Hugh Hefner
Slim Aarons · 1961
From € 250.00 Including VAT
About this work
Hugh Hefner, Chicago 1961
Hugh Hefner looks intently into the lens, a pipe between his teeth, the hand holding it right in front of his chin. Behind him, lit photographs float in warm orange against the black. His suit disappears into the dark; only the white shirt, the hand and the face catch light. Below him, a large part of the upright frame remains empty and black.
The American publisher and founder of Playboy, surrounded by erotica according to the caption, at the Playboy Club in Chicago in 1961. This version stands out for its empty space: the lower part of the picture is almost a single black field, from which Hefner emerges like a bust. The pipe and the raised hand give him a pose, and the dark beneath lets him stand apart from everything hanging around him.
- Photographer
- Slim Aarons
- Collection
- Slim Aarons
- Country
- USA
- City
- Chicago
- Year
- 1961
- Reference
- 110266635
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
