Slim Aarons
Slim Aarons 'Beverly Hills Hotel'
1957

Name: Slim Aarons 'Beverly Hills Hotel'
Brand: Slim Aarons
Price: 2500 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Cars parked outside the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in California, 1957. Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, 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.

Creator:

Slim Aarons (1916-2006, American)

Creation Year:

1957

Dimensions:

Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)

Medium:

Lambda

Movement & Style:

American Realist

Period:

1950-1959

Condition:

Gallery Location:

New York, NY

Reference Number:

Seller: #slimaarons1stDibs: LU32614411092

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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.