Philippe Halsman




Philippe was a well know photographer that was born in 1906 and passed away in 1979. He began his photographic career in Paris, by 1934 he opened a portrait studio in Montparnasse. He photographed many famous artist and writers, such as Andre Gide, Le Corbusier, Marc Chagall and Andre Malraux. He photographed them with a twin-lens reflex camera that he designed himself.


 In 1940, he moved to the United States with his family after fleeing the Nazis. For the next 30 years Philippe's career included reportage and covers for major American magazines. Having this career brought him around many of the century's leading statesman, scientist, artist and entertainers which included Marilyn Monroe, Winston churchhill, Alfred Hitchcock and Albert Einstein. his photos appeared on 101 covers for LIFE magazine, which is a record that no other photographer could beat.
in 1945 he was elected the   first president of the American society of magazines photographers (ASMP).  In11958 Halsmans colleagues named him one of the worlds Ten Greatest Photographers. By 1971 he was teaching a seminar at a new school entitled "Psychological Portraiture" but that shortly ended in 1976.


  in 1941 Philippe began a 37 year collaboration which resulted in a stream of unusual photograph ideas, " Dali's mustache'' and  "Dali Atomicus". In the 1950's Halsman  began to ask his clients to jump while getting their picture taken. The energetic images have become an important part of photographic legacy.                                             

 

Philippe took the photo named "Dali's amoticus" because he wanted to explore the idea of suspension. the photo contains three cats, water being thrown from a bucket, an easel, a footstool and Salvador Dali, all seemingly to be suspended in mid air. The title of the photo is a reference towards Ddalis work "leda Atomica" which is the photograph behind the two cats. Halsman said that it took 28 attempts to be satisfied with the photo.

 

Philippe photographed many well known people including Albert Einstein. He took this picture in 1947.

Philippe took  a series of photos of Salvador Dali, one of his close friends. The photos were of one of the most famous mustaches of all time, the photos were  titled "Dali's Mustache". There was a book published in October 1954, it contained many pictures that Philippe took of Dali.

During his adventurous life he photographed Marilyn Monroe, this photo was taken in 1959. Philippe started asking his clients to jump while being photographed in the early 1950s. he named this style of photography "jumpolgy". Philippe commented, "When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears."

 

Phillippe took the photo of Alfred Hitchcock for the promotion of  the 1962 film "The Birds"

philippe titled this photo "Dali Cyclops", it was in the book "Dali's Mustache. Philippe commented on his long friendship with Dali, “In the thirty years of our friendship I have made countless photographs showing the surrealist painter in the most incredible situations. Whenever I needed a striking or famous protagonist for one of my wild ideas, Dalí would graciously oblige. Whenever Dalí thought of a photograph so strange that it seemed impossible to produce, I tried to find a solution. ‘Can you make me look like Mona Lisa?… Can you make a man one half of whom would look like Dalí and the other half like Picasso?’ I could and I did.”