Marilyn Monroe, Marc Chagall, Richard Nixon: they all jumped for Philippe Halsman
With this beautiful facsimile edition, Damiani brings the classic 1959 photo-book back into print. Philippe Halsman's Jump Book gathers nearly 200 Halsman portraits of famous subjects in midair. These uniquely witty and energetic images of airborne movie stars, politicians, royalty, artists and authors have become an important part of Halsman's photographic legacy. For a period of six years in the mid-1950s, Halsman ended his portrait sessions by asking his sitters to jump. Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Edward Steichen, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Oppenheimer, John Steinbeck, Weegee, Aldous Huxley, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Brigitte Bardot and Groucho Marx all took the leap of faith. It is a tribute to Halsman's powers of persuasion that even Richard Nixon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and other figures not famed for their spontaneity were talked into "rising" to the challenge. Philippe Halsman's Jump Book was first published in 1959, and included a delightful essay by Halsman on the new science of "Jumpology." "When you ask a person to jump," Halsman wrote, "his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping, and the mask falls, so that the real person appears." The images are witty, energetic and unexpected. Portrait photographer Philippe Halsman (1906-79) was born in Riga, Latvia. The Second World War forced Halsman to flee to New York in 1940, where he established himself as an in-demand portrait photographer, shooting covers for virtually every major American magazine.
Featured photograph, of Audrey Hepburn, is reproduced from Philippe Halsman's Jump Book.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
vogue.com
Rebecca Bengal
Before you Instagrammed your leap off that boat dock, before you watched that YouTube video instructing you exactly how to attractively achieve said fleeting, gravity-defying moment, before Arthur Elgort captured a generation of models and actors exuberantly midair in what would become a classic fashion pose, there was Philippe Halsman, self-described “jumpologist.”
In his Afterword to Philippe Halsman's Jump Book Owen Edwards wrote, "I had the good luck to spend time with Halsman in 1979, not long before he died, when I was writing the catalog for his exhibit at ICP in New York. I remember his way of delivering a funny line with perfect timing and a deadpan expression Jack Benny might have envied—and his delight at seeing how long it took for others to realize he was joking. For someone who spent his working hours with some Very Important People, this subversive streak must have been hard to contain. In every situation Halsman faced, there was for him a perfect picture. If he didn't find what his taste and inventiveness told him could be found, he would assiduously tune and re-tune until he was there. He was that sort of artist who, should he be peeled like an onion, would reveal an old fashioned artisan after the first layer. He was one of the great masters of photographic technique, and it was through the scrupulous employment of technique that he liberated his imagination." Featured photograph is of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. continue to blog
In the 1950s, when portrait photographer Philippe Halsman said "jump," Brigitte Bardot (pictured here) jumped. So did Salvador Dali, Grace Kelly, Clare Boothe Luce, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Walter Gropius and many others. These lighthearted and revealing photographs were collected in the 1956 classic, Philippe Halsman's Jump Book, now available in a great new hardback facsimile edition from Damiani. Of Bardot, Marilyn Monroe and Gina Lollobrigida, who were catalogued under the heading of "The Love Goddesses," Halsman wrote, "The childlike playfulness of their jumps shows that the image the public has of them is nothing but the reflection of the public's own desires." continue to blog
Best known for his celebrity portraiture for mid-century magazines like Time, Vogue, Match and especially LIFE (for which he shot more than 100 covers) Philippe Halsman published his iconic Jump Book in 1956, gathering nearly 200 photographs of his esteemed "sitters" jumping in mid-air. From fellow-artists, designers and photographers like "Capt. Edward Steichen," featured here, to public intellectuals, writers, political figures, athletes and entertainers like Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, Richard M. Nixon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Aldous Huxley, Carol Channing, Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Gleason, Halsman undertook the study of "jumpology" in order to capture his subjects in sudden bursts of energy, overcoming gravity. "He cannot simultaneously control his expressions, his facial and his limb muscles," Halsman explains in his Introduction. "The mask falls. The real self becomes visible. One has only to snap it with the camera." Now out in a gorgeous new facsimile edition from Damiani. continue to blog
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FORMAT: Hbk, 8.25 x 11 in. / 96 pgs / 197 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $45.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $60 ISBN: 9788862084208 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 10/27/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Marilyn Monroe, Marc Chagall, Richard Nixon: they all jumped for Philippe Halsman
Published by Damiani.
With this beautiful facsimile edition, Damiani brings the classic 1959 photo-book back into print. Philippe Halsman's Jump Book gathers nearly 200 Halsman portraits of famous subjects in midair. These uniquely witty and energetic images of airborne movie stars, politicians, royalty, artists and authors have become an important part of Halsman's photographic legacy.
For a period of six years in the mid-1950s, Halsman ended his portrait sessions by asking his sitters to jump. Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Edward Steichen, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Oppenheimer, John Steinbeck, Weegee, Aldous Huxley, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Brigitte Bardot and Groucho Marx all took the leap of faith. It is a tribute to Halsman's powers of persuasion that even Richard Nixon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and other figures not famed for their spontaneity were talked into "rising" to the challenge.
Philippe Halsman's Jump Book was first published in 1959, and included a delightful essay by Halsman on the new science of "Jumpology." "When you ask a person to jump," Halsman wrote, "his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping, and the mask falls, so that the real person appears." The images are witty, energetic and unexpected.
Portrait photographer Philippe Halsman (1906-79) was born in Riga, Latvia. The Second World War forced Halsman to flee to New York in 1940, where he established himself as an in-demand portrait photographer, shooting covers for virtually every major American magazine.
