Philippe Halsman: O fotógrafo que inventou o termo "Jumpology"

Data de publicação: Oct 08, 2014 11:6:51 AM

Velocidade, movimento e diversão

Philippe Halsman (1906 - 1979) foi um fotografo que nos anos 50 fez uma série de fotografias com gente famosa a saltar!

A essa série chamou-lhe de "Jumpology".

"Starting in the early 1950s I asked every famous or important person I photographed to jump for me. I was motivated by a genuine curiosity. After all, life has taught us to control and disguise our facial expressions, but it has not taught us to control our jumps. I wanted to see famous people reveal in a jump their ambition or their lack of it, their self-importance or their insecurity, and many other traits." –P.H.

Fernandel, Anos 50

Mais sobre o termo Jumpology (EN)

Jumpology

In 1950, NBC asked Halsman to photograph many of its popular comedians. Milton Berle, Ed Wynn, Sid Caesar, Groucho Marx, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, and many others came to Halsman's studio, where they performed while he captured their antics on film. A single session could generate two or three hundred pictures. When Halsman compared these comic images to more traditional portraits, he found that comedians often jumped and always stayed in character. Desperation (and good humor) finally drove him to ask others to jump for his camera when the Ford Motor Company commissioned him to make an official family photograph in honor of the company's fiftieth anniversary. Halsman spent a long, tiring session with nine edgy adults and eleven restless children. Afterward, Halsman's irrepressible humor inspired him to ask matriarch Mrs. Edsel Ford, "May I take a picture of you jumping?'" The astonished Mrs. Ford replied, "You want me to jump with my high heels?" Next, her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Henry Ford II, requested a turn. The "jump" pictures had surprising charm, and over the next six years, Halsman asked many clients to jump for him. Van Cliburn, Edward R. Murrow, and Herbert Hoover declined Halsman's invitation, but most people realized they had nothing to lose. (Some gained considerably, like the suddenly buoyant and likable Vice President Richard Nixon, who jumped for Halsman in the White House.) Halsman claimed the jumps revealed character that was otherwise hidden. "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 also pursued this project to discover something about himself. "I assure you that often, before approaching the person, my heart would beat, and I would have to fight down all my inhibitions in order to address this request to my subject. At every time when the subject agreed to jump, it was for me like a kind of victory." How did Halsman persuade so many to abandon their composure for his camera? Somehow, he managed to convince each one that the risk was all his own.

Like many who escaped Hitler's Europe, Philippe Halsman rarely discussed the past. He rightly insisted that his most important work took place in America, and in many ways his adopted country became his subject. One typical review noted his patriotic flair, praising Halsman's "unsanctimonious and immensely intense portrayal of American bounce." From a historian's perspective, it seems clear that Halsman invented a glowing image of the nation as he saw it, using light, persuasion, nerve, imagination, psychology, and experience. This place and these faces are his creation.

Halsman's perpetual quest for hidden truth also recalls his personal history as an artist and a refugee. Halsman knew that the effort to establish one's identity had significance far beyond the needs of the celebrity marketplace. "This fascination with the human face has never left me. . . . Every face I see seems to hide and sometimes, fleetingly, to reveal the mystery of another human being. . . . Capturing this revelation became the goal and passion of my life."

Mary Panzer

Curator of Photographs

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Retirado de http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/halsman/intro.htm em Novembro 2014

Mais inspiração para fotografar gente a saltar:

http://philippehalsman.com/?image=jumps

Mais fotografias famosas em:

sites.esjgf.com/cfotografia/projetos-curriculares/fotografias-famosas/a-lista/foto4

Historia de Halsman:

You may be familiar with the iconic Philippe Halsman image of Salvador Dali in mid-air with flying cats, disembodied arms, and floating furniture. But did you know that the Latvian-born photographer created an immense portfolio of jumping celebrities and public figures?

At 22, Halsman was sentenced to four years imprisonment after his father died of severe head injuries when the two men were on a hiking trip in the Austrian Alps. The evidence against Halsman was circumstantial, and his imprisonment gained international attention. With the support of family friend Albert Einstein, Halsman was released, but ordered to leave Austria. Halsman relocated to France, fleeing to Marseille when France was invaded during World War II, and eventually making his way to New York.

During his time in France, Halsman had become a renowned portrait photographer, and in 1942, after moving to New York, was hired by Life magazine. Halsman’s work for Life was prolific, garnering him a record 101 cover photos.

When photographing public figures, Halsman would often ask his subjects to jump for a photo at the end of the shoot. Most photographers would shy away from such a bold request of their subjects, but Halsman was a master of persuasion.

Halsman called this photographic technique “Jumpology,” stating that "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."

For more jumping shenanigans, be sure to check out Halsman’s Jump Book.