Slim AaronsSlim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice' Mid-century Modern Photography1955
1955
About the Item
- Creator:Slim Aarons (1916-2006, American)
- Creation Year:1955
- Dimensions:Height: 40 in (101.6 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:16 x 16 inches Price: $2,15020 x 20 inchesPrice: $2,50030 x 30 inchesPrice: $3,35040 x 40 inchesPrice: $3,950
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU32614441352
Slim Aarons
American photographer Slim Aarons captured the 20th century’s international jet set — U.S. socialites, European royalty, Hollywood stars — at play in sun-kissed locales like Monaco, Saint-Tropez and Palm Beach, as well as other luxurious settings around the globe.
Committed to eschewing makeup and artificial lighting, Aarons created images that are at once candid and polished, combining the relaxed posture of his subjects, who trusted him to document their lives, with the visual sharpness of a seasoned art director. Having gotten his start taking pictures for the U.S. military magazine Yank during World War II, he contributed over the course of his career to Life, Town and Country and Holiday magazines and published several books.
Aarons was born in Manhattan in 1916. He joined the army at 18, shooting military maneuvers at West Point before serving as a combat photographer, for which he was awarded a Purple Heart. After the war, he moved to California and began snapping socialites and movie stars.
In the 1950s, Aarons opened a bureau for Life magazine in Rome, where he took pictures capturing the postwar scene. He was always able to win the trust of his elite subjects, who saw him as close to a peer, rather than a paparazzo.
In a 2002 interview with The Independent, Aarons remarked, ''I knew everyone. They would invite me to one of their parties because they knew I wouldn't hurt them. I was one of them.'' This access allowed him to document the rich and famous with their guard down, reading newspapers and magazines, talking on the phone, relaxing by the pool, and chatting with friends. The 1957 photograph The Kings of Hollywood, for example, which won him wide acclaim, shows Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart laughing together as they celebrate New Year’s Eve.
Many of Aarons’s best-known images involve games and sports. In the 1972 Poolside Backgammon, two young women play the board game of the title against the backdrop of a majestic Acapulco estate. In 1958’s Cannes Watersports, a couple attempts to glide across the Golfe de la Napoule on Jet Skis, one expertly and one hanging on for dear life. And in Penthouse Pool, shot in Athens in 1961, a young woman wearing a yellow bathing cap smiles coyly at the camera, surrounded by friends and brightly colored seat cushions, with the Acropolis faintly visible in the background.
Among Aarons’s books are 1974’s A Wonderful Time: An Intimate Portrait of the Good Life, and its 2003 sequel, Once Upon a Time. His final book, A Place in the Sun, was published in 2005, one year before his death.
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- Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYWestin Excelsior in Venice 1957 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photo...Category
1950s Realist Color Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Poolside Backgammon (Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYGuests at the Villa Nirvana, owned by Oscar Obregon, in Las Brisas, Acapulco, Mexico, 1972. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from th...Category
1970s Realist Color Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Massimo Listri, Castello di Rivoli III - TorinoBy Massimo ListriLocated in New York, NYCastello di Rivoli III - Torino "What makes his work unique is how he has made interiors look so absolutely vivid, as if they had a secret life of their own that only he knows how t...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography
MaterialsC Print
- Slim Aarons, Sunbathers at Il CanilleBy Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYSunbathers lounge on the white-painted terrace of Il Canille, built into the rocks of Pizzolungo overlooking the waters off the coast of the island of Capri, Italy, in August, 1980. ...Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Slim Aarons 'Welcoming Guests La Casinella'By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYGiacorno and Stefania Montegazza welcome guests La Casinella, on Lake Como, 1983 Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of ...Category
1980s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Slim Aarons, Coral Beach, BermudaBy Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYSlim Aarons Coral Beach, Bermuda, 1977. C print estate edition of 150 A view of Coral Beach, Bermuda, 1977. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of aut...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- The Palms at the Boardwalk - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Color PhotographBy Deborah EddyLocated in Soquel, CAWonderful color photograph of the roller coaster and palm trees at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk by California artist Deborah Eddy (American, b. 1943)....Category
1980s Realist Color Photography
MaterialsPhotographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
- Coastal Oak Tree LandscapeBy Deborah EddyLocated in Soquel, CAWonderful color photograph of the gnarled trunk of a Coast Live Oak tree by California artist Deborah Eddy (American, b. 1943). Titled "Tree I" on the ma...Category
1980s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin, Photographic Paper
- Armacao dos Buzios, Brazil, Estate Edition Photograph (Sunbathers, Ocean, Pool)By Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAHolidaymakers in Armacao dos Buzios, Brazil, January 1983. On a sparkling day, Slim Aarons captures a glamorous scene of vintage sunbathers relaxing...Category
1980s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Buckleys in Switzerland, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAAmerican author and journalist William F. Buckley Jr. and his wife Patricia take a sleigh ride from the Chateau de Rougemont in Switzerland, 1986. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certi...Category
1980s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Skiing Waiters Estate Edition Photograph (Vintage Winter Snowscape)By Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAThree skiing waiters on a ski slope, circa 1960. In the foreground, a white-clad chef skis towards the viewer, offering a beautifully prepared bird on a tray. Behind him, a man in a ...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Leisure in Antibes, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAA woman sunbathing in a motorboat as it tows a waterskiier, in the sea off the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969. Leisure in Antibes...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda