Family Pool
Slim Aarons · 1960
From € 250.00 Including VAT
About this work
Family Pool, Lake Forest, circa 1960
Three people float on orange and red air mattresses on a bright blue pool; in front a woman lies on her stomach and looks up. Behind the brick parapet with its wrought-iron fence, a few people stand by a garden house with a slate roof, overgrown with ivy. At left stand green loungers and parasols, and a dark sky hangs above the tall trees.
Mrs A. Watson Armour III, Jean Schweppe, with friends and family by the pool on their estate in Lake Forest, Illinois, circa 1960; according to the caption the picture appeared in A Wonderful Time. What stands out is the light: the water and the greenery lie in the sun, while the sky above is almost as dark as a thunderstorm. That contrast makes the blue of the pool stand out sharply. The garden house stands among the trees like a small castle.
- Photographer
- Slim Aarons
- Collection
- Slim Aarons
- Country
- USA
- Year
- 1960
- Reference
- 3095008
The photographer
Photographing attractive people who were doing attractive things in attractive places.
George Allen Aarons, born in New York, served as a military photographer in World War II and subsequently transitioned to print journalism. Whereas he previously documented the war, he deliberately chose the opposite subject: the leisure time of the rich and famous, in breathtaking settings.
His most famous photograph, The Kings of Hollywood (1957), encapsulates what he sought in all his portraits: glamour, charisma, and celebrity, captured in a relaxed manner.
Aarons won the trust of the people he photographed, thereby gaining access to some of the most intimate and candid portraits of the twentieth century. In 2007, Getty Images published the book Poolside With Slim Aarons , crowning his legacy.
- Born October 29, 1916 , New York
- Died May 29, 2006 , Montrose, NY
- Hulton Archive / Getty Images
