HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO HONOR LEGENDARY SOCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER SLIM AARONS AT ARCHIVAL EVENING
PALM BEACH, Fla. (October 24, 2006)--- The Historical Society of Palm Beach County will honor George Allen “Slim” Aarons – the legendary social photographer who was famous for his 30-year love affair with Palm Beach – at its Sixth Annual Archival Evening. The intimate dinner-dance will take place on Wednesday, December 6 from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. at Club Colette in Palm Beach. Co-chaired by Steven Stolman and Ross Meltzer, the theme of the evening will be “Slim Aarons: The Palm Beach Portfolio.” Slim’s daughter, Mary Aarons will be honorary chair. Guests will enjoy a display of signature photographs taken between 1955 and 1985 that have become iconic images that are associated with Slim and the era they depict.
Born in New Hampshire in 1916, the late Slim Aarons served as a photographer during WWII with the Eighth Army Division. He then moved to Hollywood where he made a career of “…photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places,” as he described in his own words. His subjects were the beautiful, the celebrated, the rich and powerful, the talented and the privileged, high society and aristocracy in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. He documented the ‘high life’ for Town & Country, Holiday, Vogue, LIFE and Travel + Leisure and his subjects included the likes of Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, Jacqueline Kennedy, Katharine Hepburn and Howard Hughes.
His classic images of C.Z. Guest holding the hand of her five-year-old son at her oceanfront estate, Villa Artemis, and of Mrs T. Dennie Boardman and her children climbing the steps from their pool, helped define the image of Palm Beach as a glamorous tropical resort. His portraits of Palm Beach document a lost era of style and grace, as embodied in another well known shot of Lady Daphne Cameron on a tiger skin rug in the trophy room of socialite Laddie Sanford’s home.
Slim published the book, “A Wonderful Time: An Intimate Portrait of the Good Life” in 1974 that became a cult favorite among the fashion world as well as an inspiration for current advertising campaigns. His subsequent books were “Once Upon a Time,” published in 2003, and “A Place in the Sun,” in 2005. He died of a stroke earlier this year on May 30, 2006 in Monterose, New York.
The Historical Society’s annual Archival Evening honors the contributions of notable individuals whose accomplishments and influence have helped to define the history of Palm Beach. Last year’s event paid tribute to “The Late Great Grande Dames of Palm Beach,” including Barton Gubelmann, Estee Lauder, Marjorie Merriweather Post, Mary Sanford and Sue Whitmore. Previous honorees include Palm Beach style icon Lilly Pulitzer, 1920s New York and Palm Beach architect Maurice Fatio, fashion designer Philip Hulitar and society family photographer Betty Kuhner.
Archival Evening is sponsored by The Corcoran Group - Palm Beach and Deutsche Bank Alex.Brown. Tickets are $500 per person.
For more information about the Historical Society or Archival Evening, please visit www.historicalsocietypbc.org, or call (561) 832-4164, ext. 106.
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