Jean Pagliuso: In Plain Sight Captures Luminaries During an Era of Decadence (and the Occasional Landfowl)

Vogue
Updated

Jean Pagliuso’s In Plain Sight

“I was staying with a friend, and when I walked out her door, there it was . . . right in front of me on the next ridge over in Beachwood Canyon, Hollywood. I went right down to Frederick’s of Hollywood and bought the marabou-trimmed slippers . . . and took this shot.”
“Anna was the first fashion editor that I worked with when I moved to NYC. We worked together for 10 years. She was completely unique. So smart, so organized, so talented, and so beautiful. A tireless genius. It was a privilege.”
“On the set of Frances, I tried to stay out of the way because of the sensitive nature of the film about this complicated actress, Frances Farmer. Clearly, it was the beginning of a very strong relationship between Jessica and Sam Shepard. I was to take photos of the two of them . . . their connection was magnetic . . . I found it very hard to concentrate.”
“Off the set in a hotel near the set of Nora Ephron’s Heartburn I was to set up a shot that was to be considered for the film’s poster. I had to first create the lighting myself and then the publicity director and I had to be the stand-ins for Meryl and Jack. While waiting for Meryl’s hair and makeup, Jack sat down and told me the secret he was keeping . . . . In character, he had something he was keeping hidden from Meryl. It was very important to him. Other than that serious note, he was irresistibly hilarious.”
“Splash was a relatively new film in her career. She was totally “all in.” She was a major trooper having to spend much time in a big water tank. For this shot, hair and makeup, which, in this case, meant meticulously putting on her tail, took 6 hours . . . all of this, and on her only day off!”
“All of us had been invited onto the boat that Robert Altman had taken over at Cannes where his film 3 Women was being honored. I was never without my camera and there was Hutton . . . snap, snap . . . extraordinarily gorgeous.”
“Lucille was and is a mystery. She appeared in my elevator one day asking for help. I had no idea who she was, but I did my best to offer assistance. A month or so later, we thought up this shot together. I have no idea where she went since then.”
“I was working on Sweet Liberty, and I was to do portraits of Michelle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that simply beautiful.”

Jean Pagliuso, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bridgehampton, New York, 1985

“I was working on Sweet Liberty, and I was to do portraits of Michelle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that simply beautiful.”
Photo: Courtesy of Damiani
“This was the second attempt at photographing this beautiful, haunting owl. He seemed transparent— yet so direct.”

Jean Pagliuso, Owl XV, 2011

“This was the second attempt at photographing this beautiful, haunting owl. He seemed transparent— yet so direct.”
Photo: Courtesy of Damiani
“[Robert Redford] had seen my portfolio, and work I had done with Anna Wintour for New York Magazine. It caught his eye, and he hired me to be on set for special photography on The Natural. Soon after that, I worked on Milagro Beanfield War as well, and we shot the on location in Santa Fe; a place that we both share a mutual love for. We have had a wonderful friendship since those early years."
“Robert Altman ran more of a dorm situation than a film set. We all knew each other very well, sharing dinners and good times after a long day. I came on this set with a special camera called a Widelux. I couldn’t attach it to Polaroids, so it was a leap of faith for the actors to work with me. Sissy was so trusting . . . very little separation between her character and perhaps a more complicated life that she could tap into.”
“I was in Angkor Wat, Cambodia; 5:30 a.m. and trying to get away from the loud band of children, I went to the water’s edge and found this. Clanging cymbals in the background upended this absolute quiet and announced a funeral in the background.”
“In the helicopter and harnessed in as we approached Lady Liberty. Later I had headphones and a microphone that gave me full contact with the pilot so that we could decide on the proper height from which to shoot.”
“I was there on a job for Saks Fifth Ave in 1979, but this was 2010. An incredible amount of deterioration had occurred since I was first there. It was heartbreaking to see the scaffolding, itself a ruin.”
“Working on Atlantic City very briefly was our first meeting. I think it was on an Interview magazine shoot that we found a very nice common ground. Shortly after that, we found we were both pregnant . . . a bit late in our lives and this became our bond.”
“I’m all in on this bird. He’s proud, ambitious, and probably sees through a filter of fuzz.”

Jean Pagliuso, White #22, 2009

“I’m all in on this bird. He’s proud, ambitious, and probably sees through a filter of fuzz.”
Photo: Courtesy of Damiani

The California-born photographer Jean Pagliuso has spent her career turning her lens on what interests her, be it fashion, Hollywood, travel, or poultry (the difference between the former and the latter, as she once told Vogue, is not much: “There’s just no difference,” she said. “You put ‘em up there and you look for the fluidity of the line.”) Her work has included collaborations with Robert Redford (who was inspired to contact her, she says, after seeing her work with then–New York Magazine fashion editor Anna Wintour), the film director Robert Altman, as well as major film studios like Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and Disney—giving her access to some of the brightest burning stars in the Hollywood firmament.

Pagliuso’s new monograph, In Plain Sight, explores the multifaceted aspect of her work and interests. In the gallery here, she shared some of her favorite images with Vogue, as well as the stories behind them, from stolen moments with Lauren Hutton on Robert Altman’s yacht in Cannes, to a distractingly magnetic connection between Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard; what it’s like to have Jack Nicholson whisper a secret in your ear right before he poses with Meryl Streep; and the mysterious muse who turned up in her elevator one day, never to be seen again.

See the videos.