Philippe Halsman: Flash of Genius, a retrospective for the Latvian-born photographer who made his name at LIFE magazine and the Magnum agency, is now open at the Museum of Rome in Trastavere until January 6th, 2024. The exhibition poster shows a photo of Halsman with Marilyn in 1959.
“Philippe Halsman shot 101 LIFE covers; he created portraits extraordinary for their strength and psychological excavation; with Salvador Dalí he invented images as true performance art. Among the greatest portrait photographers in the history of photography, he was always able to work between gaze and introspection, immediate intuition, flashes of genius and refined technique. This first Italian retrospective exhibits a previously unseen selection of his photographs and celebrates his work with a series of images made with irony and profound lightness.
On display at the Museo di Roma in Trastevere one hundred images of various formats, from the Halsman Archive in New York, ranging between colour and black and white, tracing his entire career … Through the photographer’s images, we reconstruct the faces of twentieth-century culture and entertainment.
From collaborations with major newspapers to intense portraits for Hollywood show business, Halsman created a unique and revolutionary genre and style. His photographs are the result of a volcanic creativity and the synergies that are sparked by encounters with great and distinguished friends … All lend themselves to Halsman’s ‘game,’ to be photographed in a studio, with lights, backdrop and cumbersome machinery. Halsman also invents a method to amuse and surprise his subjects: he makes them jump in front of the lens. Thus was born ‘jumpology,’ a game with which he managed to make people jump from Marilyn Monroe to the Dukes of Windsor, inaugurating a whole new way of photography.”
Marilyn also graces the cover of the exhibition catalogue, published by Contrasto Books.
She recently appeared in another new book, Philippe Halsman: A Photographer’s Life. as author Henry Leutwyler reveals that the red gypsy skirt Marilyn wore in a 1954 photo shoot was borrowed from Halsman’s daughter, Irene, and is now part of the Halsman Archive.
The Marilyn Report 
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