Slim Aarons: A Life in Pictures
Words by Shawn Waldron, Curator of the Slim Aarons Archive at Getty Images
Its A Hard Life (Slim Aarons on location in Hawaii), 1955, Slim Aarons
The Photographer of Glamour and Grace
Few photographers captured the effortless elegance of the 20th century quite like George ‘Slim’ Aarons. Best known for documenting “attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places,” Slim spent five decades photographing the lives of the rich, the beautiful, and the effortlessly glamorous — from Hollywood icons to European aristocracy, Palm Beach socialites to jet-setting royals. His purposeful pursuit of documenting the good life began as a reaction to the horrors he witnessed as a war correspondent and was a far cry from the life he had been living prior to the war.
A Life Shaped by War and Hardship
Born George Allen Aarons in 1916, Slim began life in a New York City tenement building and spent time in an orphanage as a child before settling with extended family in New Hampshire. His photography career began when he enlisted in the US Army in 1939, a few months before the outbreak of war in Europe. Slim served six years as a decorated combat photographer working for Yank magazine, an official US Army weekly distributed to enlisted soldiers around the world.
Slim Arrives, circa 1955, Slim Aarons
From Battlefields to Beach Clubs
Following the war, Slim returned to the U.S. and traded battlefields for beaches, ballrooms, resorts and country manors. He worked for many of the great midcentury magazines including LIFE, Town & Country, Holiday, and Travel & Leisure, all the while reinventing visual storytelling with a lens that framed luxury, leisure and lifestyle. He considered himself a journalist first and never staged a scene; his pictures are observed, embedded and entirely authentic.
Slim Aarons photographing actress Mara Lane at Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, 1954.
Getty Images: Home of the Slim Aarons Archive
Getty Images has owned and operated the Slim Aarons archive since 1997. Getty Images Gallery is proud to represent the complete collection and offers exclusive access to the full range of the photographer’s work, seen and unseen. Slim’s archive offers a unique view into a world of sun-drenched villas, poolside parties, and global sophistication that continues to captivate generations.
Slim Aarons original slides at Getty Images Archive, Alex Timms
A Glimpse Behind the Lens
A personal moment with Slim and his daughter Mary outside their suburban New York home - a reminder of the joy, elegance, and intimacy that defined his photographic world.
Slim helps his daughter Mary to sustain a headstand, Bedford, New York, 4th July 1970.
Defining a Visual Era
Slim’s iconic portraits of Babe Paley and C.Z. Guest don’t just depict wealth; they define an era. The influence of his best-known works, including Poolside Gossip, Desert House Party, and Kings of Hollywood, can be traced through the worlds of fashion, design, fine art, and internet culture.
A Legacy Preserved
Today, Slim Aarons’ legacy endures not only through museum exhibitions and design inspiration, but through the timeless elegance of his imagery and careful stewardship. Every print offered through Getty Images Gallery and its licensed partners is produced from original source material and has been authorized and authenticated to the highest archival standards.
This is more than photography. This is the world of Slim Aarons – preserved, protected, expanded and offered exclusively by Getty Images.
Slim Aarons looks through his collection at the Hulton Getty Archive in London, 1999, Steve Eason