The Hotel Excelsior
Slim Aarons · 1957
From € 250.00 Including VAT
About this work
The Hotel Excelsior, 1957
A gala at night, shot with flash. White, yellow and red balloons float above the crowd; two lit rings hang in the black. Men in white dinner jackets and black tie, women in evening dress — one in green satin at the centre. Below, tables with pink cloths, champagne in coolers and loaded plates.
The Hotel Excelsior in Rome, 1957. Aarons photographs the party not from a distance but from inside it: he stands among the guests, flash straight ahead, so the front rank is sharp and the black behind swallows the rest. The balloons do what chandeliers cannot — they move, and here they stand still halfway through a throw.
- Photographer
- Slim Aarons
- Collection
- Slim Aarons
- Country
- Italy
- Area
- Lazio
- City
- Rome
- Year
- 1957
- Reference
- 1496421799
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
