San Vicenzo
Slim Aarons · 1984
From € 250.00 Including VAT
About this work
San Vicenzo, Palermo 1984
In the middle of a long hall of gold and mirrors, a young woman lies on a large bed of green velvet. She wears a dress covered in sequins and a long string of pearls; beside her lies a red feather fan. Above her hang crystal chandeliers with candles, and the painted ceilings, gilded walls and chairs along the walls run on to the door at the back.
In 1984 Slim Aarons photographed Donna Stefanella Vanni Calvello di San Vicenzo in the Hall of Mirrors at her family's palazzo in Palermo. The eighteenth-century palazzo was the center of Sicilian Belle Epoque society and has been compared with Versailles. Aarons makes the hall the main subject: the lines of floor and ceiling pull toward the back, while the woman lies low and across the foreground. That makes the space feel deeper than it is.
- Photographer
- Slim Aarons
- Collection
- Slim Aarons
- Country
- Italy
- City
- Palermo
- Year
- 1984
- Reference
- 51246706
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
