1953
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.
Slim Aarons 'Jamaica Sea Sailing'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Jamaica Sea Sailing, 1953 Fiber print Estate edition of 150 Signature stamped and hand numbered with Certificate of authenticity 1953: Two men sailing their yacht 'Eel II' in Jamaic...
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Jamaica Sea Sailing'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Jamaica Sea Sailing, 1953 Fiber print Estate edition of 150 Signature stamped and hand numbered with Certificate of authenticity 1953: Two men sailing their yacht 'Eel II' in Jamaic...
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Jamaica Sea Sailing'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Jamaica Sea Sailing, 1953 Fiber print Estate edition of 150 Signature stamped and hand numbered with Certificate of authenticity 1953: Two men sailing their yacht 'Eel II' in Jamaic...
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Jamaica Sea Sailing'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Jamaica Sea Sailing, 1953 Fiber print Estate edition of 150 Signature stamped and hand numbered with Certificate of authenticity 1953: Two men sailing their yacht 'Eel II' in Jamaic...
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Jamaica Sea Sailing'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Jamaica Sea Sailing, 1953 Fiber print Estate edition of 150 Signature stamped and hand numbered with Certificate of authenticity 1953: Two men sailing their yacht 'Eel II' in Jamaic...
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Jamaica Sea Sailing'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Jamaica Sea Sailing, 1953 Fiber print Estate edition of 150 Signature stamped and hand numbered with Certificate of authenticity 1953: Two men sailing their yacht 'Eel II' in Jamaic...
Silver Gelatin
'Jamaica Sea Sailing' 1953 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
'Jamaica Sea Sailing' 1953 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition 1953: Two men sailing their yacht ‘Eel II’ in Jamaica. (Photo by Slim Aarons) silver gelatin Print Produced from the o...
C Print
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Jamaica Sea Sailing 1953 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Jamaica Sea Sailing Two men sailing their yacht ‘Eel II’ in Jamaica. Paper size 40 x 40" inches / 101 x 101 cm Estate Stamped Collection Edition to 150 Photo by Slim Aarons ...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Official Estate Print - Jamaica Sea Sailing 1953 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Jamaica Sea Sailing Two men sailing their yacht ‘Eel II’ in Jamaica. Slim Aarons silver gelatine fibre based print Printed Later Slim Aarons Estate Edition Produced utilising the only original transparency or negative held at the Archive in London England. Complimentary dealer shipping to yourself or your framer, worldwide. Stamped and hand numbered by the Slim Aarons Estate. Certificate of Authenticity included. Collector will get the next number in the edition 30 x 30" inches / 76 x 76 cm paper size Complimentary shipping. Other sizes available of this print : 30x30" inches $ 3500 20x20" inches $ 2500 16x16" inches $ 2100 12x12" inches $ 1800 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 that occurred alongside—but quite separate from—the cultural and political backdrop of the second half of the Twentieth Century. The Slim Aarons Estate has released this limited Estate edition as a silver gelatine darkroom fibre based print. They have chosen these prints for their sharpness, clarity, tonality and quality, compared to archival inkjet prints. Silver gelatine prints give true continuous black and white...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Sailing In Lyford Cay Slim Aarons Estate Stamped Print
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Sailing In Lyford Cay 1966 by Slim Aarons Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition A crew member tends to the rigging on a yacht in Lyford Cay, Bahamas, April 1966. unframed c type pri...
Archival Pigment
Sailing In The Bahamas Slim Aarons Estate Stamped Print
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Sailing In The Bahamas 1964 by Slim Aarons Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition A high angle view showing a formation of sailing boats in the Bahamas, 1964. unframed c type print ...
Archival Pigment
Sailing In The Bahamas 1964 - Slim Aarons Estate Stamped
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Sailing In The Bahamas 1964 - Slim Aarons Estate Stamped A high angle view showing a formation of sailing boats in the Bahamas, 1964. 60 x 40" inches / 152 x 102 cm paper size Es...
Archival Pigment
