Study Portfolio 04 Gösta Peterson

Gösta "Gus" Peterson, (April 25, 1923– July 28, 2017) was a Swedish-American photographer whose images were widely published in the editorial pages of Harper’s Bazaar, Mademoiselle and The New York Times amongst many others.

In the 1960s, Bea Feitler the former Art Director for Harper’s Bazaar, Ms and Rolling Stone said, "The most interesting fashion pages now – the ones that say the most about our times – are Gösta Peterson’s for Mademoiselle." Photographer Duane Michels called him, “underrated.”

Gösta moved to New York in 1948 "with poor English," by his own account, "but enough to find every jazz club in town.” He got a job as an illustrator at the department store Lord & Taylor but found himself becoming restless "hanging over a drafting table" all day. When he left Sweden, he was given a Rolleiflex camera and he honed his skills as a photographer practicing in the streets of New York photographing his friends, family and himself.

From the 1950s to the mid-1980s, Peterson’s work was featured on the cover and in the pages of the best magazines of his time and shot some of the most influential designers of the late 20th century including Comme des Garçons, Rudi Gernreich, Halston, Ralph Lauren and Yves Saint Laurent.