Marilyn Monroe (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Marilyn Monroe (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images) London
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Swan In A Car (1936) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Swan In A Car (1936) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) 6th April
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Interviewing Grace (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Interviewing Grace (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Bob Harrow/Express/Getty Images
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Sunbathing Skier (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Sunbathing Skier (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Don/Three Lions/Getty Images
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$755
H 20 in W 16 in
Cary Grant And Grace Kelly In To Catch A theift(1932) Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Paramount/Getty Images Archive London England). Cary Grant and Grace Kelly publicity portrait for the film
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Rainy Embankment (1929) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Fair Fun (1938) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) August 1929: A
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Dukeries District - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Dukeries District - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) A
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,354
H 30 in W 30 in
Simca Aronde (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
By Thurston Hopkins
Located in London, GB
Simca Aronde (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Thurston Hopkins/Picture Post/Getty
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,354
H 30 in W 40 in
Thames Divers (1934) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Thames Divers (1934) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by H F Davis/Getty Images Archive) Two
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$5,400
H 40 in W 40 in
Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice' Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photographer, is synonymous with images
Silver Gelatin
$3,000
H 16 in W 20 in
Slim Aarons 'Lido Life, Venice' Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photographer, is synonymous with images that
Silver Gelatin
$4,200
H 40 in W 40 in
Slim Aarons 'Hotel Excelsior, Venice' Midcentury Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Hotel on the Lido in Venice, 1957. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine
Silver Gelatin
$3,150
H 30 in W 30 in
Slim Aarons 'Ursula Pacelli in Venice' Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Venice Lido, Venice, Italy, 1957. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Gucci Pooch in Venice' Mid-century Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
, Venice, September, 1978. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Ursula Pacelli in Venice'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Venice Lido, Venice, Italy, 1957. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photographer, is synonymous with images
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Lido Life, Venice'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photographer, is synonymous with images that
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Gucci Pooch in Venice"
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
, Venice, September, 1978. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed
Lambda
$4,200
H 30 in W 30 in
Slim Aarons 'Hotel Excelsior, Venice' Midcentury Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Hotel on the Lido in Venice, 1957. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine
Silver Gelatin
$4,200
H 30 in W 40 in
Slim Aarons 'Skiers At Sugarbush' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
, April 1960. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art
C Print
$4,200
H 30 in W 40 in
Slim Aarons 'Skiing In Seefeld' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
, Austria, 1985. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art
C Print
$3,000
H 16 in W 20 in
Slim Aarons 'Cortina d'Ampezzo' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photographer, is
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Hang Gliding' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
, Boston, Getty Images Gallery, and IFAC Arts. Slim Aarons (1916-2006) primarily worked for society
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Courchevel' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photographer, is synonymous with images
C Print
$3,900
H 20 in W 30 in
Slim Aarons 'Skiers At Gstaad' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photographer, is synonymous with
C Print
$5,400
H 40 in W 60 in
Slim Aarons 'North Conway Sleigh' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
, New Hampshire, USA. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art
C Print
$5,700
H 48 in W 72 in
Slim Aarons 'Lounging In Gstaad' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
, Switzerland, March 1961. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine
C Print
$3,000
H 16 in W 20 in
Slim Aarons 'Cortina d'Ampezzo' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photographer, is
C Print
$4,200
H 30 in W 40 in
Slim Aarons 'Gasthof Post Pool' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
in Lech, Austria, February 1979. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an
C Print
$5,400
H 40 in W 60 in
Slim Aarons 'Skiers At Sugarbush' - Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
, April 1960. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art
C Print
Rat Packin' with a Bottle of Jack
By Earl Leaf
Located in Chicago, IL
night on July 25, 1961 in Los Angeles, California. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Each fine print
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Exotic Hair Care'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
collaboration with Getty Images Aarons' vast collection of negatives and transparencies, which span six decades
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Skiers at Verbier' (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
available in 20 x 16", 30 x 20", 40 x 30", and 60 x 40 inch sizes. IFAC in collaboration with Getty Images
Lambda
$3,490
H 20 in W 24 in
'Skiers In St. Moritz' 1963 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
, Switzerland, March 1963. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Produced from the original
C Print, Color
$2,500
H 24 in W 20 in
'Henley Royal Regatta' 1955 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Royal Regatta on the River Thames, 1955. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Produced from the original
Color
$2,500
H 24 in W 20 in
'Bahamas Speed Week' 1963 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Nassau, 1963. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) C Print Produced from the original transparency
Color
Street Night (1954) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Street Night (1954) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Monty Fresco/Topical Press Agency/Getty
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$995
H 30 in W 20 in
Marilyn In Grand Central Station (1955) Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
By Ed Feingersh
Located in London, GB
Ochs Archives/Getty Images) NEW YORK - MARCH 24: Actress Marilyn Monroe takes the subway in Grand
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,800
H 40 in W 60 in
Sun Beams Into Grand Central Station (1930) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Sun Beams Into Grand Central Station (1930) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Hal Morey/Getty
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,354
H 40 in W 30 in
Monza Grand Prix (1954) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Archive/Getty Images) British racing champion Stirling Moss at the Monza Grand Prix in Italy, September
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,617
H 40 in W 60 in
Sun Beams Into Grand Central Station (1930) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Sun Beams Into Grand Central Station (1930) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Hal Morey/Getty
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Professor Mario Sposito' (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
-fashioned red and white striped bathing costume in Sicily, Italy, 1954. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Laguna Beach Surfers' (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Beach, California, January 1970. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons (1916
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Princess Pia' (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
swimming pool on the island of Capri, Italy, in August 1980. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim
Lambda
$1,617
H 40 in W 60 in
Sun Beams Into Grand Central Station (1930) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Sun Beams Into Grand Central Station (1930) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Hal Morey/Getty
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,617
H 40 in W 60 in
Sun Beams Into Grand Central Station (1930) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Sun Beams Into Grand Central Station (1930) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Hal Morey/Getty
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$795
H 30 in W 30 in
Steptoe And A Beatle (1964) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print- Paul McCartney
Located in London, GB
Steptoe And A Beatle (1964) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Kaye/Express/Getty Images
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,100
H 40 in W 40 in
Taylor And Poodle (1957) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
By Stanley Sherman
Located in London, GB
Taylor And Poodle (1957) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Stanley Sherman/Express/Getty
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Lunar Colors
Located in London, GB
Getty Images Archive London England Luis Argerich was born in Argentina and grew up through studies
C Print, Color
The Big Smoke (1971) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
The Big Smoke (1971) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images) 2nd
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$2,200
H 40 in W 60 in
Audrey's Funny Face (1956) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
By Bert Hardy
Located in London, GB
Pacific Diver (1950) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Bert Hardy/Getty Images) Actress
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,100
H 30 in W 40 in
Ascari At Silverstone (1949) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Ascari At Silverstone (1949) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
On Target (1966) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
On Target (1966) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by George W. Hales/Fox Photos/Getty Images
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$1,617
H 60 in W 40 in
Dior Boutique in Paris (1953) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Cary In Rain (1957) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Kurt Hutton/Picture Post/Getty Images
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Sea Drive' Mid-century Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Time - Slim Aarons (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons Sea Drive, 1967 (printed later) C
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Donna Stefanella' (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publications
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Laguna Beach Surfers' (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Beach, California, January 1970. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slim Aarons (1916
Lambda
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.
Find a broad range of photography on 1stDibs today.
The first permanent image created by a camera — which materialized during the 1820s — is attributed to Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The French inventor was on to something for sure. Kodak introduced roll film in the 1880s, allowing photography to become more democratic, although cameras wouldn’t be universally accessible until several decades later.
Digital photographic techniques, software, smartphone cameras and social-networking platforms such as Instagram have made it even easier in the modern era for budding photographers to capture the world around them as well as disseminate their images far and wide.
What might leading figures of visual art such as Andy Warhol have done with these tools at their disposal?
Today, when we aren’t looking at the digital photos that inundate us on our phones, we look to the past to celebrate the photographers who have broken rules as well as records — provocative and prolific artists like Horst P. Horst, Lillian Bassman and Helmut Newton, who altered the face of fashion and portrait photography; visionary documentary photographers such as Gordon Parks, whose best-known work was guided by social justice; and pioneers of street photography such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, who shot for revolutionary travel magazines like Holiday with the likes of globetrotting society lensman Slim Aarons.
Find photographers you may not know in Introspective and The Study — where you’ll read about Berenice Abbott, who positioned herself atop skyscrapers for the perfect shot, or “conceptual artist-adventurer” Charles Lindsay, whose work combines scientific rigor with artistic expression, or Massimo Listri, known for his epic interiors of opulent Old World libraries. Photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron was given a Kodak camera as a child. Later, she shot on Polaroid film before buying her first 35mm camera in her teens. Barron's stunning portraits of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Warhol and other artists chronicle a crucial chapter of New York’s cultural history.
Throughout the past two centuries, photographers have used their medium to create expressive work that has resonated for generations. Shop a voluminous collection of this powerful fine photography on 1stDibs. Search by photographer to find the perfect piece for your living room wall, or spend some time with the work organized under various categories, such as landscape photography, nude photography and more.