Howell Thomas Conant, Sr. (March 13, 1916 – March 11, 1999) was an American fashion photographer noted for his portraits of the American actress and later

Princess Consort of Monaco Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. Kelly ...

Life

Conant's father was a professional photographer who owned a studio in

Marinette, Wisconsin Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the south bank of the Menominee River, at its mouth at Green Bay, part of Lake Michigan; to the north is Stephenson Island, part of th ...

. Conant studied photography at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

and at the

Art Center College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred ...

in Pasadena. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Conant was stationed at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

and was part of the Naval photographic team operating under Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Conant later took pictures for ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'', '' Look'' and ''

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. History and profile A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on '' L'Intransigeant ...

'' among other publications, and photographed celebrities from Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn to American presidents

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

and

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. Conant died at his home in

Carefree, Arizona Carefree is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of the town was 3,690. History Characterized as an upscale residential area, Carefree was conceived in the mid-1950s by busines ...

in 1999. He was survived by his wife, Dorothy; with whom he had four children.

Grace Kelly

In 1955 Conant was commissioned by '' Photoplay'' magazine to do a cover shoot with

, then a leading film actress. Following the ''Photoplay'' shoot, Grace Kelly holidayed in Jamaica, with her sister, and invited Conant. He photographed her without makeup in a naturalistic setting, a departure from the traditional portrayal of actresses. The resulting photographs were published in the June 24 issue of '' Collier's'' magazine, with a celebrated photo of Kelly rising from the water with wet hair making the cover. Conant wrote that he thought that Grace Kelly's sole flaw in her appearance was her jaw, which he considered too square. He would use a dog or a baby to disguise it when photographing her below her jaw. Conant later said that "You trusted Grace's beauty...You knew it wasn't built from clothes and makeup...this was Grace: natural, unpretentious". Grace Kelly sailed on the '' SS Constitution'' from New York to Monaco for her marriage to

Prince Rainier Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest-ruling m ...

in 1956. Many photographers were on board the ship, but only Conant had access to Grace Kelly. Following her marriage Conant was the unofficial photographer to the House of Grimaldi, and extensively photographed Grace Kelly, her husband and their three children. In 1992 Conant published ''Grace'', a book of photographs that he took during Kelly's 26-year reign as Princess of Monaco. In September 1982, Conant was planning a trip to Monaco to take the family's official Christmas portrait. Upon hearing that Princess Grace had died in a car accident, he left without his photographic equipment. Conant remained friends with Prince Rainier until his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conant, Howell 1916 births 1999 deaths People from Marinette, Wisconsin Art Center College of Design alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni 20th-century American photographers Fashion photographers 20th-century American writers United States Navy personnel of World War II People from Carefree, Arizona People from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin 20th-century American non-fiction writers