My Toy
Slim Aarons · 1982
From € 250.00 Including VAT
About this work
My Toy, Vallelonga 1982
A man in a checked jacket with a scarf in the open collar stands upright in the cockpit of a red racing car, facing the camera. One hand rests on a helmet printed with Firestone; beside him lies an orange racing suit. On the nose of the car are the number 31, the words Jolly and Club and two Italian tricolors. Behind him lie an empty track, grass and clouds.
The caption names him as Gabriele D'Annunzio, Prince Di Montenevoso, a member of the Jolly Club, in April 1982 at Vallelonga with his red Lola racing car. He was Chief Test Driver for Firestone International. Slim Aarons photographed him head-on and at the eye level of the hood. That turns the car into a plinth: the broad red nose fills the lower half, the man in the jacket stands on it like a statue. The neat jacket above the racing car gives the photograph its dry humor.
- Photographer
- Slim Aarons
- Collection
- Slim Aarons
- Country
- Italy
- Year
- 1982
- Reference
- 3163540
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
