Lily On The Riviera
Slim Aarons · 1957
From € 250.00 Including VAT
About this work
Lily On The Riviera, Cap Ferrat 1957
Lily Pons sits at the back of a speedboat on a coral-red towel and laughs at the camera with her mouth open, one hand on her white headscarf against the wind. She wears a cream-colored suit with a brooch. Behind her the wake foams white; in the distance the coast lies with pale rocks and villas among the green. Below, two arms and a face rest on the edge.
The French soprano Lily Pons was photographed in 1957 on the back of a speedboat at Cap Ferrat, on the French Riviera. Aarons sits close to her, so close that her fellow passengers are only half in the frame: a face on the left, an arm on the right. That cropping makes the boat feel full and lively. The raised arm and the foaming water behind her put speed into the picture, while Pons herself stays entirely relaxed.
- Photographer
- Slim Aarons
- Collection
- Slim Aarons
- Country
- France
- Year
- 1957
- Reference
- 3165691
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
