CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/18/2015

Philippe Halsman's Jump Book

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.