DAY 243

FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS

Philippe Halsman (1906–1979)

JUMPOLOGIST

Latvian-born photographer Philippe Halsman was a high-caliber portrait photographer from the 1940s to the 1970s, and his portraits of celebrities, intellectuals, politicians, and dignitaries graced the covers and pages of numerous magazines, including Look, Esquire, the Saturday Evening Post, and Life. A 1947 portrait of Albert Einstein (a personal friend who helped him emigrate to the U.S.) was later used on a 1966 postage stamp, and again on the cover of Time in 1999, when Einstein was named “Person of the Century.” Salvador Dali, both a favored subject and a collaborator, was captured in Dali Atomicus, showing three cats, a bucket of thrown water, Dali himself, and other assorted props hanging airborne.

Commissioned by NBC to photograph a lineup of comedians, Halsman was struck by their silly antics, which he caught midair. Years later, after a particularly arduous session photographing the Ford automobile family, Halsman offered the suggestion of jumping to Mrs. Edsel Ford, who rose to the challenge, and an entirely new concept was born.

For the next six years, Halsman ended every session with a jump from his subjects. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Richard Nixon, numerous high-powered CEOs, and Judge Learned Hand, who was in his mid-80s at the time, are featured midair in the pages of Philippe Halsman’s Jump Book. —GC