refined his camera to the TLR 45-inch Fairchild-
Halsman, built for him by the Fairchild Corporation.
Between 1932 and 1940, Halsman achieved recogni-
tion in Paris as one of the top portrait photographers.
He shot extensively for magazines such asVogueand
Vu, in fashion and portraiture. At that time he sought
out and photographed many notable figures of
French art, literature, and theatre. But Halsman’s life
in Europe came to an end in 1940 with Hitler’s march
on Paris. His wife and children had visas and were
able to leave for New York, but Halsman had to flee
south from Paris as a refugee. He was only able to
obtain an emergency visa to the United States due to
the assistance of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Tho-
mas Mann, and Albert Einstein, among others.
In New York with his family, Halsman started
anew. A portfolio that he shot for Connie Ford in
1941 gained recognition and got him a first assign-
ment on hats withLife.The photography he then
went on to make while working on freelance assign-
ments forLifeand other big American picture maga-
zines of the time, such asLookandThe Saturday
Evening Post, gave his work the widespread exposure
that assured him great lasting, popular success. His
portraits, from the 1940s through the 1970s, ran the
gamut of notables, from the Duke and Duchess of
Windsor to actor Marlon Brando, from Albert Ein-
stein to sex symbol Marilyn Monroe. In striving to
capture the essence of his many famous subjects, Hals-
man succeeded in creating some of the most recog-
nized and celebrated portraits ever taken of them.
Halsman and others have written on how he
evoked a psychological response from his sitters.
Halsman’s pathos-filled portrait of Albert Einstein
in 1947 came about during a conversation with the
scholar that turned to Einstein’s feelings about his
role in creating the atomic bomb. In contrast, for
his vulnerable yet seductively confident 1952 photo
of Marilyn Monroe in a corner, Halsman used a
very different approach. Positioning her in the cor-
ner, he and his assistants flirted with her to get
Monroe’s responses. A signature method for catch-
ing subjects off guard that Halsman asked of many
of his sitters was to have them jump. His theory of
‘‘jumpology’’ and photos of notable people jump-
ing appear inPhilippe Halsman’s Jump Book.
Besides his considerable achievements as a photo-
grapher, Halsman was one of a handful of people
influential in the creation of the American Society of
Magazine Photographers (ASMP), crucial in setting
standards for the trade. He was elected president in
- In 1962, he formed the Famous Photogra-
phers School with Richard Avedon, Alfred Eisen-
staedt, Irving Penn, and others and became one of
its guiding faculty.
With the end of World War II, and the attain-
ment of U.S. citizenship, Halsman was again able to
travel. In 1951, he returned to Europe and photo-
graphed leading figures such as painters Marc Cha-
gall and Henri Matisse. He was then asked to join
Magnum Photos as a contributing member so that
his work could be distributed by the agency outside
of the United States. In 1960, he went to the Soviet
Union to photograph the leading luminaries there.
In 1966, he traveled to Switzerland to photograph
writer Vladimir Nabokov.
In 1979, the last year of Halsman’s life, his photo-
graphic achievements received widespread exposure
in the form of a major retrospective exhibition at the
International Center of Photography in New York
City. The exhibition toured throughout the United
States until 1986. In 1998, another major retrospec-
tive was launched, this time at the National Portrait
Gallery by the Smithsonian Institution.Halsman: A
Retrospectivewas published to coincide with the
exhibition. The exhibition toured the United States,
Britain, and France through 2002.
Seealso:Life Magazine; Magnum Photos; Popular
Photography; Portraiture; SurrealismBiography
Born in Riga, Latvia, 2 May 1906. Received U.S. citizenship
in 1948. Attended Vidus Skola in Riga, 1922–1924,
received B.A.; attended Technische Hochschule in Dres-
den, Germany, 1924–1928, studied electrical engineering;
attended the Sorbonne in Paris, 1931; self-taught in photo-
graphy. Instructor in Famous Photographers School,
Westport Connecticut, 1969–1979; President, American
Society of Magazine Photographers, New York, 1945,- Recipient ‘‘World’s Ten Greatest Photographers
Award,’’Popular Photography, New York, 1958; New-
house Award, 1963; Golden Plate Award, American
Academy of Achievement, 1967; Life Achievement
Award, American Society of Magazine Photographers, - Died in New York City 25 June 1979.
Individual Exhibitions
1979 International Center of Photography, New York, New
York, and traveling
1980 Foto Galerij Paule Pia, Antwerp, Belgium
1985 Galerie zur Stockeregg, Zurich, Switzerland
1998 National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C., and traveling in United States and
Europe
2001 Philippe Halsman: 100 Photographs; Burke Gallery,
Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Plattsburgh, New YorkGroup Exhibitions
1936 Exposition Internationale de la Photographie Contem-
poraine; Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, FranceHALSMAN, PHILIPPE