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Slim Aarons Portrait 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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Artist: Slim Aarons
Slim Aarons 'Capucine'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Capucine, 1957 Fiber print 30 x 20 inches Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainl...
Category

1950s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Royal Winner, HM Queen Elizabeth II
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Royal Winner, Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth II 1955 (printed later) C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. 1955: Prince Philip, captain of the Windsor Park Team, with the Windsor Cup...
Category

1950s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Peggy Guggenheim at Palazzo Venier Dei Leoni, Venice'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
September 1978: Peggy Guggenheim (1898 - 1979) in the Palazzo Venier Dei Leoni, Venice. The palace houses her private art collection, including Picasso's 'On the Beach', pictured to ...
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1970s Realist Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Dali's Party'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Dali's Party 1959 Chromogenic Lambda print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity. circa 1959: Surrealist painter Salvador Dal...
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1950s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons Style 'Gretchen Van de Kamp Ward In Gustave Tassell'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Gretchen Van de Kamp Ward In Gustave Tassell 1960 (printed later) Silver gelatin print estate signature stamped edition of 150 with certif...
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1950s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons Style 'Saks Fifth Ave'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Jean Patchett For Saks Fifth Avenue 1955 (printed later) Silver gelatin print estate signature stamped edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity A young woman mod...
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1950s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Monocled Miss (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Renata Boeck enjoying breakfast in bed at the Regency Hotel in New York, 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. S...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Sunbathing in Capri'(Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption: American actress Marisa Berenson sunbathing in Capri, 1968. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons ...
Category

1960s Realist Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Madame Jean Serpieri'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
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 first king of m...
Category

1960s Realist Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Campbell Falls, Massachusetts (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Campbell Falls, Massachusetts, 1959 Chromogenic Lambda Print Estate edition of 150 A family enjoying a picnic at Campbell Falls, Massachusetts, 1959 Estate stamped and hand numbere...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Model Friend (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Model Friend, 1952 Chromogenic Lambda Print Estate edition of 150 New York model, Jean Adams and friend share a drink on the beach at Acapulco, 1952 Estat...
Category

1950s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Life in the Bahamas (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Life in the Bahamas 1975 Chromogenic Lambda Print Estate edition 1 of 150 A waiter serves fruit to bathers, including socialite, Louisa del Musso (kneeling), at the Lido in Venice, ...
Category

1970s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Francine Brandt in Acapulco
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Francine Brandt, 1961 C print 24 x 20 inches Francine Brandt by a swimming pool in Acapulco, Mexico, January 1961. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate ...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Montecatini (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Marie-Louise Scio at the Tettuccio Terme in Montecatini, Italy, June 1980. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim...
Category

1980s Realist Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Truman Capote at Home
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Author Truman Capote (1924 - 1984) relaxes with a book and a cigarette in his cluttered apartment, Brooklyn Heights, New York. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with c...
Category

1950s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, In Vogue Acapulco (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
In Vogue, 1966 Chromogenic Lambda Print Estate edition of 150 Vogue magazine editor Topsy Taylor, a visitor to Acapulco, circa 1966. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Verbier Skier (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Verbier Skier, 1964 Chromogenic Lambda Print Estate edition of 150 A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with cert...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Marie-Louise Scio in Montecatini (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Marie-Louise Scio, 1980 Chromogenic Lambda Print Estate edition of 150 Marie-Louise Scio poses in a leotard at the Tettuccio Terme in Montecatini, Italy, November 1980. Estate stam...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Joan Collins Relaxes (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Film star Joan Collins relaxes with her pink poodle on her pink bed. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenti...
Category

1950s Realist Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Tania Mallet in the Bahamas (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1961: Actress Tania Mallet relaxes on a red-curtained four poster in Eleuthera, in the Bahamas. She is best known for her role as the unfortunate Tilly Masterson in the Bond film 'Go...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing Princess (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Princess Luciana Pignatelli on a skiing holiday in Lech, Austria. February 1961 Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. S...
Category

1960s Realist Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Tania Mallet
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1961: Actress Tania Mallet relaxes on a red-curtained four poster in Eleuthera, in the Bahamas. She is best known for her role as the unfortunate Tilly Ma...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nassau Speed Week, Dan Gurney (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
American racing driver Dan Gurney at the 1963 Nassau Speed Week. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity fr...
Category

1960s Modern Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Pop and Society 1968: Marianne Faithful, Desmond Guinness, and Mick Jagger
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Full title: Pop and Society 1968: Marianne Faithful, Desmond Guinness, and Mick Jagger at Leixlip Castle Ireland, 1968
Category

1960s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Sirio Maccioni at Le Cirque, New York
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Sirio Maccioni, 1981: laying across a table in Le Cirque in New York where a line of socialite ladies are seated. Staley-Wise Gallery offers photographic prints from the Slim Aarons...
Category

1980s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Hunter Reggie Destro and Arnold Newman, Nairobi, Kenya
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Hunting For Fun, 1960: Hunter Reggie Destro and photographer Arnold Newman outside Nairobi, Kenya. Staley-Wise Gallery offers photographic prints from the Slim Aarons Archive, owned...
Category

1960s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Salvador Dali, Port Ligat, Costa Brava
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Take It, 1970: Salvador Dali with some of his works at Port Ligat, Costa Brava Staley-Wise Gallery offers photographic prints from the Slim Aarons Archive...
Category

1970s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Prince Philip Receives Windsor Cup at Ascot Polo Tournament
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Royal Winner, 1955: Prince Philip Receives Windsor Cup at Ascot Polo Tournament with Queen Elizabeth II. Staley-Wise Gallery offers photographic prints fr...
Category

1950s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Peggy Guggenheim at the Palazzo Venier Dei Leoni, Venice, Italy
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Staley-Wise Gallery offers photographic prints from the Slim Aarons Archive, owned and housed by Getty Images Archive in London. All photographs are printed and authorized by the Get...
Category

1970s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Good Shot: Marion B (Jo) Carstairs, Little Whale Kay, Bahamas
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Staley-Wise Gallery offers photographic prints from the Slim Aarons Archive, owned and housed by Getty Images Archive in London. All photographs are printed and authorized by the Get...
Category

1960s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Park Avenue Party, New York
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Park Avenue Party, 1952: Slim Hawks, Diana Vreeland, and her husband Reed Vreeland at Kitty Miller's New Year's Eve party in her home on Park Avenue in Ne...
Category

1950s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Howard Hughes at Howard Hawks’ East/West Croquet Match
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Staley-Wise Gallery offers photographic prints from the Slim Aarons Archive, owned and housed by Getty Images Archive in London. All photographs are printed and authorized by the Get...
Category

1950s Slim Aarons Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Slim Aarons portrait photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Slim Aarons portrait photography available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of portrait 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, pink and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Slim Aarons in digital print, lambda print, laser 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 portrait 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, Bob Willoughby, and Mark Beard. Slim Aarons portrait photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $960 and tops out at $35,000, while the average work can sell for $3,000.

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