Philippe Halsman: The French Crate

Philippe Halsman fled Paris for New York in 1940, taking with him only his camera and twelve prints. Having relocated to America, Halsman enjoyed significant artistic and commercial success. As well as taking iconic portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Einstein, and collaborating with Dalí for 37 years, he also photographed 101 LIFE Magazine covers, which remains an unbeaten record. After the war ended, a crate of his glass plates was returned to him, and subsequently forgotten until its recent re-discovery by his grandson, Oliver. The crate revealed not only a collection of lost works: it contained a record of an artist and city on the cusp of seismic change. Providing a rare insight into Halsman's early style, it also offers a glimpse into the artistic milieu of 1930s Paris, including portraits of such key figures as André Malraux, Marc Chagall and André Gide, as well as photographs of models, young actors, writers and filmmakers. This book is, perhaps most of all, a testament to the alchemical – almost magical – nature of analogue photography. Emphasizing the tactile nature of a photographer's tools and materials, The French Crate provides a pointed reminder of what is lost in our digital age.