Garry Gross (November 6, 1937 – November 30, 2010)
Career
Born in New York, Gross began his career as a commercial photographer, apprenticing with photographers Francesco Scavullo and James Moore and studying with master photographers
Lisette Model and
Richard Avedon. His fashion and beauty photography has been featured in numerous fashion magazines over the years and his work has appeared on the covers of such magazines as
GQ,
Cosmopolitan, and
New York Magazine.
Celebrities Gross has photographed include Brooke Shields,
Calvin Klein,
Gloria Steinem,
Whitney Houston, and
Lou Reed.
Gross studied with the Animal Behavior Center of New York and became a certified dog trainer in 2002,
His work has received awards from The Art Directors Club and the Advertising Club of New York.
Brooke Shields photograph controversy
Gross was the photographer of a controversial set of nude images, two containing full-frontal nudity, taken in 1975 of a then ten-year-old
Brooke Shields, with the consent of her mother,
Teri Shields, for the
Playboy publication
Sugar 'n' Spice. The images show Shields standing and sitting in a bathtub while wearing makeup and oil. In 1981, Brooke Shields attempted to prevent further use of the photographs but in 1983 a US Court ruled that a child is bound by the terms of the valid, unrestricted consents to the use of photographs executed by a guardian and that the image did not breach child pornography laws.
In ruling, the presiding Judge stated: "The issue on this appeal is whether an infant model may disaffirm a prior unrestricted consent executed on her behalf by her parent and maintain an action pursuant to section 51 of the Civil Rights Law against her photographer for republication of photographs of her. We hold that she may not."
A photograph of one of those original photographs was produced by American artist Richard Prince,
Gross has stated that "The photo has been infamous from the day I took it and I intended it to be"
Death
Gross died from cardiac arrest at his home in the New York City's Greenwich Village.
[ "NY photographer of young, nude Brooke Shields dies" , Bay Ledger, December 8, 2010]
See also
External links
