Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
American, 1916-2006
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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Period: 1970s
Artist: Slim Aarons
Item Ships From: New York
Slim Aarons 'Colourful Crew'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Colorful Crew, 1970
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150
with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A group of colourfully d...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Underwater Drink (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print, Lambda
Underwater Drink (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print, Lambda
Underwater Drink (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print, Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Princess Lucy Ruspoli'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Princess Lucy Ruspoli
1982 (printed later)
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Princess Lucy Ru...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Underwater Drink (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print, Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Beach Hut In Antibes' '
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Guests at a beach hut at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images)
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Snorkeling Holiday (Turks and Caicos) Slim Aarons
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Snorkeling Holiday (Turks and Caicos), 1975
Chromogenic lambda print
A snorkeling holiday in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, circa 1975.
Estate stam...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Colourful Crew'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Colorful Crew, 1970
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150
with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A group of colourfully d...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Eye Of The Beholder'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Eye Of The Beholder
1974 (printed later)
C print
Estate stamped and numbered edition of 150
with Certificate of authenticity
A man contemplates the sunbathers by a swi...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Pool At El Cuarton'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Pool At El Cuarton
1971
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Bathers at a pool in El Cuarton, Cos...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Underwater Drink (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print, Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Colourful Crew'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Colorful Crew, 1970
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150
with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A group of colourfully d...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Eye Of The Beholder' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Eye Of The Beholder
1974 (printed later)
C print
Estate stamped and numbered edition of 150
with Certificate of authenticity
A man contemplates the sunbathers by a swi...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Snorkelling Holiday (Turks and Caicos) Slim Aarons
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Snorkeling Holiday (Turks and Caicos), 1975
Chromogenic lambda print
A snorkeling holiday in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, circa 1975.
Estate stam...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Speedboat Landing'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Speedboat Landing
1973 (printed later)
Chromogenic Lambda Print (C Print)
Estate edition of 150
August 1973: A motor boat arrives at a jetty in Porto Ercole, Italy.
Es...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Keep Your Cool, Slim Aarons
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Keep Your Cool, 1978
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity.
Carmen Alvarez enjoying a game of backga...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Social Call, Las Brisas, Acapulco (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Social Call, Las Brisas, Acapulco, 1972
Chromogenic lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Char...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Snorkeling Holiday (Turks and Caicos) Slim Aarons
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Snorkeling Holiday (Turks and Caicos), 1975
Chromogenic lambda print
A snorkeling holiday in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, circa 1975.
Estate stam...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Underwater Drink (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print, Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Sunbathing In Antibes'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Dani 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 Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Eye Of The Beholder'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Eye Of The Beholder
1974 (printed later)
C print
Estate stamped and numbered edition of 150
with Certificate of authenticity
A man contemplates the sunbathers by a swi...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons, Pool At Las Brisas
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Pool At Las Brisas, 1972
C print
Estate stamped and numbered edition of 150
with Certificate of authenticity
Guests in the pool at the Las Brisas Hotel, Acapulco, Mexi...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Pool At El Cuarton'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Pool At El Cuarton
1971
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Bathers at a pool in El Cuarton, Cos...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Underwater Drink (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print, Lambda
Poolside Scenery (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Poolside Scenery
1970 (printed later)
Chromogenic Lambda Print
Estate edition of 150
Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk with guests by the pool at the L...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Poolside Friendship'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Poolside Friendship
1970 (printed later)
Chromogenic Lambda Print
Estate edition of 150
Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph L...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons Estate 'Keep Your Cool'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Keep Your Cool, 1978
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity.
Carmen Alvarez enjoying a game of backga...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Champagne by the Pool'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Desert House Party
1970 (printed later)
Chromogenic Lambda Print
Estate edition of 150
Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk with guests by the pool at the...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Saint-Tropez Sunbathers' (Slim Aarons Estate Esdtion)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Saint-Tropez Sunbathers, 1971
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Holidaymakers lounging on t...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons : Eden Roc Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Guests by the pool at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August 1976.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and famous both before...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Snorkeling Holiday (Turks and Caicos) Slim Aarons
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Snorkeling Holiday (Turks and Caicos), 1975
Chromogenic lambda print
A snorkeling holiday in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribb...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Keep Your Cool'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Keep Your Cool, 1978
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity.
Carmen Alvarez enjoying a game of backga...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Port Life (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Port Life
1977
C-Print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A man stops to watch a ...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Poolside Scenery'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Poolside Scenery
1970
Chromogenic Lambda Print
Estate edition of 150
Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk with guests by the pool at the Linsk's desert hou...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Princess Pia Poolside
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Princess Pia Poolside 1980
Chromogenic Lambda print
40 x 30 inches
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150
Princess Pia Ruspoli laying on a lounger by a swimming pool on th...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons, Eden Roc Chat
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Dani 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 Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Poolside In Sotogrande
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Bathers round a pool in Sotogrande, Spain, August 1975
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) ...
Category
1970s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons Eden Roc Chat
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Dani 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 Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons Keep Your Cool
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Keep Your Cool, 1978
Chromogenic Lambda print
40 x 30 inches
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticit...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons Colorful Crew
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Colorful Crew, 1970
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity.
A group of colourfully dressed holidaymak...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
El Venero, Marbella, Spain (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
El Venero, the Moorish villa of Hector and Chico de Ayala in Marbella, Spain, 1971.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and famous both b...
Category
1970s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Port Life, St Tropez (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Port Life, St Tropez, 1977
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A man stops to watch a young wo...
Category
1970s Contemporary Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gasthof Post Pool (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Guests lounging by the indoor swimming pool of the Gasthof Post in Lech, Austria, February 1979.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category
1970s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Poolside In Sotogrande' : Mid-Century Modern Photography : Poolside
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Poolside in Sotogrande
1975
C print
Estate signature stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Bathers round a pool in Sotogrande, ...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Flintstone Home
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Carl Hovgard's home, Bouldereign in Carefree, Arizona, built around the boulders on a desert site, January 1973.
state stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Pool At Carvoeiro (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Holidaymakers round a pool, Carvoeiro, Portugal, July 1970.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-200...
Category
1970s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons figurative photography for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Slim Aarons figurative photography available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of figurative photography to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue, purple, green and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Slim Aarons in c print, silver gelatin print, digital print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Slim Aarons figurative photography, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Mark Shaw, Neal Slavin, and Bob Gruen. Slim Aarons figurative photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,350 and tops out at $7,015, while the average work can sell for $2,750.