The Jeu de Paume dedicated its year end exhibition to American photographer Philippe Halsman with “Astonish Me!”, in the mean time the editions de La Martinière published “Jump Book”. Begun in 1959, when the photographer immortalised the Ford family for the brand’s 50th anniversary, it was a crazy idea, to make Mrs Edsel Ford jump in front of his lens.
So the concept of “jumpology” was born, based on the observation that making his photographic subjects jump helped them relax and lose their inhibitions, making them more natural and photogenic than when they were fixed in carefully arranged poses.
This new work is a republication of the identical work published in 1959. It brings together 191 black and white photos not only of the most celebrated artists, television stars and athletes but also politicians, industrialists and scientists… all of whom took part in the game at the photographer’s whim.
Philippe Halsman (Riga, Latvia, 1906 – New York, 1979) had an exemplary career that lasted over forty years from his beginnings in Paris in the 1930s to the immense success of his studio in New York between 1940 and 1970. The exhibition, which brings together almost 300 works, showcases works from every period. In 1921, Philippe Halsman found his father’s old camera and described developing his first glass plates in the family’s bathroom sink as a “miracle”. At the age of 15, this was his first contact with photography: he would go on to become one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century.
BOOK
Jump Book
Philippe Halsman
Editions de La Martinière
222 x 279 mm
96 pages
ISBN : 9782732475066
35€
http://www.editionsdelamartiniere.fr
http://philippehalsman.com
EXPHIBITION
Astonish Me !
Philippe Halsman
From Ocotber 20th, 2015 to January 24th, 2016
Jeu de Paume – Concorde
1 Place de la Concorde
75008 Paris
France
http://www.jeudepaume.org
