Assignment/Critique #5 Photographer Bio: Philippe Halsman

  Philippe Halsman was born the 2nd of May 1906 in Riga Latvia to Ita Grintuch and Morduch Halsman, a dentist and school principal. He gained notoriety throughout Europe  in 1928 during his father’s murder trial. While the two were on a hiking trip in the Austrian alps, Murdoch Halsman died from massive head injuries. Philippe sought help from passing peasants who alerted the police that they suspected murder. Philippe gave contradicting evidence, and the prosecution procured compelling physical evidence of murder. The prosecution failed to provide any motive, however, and the overtones of antisemitism in the prosecution’s witnesses raised doubts as to whether or not Halsman was a victim of inter-war politics. Notable thinkers such as Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein supported campaigns for his release. His sentence was eventually commuted to manslaughter and by 1930 he received full pardon under the condition of banishment.

Halsman left Austria for Paris, then Marseille, and eventually fleeing to the U.S. at the onset of the second World War. He gained popularity in France for portraits made for Vogue and other periodicals, but his time in America would bring him into contact with Salvador Dali with whom he would develop his trademark “jump” photography. Halsman is quoted saying “When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears”. Halsman went on to work for Life magazine to shoot a record 101 cover portraits.

   Halsman’s early photography used highly defined and sharply focused images in a time when softer foci predominated. His photos utilize a lot of high angle lighting which moves the eye along the image according to the light’s intensity. His most famous photographs and many of his Time covers feature powerful and iconic figures of the twentieth century jumping with apparent abandon. He shoots entirely in black and white, and his photos are predominately dark.

   The demands of portraiture require a single unified or perhaps a few human forms to carry most of the visual weight. Exceptions abound however, as many of his works experiment with incorporating props and other forms with his subjects. These are most commonly found in his collaborations with Salvador Dali. One can see the rule of threes utilized to distribute emphasized and moving forms as well as shading.

Halsman is described by some to be a patriot with a passion for discovering his subjects identities and exhibiting their uncensored and identities. “Jump” photography allows for revealing portraits of subjects, but reveals perhaps even more about the artist himself.

  There is perhaps no greater testament to Halsman’s charm than the unusually candid portrait of Richard M. Nixon at right. Halsman was unparalleled in his ability to disarm his subjects and create dynamic and emotionally charged images a brief moment of inhibition. Halsman humanizes powerful and famous subjects by convincing them to let down their guard and engage in a flight of fancy. While humbling, the powerful stances assumed by the figures hint at the dynamic and powerful people they are. The energy and movement expressed can be likened to each subjects ascension to the throne of public imagination.This adds an almost otherworldly aspect to the pictures rich with expressive postures. The ultimate portrait to come from Halsman’s “jump” portraits in my opinion would have to be Oppenheimer at right. Unity, balance, division by threes and deep contrast produce Oppenheimer as if he were messiah of the atomic age.

The interpretative and experimental movement used by Halsman could not exist, without the influence of Dali and surrealism’s unconscious motives. The best example of this influence is Dali Atomicus below with its anarchic and

seemingly random arrangement of props. The meaning is obtuse and inconspicuous. It requires the viewer to apply his own impressions to develop his own interpretation, utilizing unconscious processes in much the same way as Rorschach ink-blots. Cats tossed through the air water suspended in the midst of a large splash and flying furniture coalesces about a floating and pleased looking Dali. The high lighting and deep shadows divide the viewers attention to the strange and dream like setting Dali happily finds himself in. Halsman evokes a presence and force from his subjects that one can see at work here.

Halsman’s portraits seem to let their subjects transcend the limits of their material world and with bold balletic poses they seem demonstrate power and energy which exceeds the mundane. These pictures could only be taken by a persuasive and daring personality such as Halsman, who paints with bold strokes the 20th century’s leading cast. Halsman was a luminary and an artist sculpting with the human form with the most influential and powerful forms one could muster.

Pollack, Martin. Anklage Vatermord – der Fall PhilippHalsmann, 2002.