Slim AaronsCaleta Beach, Acapulco1961
1961
About the Item
- Creator:Slim Aarons (1916-2006, American)
- Creation Year:1961
- Dimensions:Height: 10 in (25.4 cm)Width: 10 in (25.4 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Framing:Framing Options Available
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU14811895542
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.
Find a collection of vintage Slim Aarons photography on 1stDibs.
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- Beach at St TropezBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CASunbathers on the beach at St. Tropez, France, 1977. Chromogenic Lambda print Printed Later 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this vibrant photograph, printed by the Slim Aarons estate. It is part of the estate's only official limited run, of 150. Estate stamp embossed...Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Swimming In The Bahamas, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CABrightly coloured swimmers in a pool in Nassau on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, 1959. 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 10 x 12 inches...Category
1950s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Colorful Crew, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAA group of colourfully dressed holidaymakers on a yacht, Bermuda, June 1970. Bathers in bright pink and red vintage swimwear enjoy the afternoon on t...Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Underwater Drink, Las BrisasBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAA woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972. 60 x 40 inches $3950 40 x 30 inches $3360 ...Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Skiing Waiters (Slim Aarons Estate Edition) Free ShippingBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAThree skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 1960. 40 x 40 inches $3950 30 x 30 inches $3350 20 x 20 inches $2500 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Slim Aarons 'Il Canille' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CASunbathers 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. I...Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Slim Aarons Sugarbush ChaletBy Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYA group of people relaxing in a chalet in the Sugarbush Mountain ski resort, one of the largest ski resorts in New England, in Warren, Vermont, USA, circa 1960. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publications photographing "attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." Taking pictures of the rich and famous both before and after serving as a photographer for the US military magazine Yank during World War II. His work has been included in the publications Town and Country, Holiday, Venture and LIFE. Aarons was known for the positive portrayals he gave to the people he photographed and was invited to high-society gatherings for exactly this reason. His subject matter covered American and European society as well as nobility and both minor and major stars of the day. Print is also available in 30 x 30", 40 x...Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Skiers at Verbier (Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYSkiers at Verbier, 1964 Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publica...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Seaside Picnic (Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYRudulph Ellis Carter holds a picnic in Newport, August 1987. The group includes David Lindh, Frank Gilligan, Kenneth Lindh, Diana Prince, Foxy Carter, Lisette Prince de Ramel, Yusha...Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Cotton BayBy Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYThe Campbells' pool at Cotton Bay, on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas, November 1982. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...Category
1980s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Annevoie (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NY1980, Jean and Christiane de Montpellier d'Annevoie float across the moat of their home, Annevoie, Belgium. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authe...Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Slim Aarons 'Pebble Beach'By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYRiders from the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center wend their way through the Californian sand dunes and pampas grass, November 1976. Estate stamped and han...Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda