Philippe Halsman

About

Philippe Halsman was a Latvian-born American portrait photographer renowned for his innovative techniques, including 'jumpology' and surreal collaborations, particularly with Salvador Dalí. Born in Riga, Latvia, in 1906, he studied electrical engineering in Dresden before pursuing photography. Wrongfully imprisoned for his father's death, he was released after international advocacy and moved to Paris in the late 1920s or 1930, where he gained fame for sharp, closely cropped portraits of figures like Le Corbusier and Marc Chagall. Fleeing Nazi-occupied France in 1940 with aid from Albert Einstein, he settled in New York, achieving commercial success with 101 Life magazine covers, a record, and portraits of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, and John F. Kennedy.[1][2][3][4][7]

Surreal portraiture with sharp focus, jumpology, and psychological depth