Laurence Olivier
Slim Aarons · 1955
From € 250.00 Including VAT
About this work
Laurence Olivier, London 1955
Laurence Olivier stands in Leicester Square in a long dark overcoat and a brown felt hat, one hand in his pocket, the other, gloved, on the back of a green bench. Behind him the theater facade hangs full of neon letters: his own name in gold, Richard III in blue, and a painted rider on a white horse. Cars are parked in the street.
Sir Laurence Olivier posed in Leicester Square in London in 1955, opposite The Leicester Square Theatre, where Richard III was showing with him in the title role. Slim Aarons places the actor squarely in front of his own poster. The man in the coat is restrained and quiet, the facade above him shouts in neon. That contrast between the person and the advertising about him makes the portrait.
- Photographer
- Slim Aarons
- Collection
- Slim Aarons
- Country
- United Kingdom
- City
- London
- Year
- 1955
- Reference
- 51246688
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
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