Slim AaronsSaint-Tropez Beach, Estate Edition, French Riviera1971 (printed later)
1971 (printed later)
About the Item
- Creator:Slim Aarons (1916-2006, American)
- Creation Year:1971 (printed later)
- Dimensions:Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 30 in (76.2 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Framing:Framing Options Available
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1488959662
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Los Angeles, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Montecatini, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAMarie-Louise Scio at the Tettuccio Terme in Montecatini, Italy, June 1980. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons ...Category
1980s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Lounging in Verbier, Swiss Alps, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAHolidaymakers in sun loungers on the slopes at Verbier, Switzerland, February 1964. Visual Description: In one of Slim Aarons most popular and iconic series, bright, colorful notes of red, yellow, blue and green punctuate the clean white snow, with majestic peaks in the background. In the foreground, holiday-goers, lounge in a perfect vintage moment of casual winter glamour. Snowy mountaintops rise in the background. Verbier is a stunning mountain and winter ski destination in the Swiss Alps...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Lounging in Verbier, Swiss Alps, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAHolidaymakers in sun loungers on the slopes at Verbier, Switzerland, February 1964. In one of Slim Aarons most popular and iconic series, bright, colorful notes of red, yellow, blue and green punctuate the clean white snow, with majestic peaks in the background. In the foreground, holiday-goers, lounge in a perfect vintage moment of casual winter glamour. Snowy mountaintops rise in the background. Verbier is a stunning mountain and winter ski destination in the Swiss Alps...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Yachting Trip, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CASelvaggia Borromeo wades ashore from her yacht during a holiday on the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, August 1967. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Num...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Backgammon by the Pool, Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAWomen playing backgammon while sunbathing at the Habitation Leclerc pool, January 1975 Over the course of a career lasting half a century, Slim Aarons (1916-2006) portrayed high society, aristocracy, authors, artists, business icons, the celebrated and their milieu. In doing so, he captured a golden age of wealth, privilege, beauty and leisure, a history of glamour that occurred alongside—but quite separate from—the cultural and political backdrop of the second half of the Twentieth Century. Increasingly known for his influence, Aarons's casually glamorous jetset aesthetic can be seen today in fashion, art, and celebrity photography. Recent articles credit his work with inspiring the casually flawless style of top Instagram influencers, full of sunshine and escapism. Reference: "Dive in: how Slim Aarons art directed the poolside summer. French brand Maje are the latest label to take inspiration from Slim Aarons’ pictures of the jetset on holiday." Slim Aarons Backgammon by the pool...Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- 'Chalet Costi, Zermatt, Switzerland, ' Estate EditionBy Slim AaronsLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis vibrant snowscape by Slim Aarons depicts skiers outside the Chalet Costi in Zermatt, 1968. The skier on the left wears white pants and a crisp red jacket, and the skier on the left wears vibrant orange. Vintage skis lean against the warm wood entrance, and two drinks with festive lemon wedges are set on the table for apres-ski. Behind the chalet rises a snowy mountain peak. A classic winter scene from an iconic midcentury photographer...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Snowmass Picnic (Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYA stand-up fondue picnic for skiers at Snowmass-at-Aspen, Colorado which has more than fifty miles of trails and snowfields. The village was opened in 1967. Estate stamped and hand...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Slim Aarons 'Hotel Taormina Pool'By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYThe seaside swimming pool at the Hotel Taormina, Sicily, August 1975. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aaro...Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Poolside Party (Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYGuests by the pool at Nelda Linsk's desert house in Palm Springs, January 1970. The house was designed by Richard Neutra for Edgar Kaufman Estate stamped and hand numbered edition ...Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Guests at the Villa Nirvana (Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYCaption:Guests at the Villa Nirvana, owned by Oscar Obregon, in Las Brisas, Acapulco, Mexico, 1978. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity ...Category
1970s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda
- Palm Beach Arts Festival (Aarons Estate Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYThe Palm Beach Arts Festival Procession, Florida, 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. ...Category
1960s Realist Color Photography
MaterialsLambda
- The Klosters (Aarons state Edition)By Slim AaronsLocated in New York, NYSkiers pass by the Hotel Chesa Grischuna in Klosters, Switzerland, 1963. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aa...Category
1960s Realist Landscape Photography
MaterialsLambda