10 Famous Artists Who Got Their Start in the Magazine Industry

Brian Duffy initially pursued fashion design after graduating from Saint Martin's School of Art, taking a job as a fashion artist for Harper's Bazaar. After seeing the photographic contact sheets on his art director's desk, Duffy switched gears and turned to photography instead. After locking down a job as a photographer's assistant, he was commissioned by Ernestine Carter, who was the The Sunday Times fashion editor. Eventually, British Vogue hired him, and he went on to photograph some of the hottest models of the late '60s and '70s.

After graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute, Annie Leibovitz practiced photography on her own while holding down a number of jobs, including a brief gig in Israel. When she returned to the United States in 1970, she began working as a staff photographer for Rolling Stone. In 1973, she became the publication's chief photographer, capturing close and personal photos of celebrities for the next 10 years. Her work helped define Rolling Stone's iconic style of shooting up until today.

Though Terry Richardson's latest photographs are shot inside his studio and self-published on his own website, the notorious photographer first rose to fame through the magazine industry. Even before he shot celebrities like Lady Gaga, Lindsay Lohan, and the ever-scandalous Miley Cyrus, he was doing work for The New York Times Style Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and more. His personal photos never failed to shock, and such controversial work opened up major publications to new photographic potential.

Robert Rauschenberg will forever be remembered as one of the most influential artists in history, using silkscreen, collage, and text to introduce multiple images into his paintings that ultimately paved the way for pop artists like Andy Warhol. In 1965, LIFE magazine commissioned Rauschenberg to create a spread entitled "A Modern Inferno," in which Rauschenberg channeled his criticisms of the Vietnam War and issues of his time. Afterwards, Rauschenberg moved on to create numerous covers for TIME magazine. The November 29, 1976 issue even features the artist himself—TIME's first cover of a living artist.

Lee Miller was no stranger to the magazine industry during her time. Before she became a photographer, the Poughkeepsie native was discovered on the streets of Manhattan by none other than the founder of Vogue, Condé Nast, who stopped her from crossing the street when a car was approaching. Miller then went onto become one of New York's hottest models before she moved to Paris to learn photography from Man Ray in 1929. By the time World War II struck, Miller became the war correspondent for Vogue, capturing images of the bombings in London, the liberation of Paris, and the horrors of Nazi concentration camps, among other atrocities from WWII.

Norman Rockwell displayed a propensity for art and design at a young age. When he was 14, young Norman transferred from a regular high school to the Chase Art School, eventually enrolling in the National Academy of Design and then the Art Students League of New York. With some training, he produced illustrations for Saint Nicholas magazine, Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, and other publications for children and adolescents. By the time he was 19, Rockwell was made art editor of Boys' Life, for which he would create and publish his first magazine cover for the September 1913 issue. By 1916, at age 21, he used his connections to land the cover for The Saturday Evening Post. Soon after he would go on to illustrate covers for Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly, and Life Magazine.

Weeks after Andy Warhol graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), the young artist set off for New York, in search of a commercial art career. He was soon hired by Glamour magazine. His illustrations at the magazine, which included advertisements for fashion and beauty products, would inform his later art. By working in a commercial magazine, Warhol was later able to cast commercial objects as fine art. From Glamour, he'd go on to become the famous pop artist we know him as today.

Before Barbara Kruger became the renowned conceptual artist she is today, famous for her white, red, and black text-based pieces, she started her art career in the magazine industry. At first, she worked in the design department at Mademoiselle magazine, later becoming the art director, graphic designer, and picture editor at House and Garden, Aperture, and other publications. She often appropriates images from advertisements and beauty spreads in her work, something we can assume comes from her background in the magazine industry.

Perhaps Cindy Sherman caught the attention of some of the nation's leading magazines for her unconventional ideas, which challenged the way women were portrayed in society and media at the time. She created twelve images, which were commissioned but never published by Ingrid Sischy, editor-in-chief of Artforum in 1981. The images depicted women in varying roles, ranging from a seductive temptress to a vulnerable-looking victim. She went on to create series of photos for magazines like Garage, Interview, Harper's Bazaar, and more.