).

On her first trip to Rome, Theo had shared an apartment with fellow American models Jo Patterson and Joan Whelan. Through her husband-to-be, Johnny Moncada, Joan would introduce Theo to her own future second husband: film producer Carlo Saraceni which incidentally happened to be one of Jhonny Moncada’s best friends. In 1957, Theo and Carlo were married in New York City, at St. Ignatious Loyola’s church on Park Avenue. They then estabilished themselfes in Rome and Theo would never live in America again. She spent most of the rest of her life in Rome or at her beloved beach house in Fregene “where fashionable Romans went to play”, surrounded by a variegated mix of her expatriate friends, Roman society, artists, fashion and cinema folk. She always remained in touch with her friends from the fashion world: amongst the closest were Jack Bodi and Joe Leombruno, novelist Mary Chamberlin-Harding, her agents Eileen Ford and Jerry Ford, photographers Frances McLaughlin-Gill, Herman Landshoff, Carmen Schiavone,Tom Palumbo, Roger Prigent, Francesco Scavullo’s ex-wife Carol McCallson, William Helburn’s ex-wife model Sue Jenks, Ted Croner, fashion editors Catherine Murray-di Montezemolo of Vogue and, Geraldine (Gerry) Stutz of Glamour (who later became president of Bendel’s), Jean Rosemberg also of Henri Bendel’s and fashion icons Consuelo Crespi and Maxime de la Falaise.

Theo Graham is survived by her only son Enrico-Carlo Saraceni, who during the late 1970’s and 80’s lived in New York, and currently lives and works between Rome and Paris.