ANTONIO

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Before his untimely death in 1987, Antonio López was already considered the greatest fashion illustrator of the age. Since then his work has entered the realm of fashion mythology, redefining the core of late 20th Century concepts of fashion beauty and art.
The quintessential chronicler of the hip-couture world of Jerry Hall, Paloma Picasso, Tina Chow, Grace Jones and Jessica Lange, López and his art are anchored in the street-smart rhythms of Manhattan, while burying for all time the Anglo-Caucasian myopia which dominated fashion until his arrival.

From the Melbourne, Australia International Art Festival Catalogue, September 1992
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Antonio López was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico on February 11th, 1943.
When Antonio was seven years old, the family moved to the Bronx in New York City, where he attended P.S. 77 on East 104th Street. In adolescence, López thought he would become a dancer, and in fact met with some success dancing in children’s TV programs, but he eventually turned to what he called “his first love”---drawing.

At the age of twelve he was awarded a scholarship to the Traphagen School of Fashion, which provided Saturday programs for children, particularly inner-city youth. The classes were offered by local colleges and training schools to expose young people to the arts. In junior high school López was encouraged by his art teacher to attend the High School of Art And Design (formerly High School of Industrial Arts), part of the New York City school system.

López was subsequently accepted into the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), where three teachers-Beatrice Dwan, Frances Neady, and Ana Ishikawa-supported him in his efforts to embark on a career in fashion illustration. As part of a work-study program there López began drawing for Fairchild Publications, whose holdings include the fashion trade paper Womens Wear Daily one of his drawings soon appeared on the front page. Soon he was offered a job as in-house illustrator, and, encouraged by his collaborator and partner Juan Ramos whom he had met at school, López joined the staff.

About six months later he was offered a position at the New York Times where, after first covering the theater, he began a long and productive collaboration with fashion editors Patricia Peterson and Carrie Donovan. Under their experienced eyes he and Juan used various art styles, beginning with Pop Art, Op Art, Surrealism, and moving both backwards and forward in history, to interpret the creations of the designers of the day. It appeared seasonally in Fashions of The Times, usually encompassing the entire issue. The work was signed simply “Antonio,” though it is a creation of both Antonio and Juan -the former as ‘the hand’ and the latter as ‘the eyes’ in a team officially known as ANUAN, LTD. (an acronym of their first names), the collaborative company they founded to create the Antonio franchise.

Juan Eugene Ramos was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, on January 4, 1942.
He migrated to the United States at the age of six with his mother, Mercedes Negrón, and two siblings. Raised in Spanish Harlem, Ramos attended New York City public schools. After graduating from Seward Park High School, he also attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he majored in Interior Design.

Juan and Antonio’s meeting at FIT was probably the most important event of their lives. While it was López who exhibited an outstanding aptitude for drawing, Ramos was the partnership’s “behind the scenes” inspiration, research, and organization. Ramos was instrumental in arranging for López to give lectures and workshops over what would be the last ten years of his life. ([996]) He was a multifaceted art director who generously possessed creative vision and astute business sense. Much more than just drawings and photos, they designed, and had made: jewelry (for Napier, NYC, 1960s) clothing (“@”,” Union Square “ Sportswear - 1970’s), make-up (Shiseido had them create an “Antonio Palette”), banners, flags, T-shirts and umbrellas for Japan (Laforet) and Australia (Sportsgirl); and sculpture (fantasy shoes translated from sketches and drawings created by both). They also served as fashion consultants for hip stores like Fiorucci in New York for whom they ‘discovered’ and introduced hot new designers. Bloomingdales’ President Kal Ruttenstein and chief Art Director John Jay valued their opinions above all others.
( [997] )

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THE LATE SIXTIES

From the moment “Antonio” appeared in the pages of the “Fashion of the Times” Magazine of the New York Times, their careers skyrocketed, spiraling upwards through the nation’s newspapers, magazines and department stores. As part of the international “youthquake”, they seized the opportunity to revolutionize an industry still mired in the above-mentioned “Anglo-Caucasian myopia”. This ‘whiteness’, which had dominated fashion illustration until their arrival, was so thoroughly attacked by them in many of their drawings and photographs that it would not be unfair to claim them as pioneers of multinationalism or globalism, They were among the very first to introduce people of color into a world that had not acknowledged their existence before, other than as an oddity or a diversion.
{See essay: “CRITICAL DESIRE: RACE AND SEXUALITY IN THE WORK OF ANTONIO,” by Amelia Malabanga-Ansotegui and Ramon Rivera-Servera (http://latino.si.edu/virtualgallery/antonio/bodyessay.htm)}

They lived and worked out of Carnegie Hall Studios on 57th St in Manhattan. This was the epicenter of the hip, swinging 60’s world they created, working for the New York Times, department stores such as Carson, Pirie, Scott in Chicago, and corporate clients like Kate Greenaway and Celanese. For fun they danced at the Electric Circus and hung out at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park and at Max’s Kansas City downtown, where they met Andy Warhol. At Max’s they also met many of their models, such as Donna Jordan, Jane Forth, Patti D’arbanville and Maria and Geraldine Smith. Another model Antonio met at the time, Pat Cleveland became his #1 muse and eventually helped him change the face of Vogue magazine from lily-white to at least a semblance of color.

Another important meeting at this time occurred in New York’s West Village: Charles James, one of America’s foremost clothing designers was falling out of favor because his clothes were deemed too “structured”. Befriending him and recognizing his talent, they began a collaboration, that, over the next ten years, would yield a wealth of drawings recording his most important creations. ( The Genius Of Charles James by Elizabeth Ann Coleman, Holt, Rinehart & Winston 1982)

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THE EARLY SEVENTIES

After 1968 things changed in America; the fluidity of the mid-60’s began to harden into more conventional pathways, and creativity became more institutionalized. Chafing at this new restrictiveness, and having by now begun working for European publications such as French ELLE and Marie Claire, Juan and Antonio decided to move to Paris. By 1970 they were living in an apartment on the left bank owned by Karl Lagerfeld, with whom they had a close friendship; he in turn was inspired by their freedom and creativity to launch a new phase of his own career, which, until then, had been held back by the restrictive nature of the French fashion industry.(see: The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake, Bloomsbury Publishing 2006). Although their friendship faltered, while it lasted there was a golden period where everything seemed possible: trips to Venice and St. Tropez, dinners and dancing at La Coupole and Club 7, dressing like dandies in custom-made clothing and footwear.

Their work in France, where they remained until 1975, encompassed all the major European fashion magazines, and campaigns for stores like Paris’ Galeries Lafayette. They worked in England, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Japan. Antonio’s models, whom he would ‘discover’, include Amina Warsuma, Jessica Lange, Tina Chow, Grace Jones, Paloma Picasso and Jerry Hall. In their new studio on the Rue de Rennes, Antonio and Juan began experimenting with photography. Artists photographed include David Hockney, Andy Warhol And Salvador Dalí (see “ANTONIO’S PEOPLE” by Paul Caranicas, Thames & Hudson 2004). Many of these appear in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine “April in Paris,” April 1975, edited entirely by them.

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MID 70’S TO MID-80’S

Returning to New York City, Antonio and Juan settled into a large studio on Broadway and 18th Street in Manhattan, next door to Andy’s Factory; they edited a second issue of Interview, this one on Puerto Rico (August 1975). The Gay Revolution had begun, and Antonio worked for Mandate, Viva (with Anna Wintour, currently editor at American Vogue), Blueboy, In Touch, Oui, Playboy, Esquire, After Dark and GQ. By now the name Antonio had become so well-known that they were asked to do back-to-back campaigns for both Saks and Bloomingdales department stores, with as many as three ads appearing in one week in the New York Times, often a double-page ad on Sundays.

In many other projects they collaborated with photographers Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton, Roxanne Lowit and Bruce Weber, and art directors Jean-Paul Goude and John Jay. Moving to yet another studio two blocks south at Union Square West and 16th Street, they worked with models and friends including actors David Duchovny, Jason Beghe, Ariane, Kelly Lebrock, Raquel Welch. Joey Arias, Tookie Smith, and Lisa Lyons whom they shared with Robert Mapplethorpe.

In the 70’s and 80’s Antonio worked for almost all the Vogue magazines (American, Italian, French, German, English, Nippon), but both he and Juan still found Conde-Nast’s modus operandi too restrictive; when Anna Piaggi at Vanity (also a Conde Nast publication) in Italy offered them free rein, they jumped at the chance to unleash their creativity, virtually commandeering the entire magazine. . Picking up advertising campaigns whilst there (Missoni, Versace), they gave vent to their pent-up ethnicity in issue after issue, filling the pages of the magazine with glorious embodiments of people of color.

Back home the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) commissioned 15 drawings, to become a limited-edition portfolio illustrating the creations of the nominees for the CFDA awards; later he would receive one himself. Although ill with AIDS, Antonio continued to work for department stores (Nordstrom) and with designers (Oscar De La Renta, Norma Kamali) until his death in 1987. Juan subsequently worked with Hispanic Designers, Inc, organizing their yearly shows in Washington DC with Penny Harrison, later instrumental in the creation of the Virtual Gallery exhibit of Antonio and Juan’s work at the Center for Latino Initiatives of the Smithsonian Institution.([998]) He also arranged for a traveling museum retrospective with over 200 pieces which has appeared at the Louvre in Paris, The Royal College Of Art in London, the Modemuseum in Munich, Museum Fur Kunst & Gewerbe in Hamburg, and the Musee Des Arts Decoratifs in Lausanne, Switzerland ([999]).<br />


Juan died in 1995, also of AIDS.


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Bibliography: [1000]

-- 20:36, 15 September 2007 (UTC)