Slim Aarons Black & White Photography

Slim Aarons is best remembered for colour: sun-bleached scenes of the international jet set at play in Palm Beach, Saint-Tropez and Monaco. This collection is the other half of his story. Born George Allen Aarons in Manhattan in 1916, he enlisted in the army at eighteen and trained as a combat photographer, earning a Purple Heart for his service. It was there, Leica in hand, that he first learned to read light, shadow and composition with no colour to lean on.

After the war Aarons vowed to photograph only beautiful people in beautiful places doing beautiful things, working almost entirely in black and white for Life, Town and Country, Holiday before colour came to define his later career. This collection gathers that formative work: graphic, high-contrast portraits stripped of the saturation he'd later become famous for. Electric Gallery is an officially licensed partner of Getty Images for Slim Aarons, offering black and white prints direct from the archive.

A young skier prefers to carry his skis down the slope in New Hampshire, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
A young skier prefers to carry his skis down the slope in New Hampshire, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

New England Skiing Starters

From £160
Two women recline on improvised sunbeds at the Cranmore Mountain Resort, North Conway, New Hampshire, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Two women recline on improvised sunbeds at the Cranmore Mountain Resort, North Conway, New Hampshire, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

New England Skiing

From £160
Swedish model Inga Lindgren, wife of Argentinian finance minister Ceferino Alonso Irigoyen, wears designs by Vera Stewart with her standard poodles Ajax and Wacky on Park Avenue, New York, 1956. Slim Aarons photograph.
Swedish model Inga Lindgren, wife of Argentinian finance minister Ceferino Alonso Irigoyen, wears designs by Vera Stewart with her standard poodles Ajax and Wacky on Park Avenue, New York, 1956. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Inga Lindgren And Poodles

From £160
Gladys 'Patsy' Bartlett rummaging in her bag on the seat of an open car, 1954. The car is parked by a plane belonging to the Everglades Flying Service at Palm Beach, Florida. Slim Aarons photograph.
Gladys 'Patsy' Bartlett rummaging in her bag on the seat of an open car, 1954. The car is parked by a plane belonging to the Everglades Flying Service at Palm Beach, Florida. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Private Transport

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Waiters carrying half bottles of champagne set off on the annual waiters' race from Soho Square to Greek Street, in London's Soho, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Waiters carrying half bottles of champagne set off on the annual waiters' race from Soho Square to Greek Street, in London's Soho, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Soho Waiters' Race

From £160
1949: Sicilian-born gangster Charles 'Lucky' Luciano walking down a street in his native Sicily, followed by local children mimicking his posture. Whilst in prison between 1936 and 1946, he founded the Crime Syndicate of Mafia families and reorganised crime in America. Slim Aarons photograph.
1949: Sicilian-born gangster Charles 'Lucky' Luciano walking down a street in his native Sicily, followed by local children mimicking his posture. Whilst in prison between 1936 and 1946, he founded the Crime Syndicate of Mafia families and reorganised crime in America. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Lucky For Some

From £160
1953: Two men sailing their yacht 'Eel II' in Jamaica. Slim Aarons photograph.
1953: Two men sailing their yacht 'Eel II' in Jamaica. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Jamaica Sea Sailing

From £160
A couple prepare for a day's skiing in New Hampshire, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
A couple prepare for a day's skiing in New Hampshire, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

New England Skiing

From £160
Slim Aarons

New England Skiing

From £160
Slim Aarons

New England Skiing

From £160
Patsy Pulitzer leaning against a seaplane belonging to the Everglades Flying Service, at Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Patsy Pulitzer leaning against a seaplane belonging to the Everglades Flying Service, at Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Seaplane At Palm Beach

From £160
Diners in a grand ballroom during a fashion show, circa 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Diners in a grand ballroom during a fashion show, circa 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Luxury Dining

From £160
Sicilian-born American gangster Charles 'Lucky' Luciano walking with friends in Lercara, Sicily. His criminal empire included narcotics-peddling, prostitution, extortion and running vice dens. Whilst in prison from 1936 to 1946 he founded the Crime Syndicate of Mafia families and reorganized crime. Slim Aarons photograph.
Sicilian-born American gangster Charles 'Lucky' Luciano walking with friends in Lercara, Sicily. His criminal empire included narcotics-peddling, prostitution, extortion and running vice dens. Whilst in prison from 1936 to 1946 he founded the Crime Syndicate of Mafia families and reorganized crime. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Lucky Luciano

From £160
Two female skiers outside the Carroll Reed Ski Service Shop and Check Room in New Hampshire, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Two female skiers outside the Carroll Reed Ski Service Shop and Check Room in New Hampshire, 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

New England Skiing

From £160
1949: American Jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong enjoys a plate of spaghetti in Rome. Slim Aarons photograph.
1949: American Jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong enjoys a plate of spaghetti in Rome. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Dinner Jazz

From £160
Slim Aarons

Lucky Luciano

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Slim Aarons

Coffee with Dali

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Slim Aarons

Safari Party

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Slim Aarons

No Surrender

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Slim Aarons

Fox Hunt

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Slim Aarons

Three Sisters

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Slim Aarons

The Kings of Jazz

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Countess Peter Jean-Baptiste de Manio and Mary-Beth Turner playing backgammon by a swimming pool in Palm Beach, Florida, 1959. Slim Aarons photograph.
Countess Peter Jean-Baptiste de Manio and Mary-Beth Turner playing backgammon by a swimming pool in Palm Beach, Florida, 1959. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Backgammon By The Pool

From £160
A group of spectators at a polo match, France, circa 1950. Slim Aarons photograph.
A group of spectators at a polo match, France, circa 1950. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

French Polo Crowd

From £160
A young woman modelling an outfit for a Saks Fifth Avenue catalog shoot, circa 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
A young woman modelling an outfit for a Saks Fifth Avenue catalog shoot, circa 1955. Slim Aarons photograph.
Slim Aarons

Saks Fifth Ave

From £160