Philippe Halsman

Life Dates1906 – 1979

Born in Riga, Latvia (1906-1979), he began his career in photography in Paris. In 1934 he opened a portrait studio in Montparnasse, where he collaborated with Corbusier and Andre Malraux, using an innovative twin-lens reflex camera tat he designed himself. Par of the general exodus of artists and intellectuals who fled Germany via emergency visa through the intervention of Albert Einstein. His prolific career in America over the next 30 years included reportage and covers for major American magazine(s). These assignments brought him face to face with inclusive portraits that appeared on 101 covers for LIFE magazine, a record no other photographer could match. Par of his success was his joie de vivre and his inclusion in the American Society of Magazine Photographers (ASMP), where he led the fight to protect photographers' creative and professional rights. In 1958 he taught a seminar at The New School entitled "Psychological Portraiture." He began a 37 year collaboration with Dali in 1941 which resulted in a stream of unusual "photographs of ideas," including "Dali Atomicus". These uniquely witty and energetic images have become an important part of his photographic legacy.