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, 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.
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Artist: Slim Aarons
Peggy Guggenheim
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
September 1978: Peggy Guggenheim (1898 - 1979) in the Palazzo Venier Dei Leoni, Venice. The palace houses her private art collection, including Picass...
Category
1970s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Holidaymakers in France
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Holidaymakers in France, August 1969.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (191...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Leisure and Fashion (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman watching a poolside fashion show at the Colony Hotel, Palm Beach, Florida, 1961.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the ...
Category
1960s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Acrylic Polymer, Lambda
Catherine Wilke, Capri (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Catherine Wilke joins the topless sunbathers on the island of Capri, 1980.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim A...
Category
1970s Realist 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
Coward And Chums
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Coward And Chums, 1950's
Chromogenic print
24 x 20 inches
Estate edition of 150 (hand numbered and signature stamped)
Playwright, actor and composer Noel Coward (1899 - 1973) with f...
Category
1950s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Droulers And Daughters (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Roberta Droulers sitting with her daughters, Nathalie and Virginie, in the lobby of the Villa D'Este on Lake Como, Tivoli, near Rome, Italy, circa 1984.
Estate stamped and hand numb...
Category
1980s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Il Pellicano Beach
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Il Pellicano Beach, 1973
Chromogenic Lambda print
A jetty juts out from the rocky shoreline at the Hotel Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole, Tuscany, August 19...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Celebrity Cruise (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
circa 1965: British comedian Peter Sellers (1925 - 1980) holidays with Princess Margaret (1930 - 2002, right) on the Aga Khan's yacht on the Costa Smeralda.
Estate stamped and hand ...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Monaco Grand Prix (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Racing driver Jackie Stewart makes a television broadcast at the Monaco Grand Prix, 22nd May 1977. Behind him is John Watson's 'Martini' race car.
...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Rockefeller Brothers (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
The Rockefeller brothers in their Radio City, New York office. Left to right, Laurance (1910 - 2004), Winthrop (1912 - 1973), John D. Rockefeller (1906 - 1978), David, and Nelson (19...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Clifftop Pool (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Guests around the clifftop pool at Warren Avis' villa 'La Barranca', Las Brisas, Acapulco, Mexico, January 1971
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category
1970s American Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Caped Skiers (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Led by skimaster Stein Eriksen, skiers 'sail' down a slope at Snowmass-at-Aspen, Colorado, circa 1967. The skiers are wearing thin capes which attach to their wrists and billow out l...
Category
1960s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Madame Jean Serpieri
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
December 1961—Madame Jean Serpieri sits in the ballroom of the Tour La Reine near Athens, wearing a gown which belonged to the wife of Otto, the f...
Category
1960s Realist 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
Coconut Cocktail (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Teddy Stauffer and a friend share a drink from a coconut shell, Acapulco, Mexico, 1952.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the est...
Category
1950s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Seaside Picnic (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Rudulph 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 Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Winter Wear, Cortina d'Ampezzo (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption:Manuela Bormanero and a friend holiday in the Italian ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, March 1976.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of aut...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
In Capri (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1958: Robert Hornstein, the artist Novella Parigini and Prince Dado Ruspoli on Capri.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category
1950s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Tullio Abbate (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Tullio Abbate, of Abbate Boats, at the back of yacht as it is moored at a property on the shores of Lake Como, Italy, in June 1983.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 w...
Category
20th Century Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Cortina D'Ampezzo (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Skiers at Cortina D'Ampezzo in Italy, 1962.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainl...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Donna Anna Monroy di Giampilieri (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1984, Donna Anna Monroy di Giampilieri in the early-Empire drawing room of the Villa Spedalotto, near Palermo, Sicily.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category
1980s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiers at Verbier (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Skiers 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 Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sunbather on Rock (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A sunbather on a rock by the seaside pool at Jacques Couelle's home 'Monte Mano', on the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, Italy, August 1973.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of...
Category
1970s Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel De Paris In Monaco (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
The entrance to the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Monaco, June 1977.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity ...
Category
1970s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Vuccino and Rava (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Carla Vuccino, wearing a swimming cap, and a sunbathing Marina Rava, both wearing bikini as they sit on the rear of a boat, on the waters off the coast of the island of Capri, Italy,...
Category
1950s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Time For A Guinness (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption: April 1959: Gloria Guinness enjoying a swim in her pool at Manalapan, Palm Beach, Florida.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticit...
Category
1950s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
No Transport Problems ( Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Mrs. Woolworth Donahue with car and bicycles on her motor yacht, 'Hartline', 1982.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the Slim A...
Category
1980s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Dimitris Kritsas (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Dimitris Kritsas, a fashionable young couturier, poses among the gleaming Doric columns of the temple to Poseidon at Sounion.
Estate stamped and h...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Oberon's Lunch (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Film star Merle Oberon (1911 - 1979) and lunch guests at her villa, La Consentida, Acapulco. The star is second from the right facing the camera. A Wonderful Time - Slim Aarons
Es...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Checkered Flag (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
The checkered flag signals the end of the race during the 1963 Nassau Speed Week, 1963.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Paraglider (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1968 - Preparing to go paragliding in Acapulco a young blonde woman holds on firmly to her parachute harness.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of aut...
Category
1960s Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Vuccino and Rava in Capri (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Carla Vuccino, wearing a swimming cap, and a sunbathing Marina Rava, both wearing bikini as they sit on the rear of a boat, on the waters off the coast of the island of Capri, Italy,...
Category
1950s Realist Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Venice Gondolier (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A gondolier on the Grand Canal in Venice, 1957.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked ma...
Category
1950s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Speedboat Landing (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
August 1973: A motor boat arrives at a jetty in Porto Ercole, Italy.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons...
Category
1970s Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Killer Joe Piro (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
American dance instructor 'Killer' Joe Piro (1921 - 1989) dances past the park in New York, July 1964.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authentic...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Annevoie (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1980, 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 Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
'Party at Romanoff’s' SLIM AARONS ESTATE Print
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
'Party at Romanoff’s' SLIM AARONS ESTATE Print
Giant Estate Stamped Limited Edition Print
by Slim Aarons
A party at Romanoff’s in Beverly Hills,...
Category
1950s 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
40 x 30 inches
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity.
Carmen Alvarez enjoying a...
Category
1970s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Verbier Vacation - Slim Aarons, 20th Century photography, Skiing, Landscape
By Slim Aarons
Located in Brighton, GB
Please bear in mind that all prints are produced to order. Lead times are expected between 15-20 days.
Currency fluctuations may cause the price to change.
Prices listed include VAT...
Category
20th Century American Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Color, C Print
Slim Aarons Penthouse Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Young women by the Canellopoulos penthouse pool, Athens, July 1961.
The Acropolis is in the background.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publications photographing...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Lounging In Verbier (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Holidaymakers in sun loungers at Verbier, Switzerland, February 1964.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Penthouse Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Young women by the Canellopoulos penthouse pool, Athens, July 1961.
The Acropolis is in the background.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for soci...
Category
1960s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Kings of Hollywood (Slim Aarons Signed Edition of 250)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Kings of Hollywood, 1957, printed later
Silver gelatin print
16 x 20 inches
Estate edition of 250
Film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910...
Category
1950s Modern Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Kings of Hollywood
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Kings of Hollywood, 1957: Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart at Romanoff’s in Beverly Hills.
Staley-Wise Gallery offers photog...
Category
1950s Slim Aarons Figurative Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
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.