famous photographer WILLY RIZZO

Willy Rizzo made his name in the Sixties among Hollywood and fashion circles, shooting iconic portraits of the era’s big names that captured both the character and star quality of their sitters. Marilyn Monroe (who he famously shot at the pinnacle of her decline, just two weeks before she died) to Fred Astaire, Coco Chanel to Yves Saint-Laurent graced his lens and the resulting photographs gave Rizzo as much clout and status in the changing world of celebrity as the characters themselves.

With a string of global editorial titles on speed dial, Rizzo made the unprecedented decision to design furniture and while we obviously admire his photographic portfolio, it’s his furniture designs that we find riveting. During the Seventies he designed several pieces of abstract modernist furniture, before giving up and returning to his photographic roots in the Eighties. It’s hence no surprise that his furniture designs have become incredibly collectible, a product of their combined rarity and the design world’s reignited passion for modernist furniture.

Willy Rizzo started his career in Paris where he photographed stars and starlets for « Ciné Mondial », « Point de vue » and « Image du monde ». He even covered the Trial of Nuremberg and accomplished big reports, notably in Tunisia on the « line Mareth ».

In 1947, the English Blackstar agency sended him to the United States « to photograph what surprised him »: of a $1 machine which distributed low nylons in drive-in in cinemas. But he prefered women, fashion and started a new life in Los angeles.
Max Corre, with whom he had collaborated in « France Dimanche », called him to announce that Jean Prouvost was creating a big magazine in Paris, he came back and met Hervé Mille. Here is the beginning of Paris Match adventure. and is still lasting.
His report on Maria Callas inspired Hergé in « Les bijoux de la Castafiore » by creating his caratere : The Paris Flash photographer, Waler Rizzoto, as for his friend  Walter Carone.

In 1959, he became the artistic director of Marie Claire and collaborated with the biggest fashion magazines like Vogue, where Alex Liberman asked him to work « with his look ».
In 1968, he married Elsa Martinelli. The have lived in Rome and Willy began his job of designer for his personal needs. According to him, « the Scandinavian or old pieces of furniture were not either comfortable or rather simple ».

In front of request, he created his workshops. But at the end of the seventies, the fall of Cinecitta and the rise of terrorism gave an end in his Roman life. The « dolce vita » was over. Willy sold his business and because of his nostalgie, he came back to Paris.

Today he continues to draw and still photographs the prettiest women of the world, of whom his wife, Dominique, who gave him three children.

 Photographer Willy Rizzo took these photographs in the 1950s at the Paris Opéra, where Roland Petit was star dancer and choreographer. 'Shooting dance is like hunting: you have to be fast,' Rizzo says. 'I was there waiting for something to happen.