Family Snapper
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Slim AaronsFamily Snapper1959
1959
About the Item
- Creator:Slim Aarons (1916-2006, American)
- Creation Year:1959
- Dimensions:Height: 40 in (101.6 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU326110740
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, he opened a bureau for Life magazine in Rome, where he took pictures capturing the postwar scene. Aarons 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, he 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 Aarons 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.
- Surfing Brothers (estate edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYFreddie and Howard Cushing surfing with friends at Bailey's Beach (the Spouting Rock Beach Association) in Newport. Their father introduced the sport to the club in the 1930's. Esta...Category
1960s American Realist Color Photography
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- Mara Lane at the SandsBy Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYAustrian actress Mara Lane lounging by the pool in a red and white striped bathing costume at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, 1954. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with ...Category
1950s American Realist Figurative Photography
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- Having a Topping TimeBy Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NY1959: Socialite Alice Topping relaxing at a poolside in Palm Beach. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons...Category
1950s American Realist Color Photography
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- Bob Dylan in NYCBy Don HunsteinLocated in New York, NYDon Hunstein image is the photo used for the actual color cover of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” album. This iconic image shows Bob & his girlfriend Suze Rotolo walking down a cold an...Category
1960s American Realist Figurative Photography
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- Slim Aarons 'Sunbathing In Antibes'By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYDani Geneux (left) and Marie-Eugenie Gaudfrin sunbathing at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August 1976. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate...Category
1970s Modern Figurative Photography
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- Slim Aarons - Yacht Holiday (Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYTanned bodies on the deck of Dino Pecci Blunt's yacht in Marbella, 1967 Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aaro...Category
1960s Modern Figurative Photography
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- Verbier SkierBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CA'Verbier Skier' by Slim Aarons A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate...Category
1960s American Realist Figurative Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Slim Aarons, Sundowners (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CASlim Aarons Sundowners, 1958 Chromogenic Lambda print Slim Aarons Estate Edition Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Two bikini-clad holidaymakers enjoy a glas...Category
1950s American Realist Color Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Sundowners, Estate Edition,By Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CASlim Aarons Sundowners, 1958 Chromogenic Lambda print Slim Aarons Estate Edition Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Two holidaymakers pause to enjoy a glass of wine outside the Carlton Hotel, Cannes, France. The bather on the left wears a vintage...Category
1950s American Realist Color Photography
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- Slim Aarons, Tennis in the Bahamas (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CA1957—Two women stand talking to a man on the edge of a tennis court in the Bahamas. Behind the main group stand a second group of people talking. Slim Aarons Tennis in the Bahamas, ...Category
1950s American Realist Color Photography
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- Slim Aarons, ;Golfing Pals' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAAt the 16th hole on Pebble Beach golf course, singer and film star Bing Crosby (in red) and A Thomas Taylor, 1977 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurr...Category
2010s American Realist Color Photography
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- Slim Aarons: Verbier Skier (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAA blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, an Alpine village in Switzerland’s Valais Canton, in February 1964. Slim Aarons Verbier Skier Estate Edition Estate stamped and hand number...Category
1960s American Realist Figurative Photography
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