30 Previously Unseen 20th-Century Celebrity Portraits Found In Philippe Halsman’s Archives (New Pics)

Bored Panda reached out to Oliver Halsman Rosenberg to learn more about his grandfather's work. Back in 2021, Oliver mentioned a discussion about the Halsman Museum. We were wondering where they are with the process of it right now.“Latvia shares a border with Russia, and unfortunately, the Ukraine war put a pause on the Halsman museum project for the time being,” Oliver shared the devastating news.

The book "Unknown Halsman" presents a side of Philippe Halsman that is often overlooked. We asked Oliver to tell us more about the inspiration and motivation behind bringing his unpublished work to light.

“After my Grandmother passed away our family had to organize and move all of my grandfather's archives. As a child, I had always been fascinated with pulling open a drawer when no one was in the room, and pulling out a random file and looking at the contents. Because my grandfather was mostly known for his celebrity portraiture, many of his experimental photos had never been seen before. I wanted the book Unknown Halsman to be a collection of these images; outtakes, decontextualized advertisements, cool contact sheets, and artistic experiments. I designed the book to operate as a sort of tarot deck, telling a story sequentially through the images,” wrote Oliver.

Oliver, as someone who had to go through archives to find pictures of celebrities from the past, found a lot that he was not familiar with. Therefore, we were curious about who was the most exciting discovery.

“Honestly, its so interesting to do research. He worked for LIFE and, so many other magazines and had so many assignments to shoot the stars of his era. Very few of these people remain famous a few generations later, but when you google them and watch videos on YouTube you see how fantastic and talented they were. I am doing an NFT drop and writing a little metadata research essay for the blockchain for each piece. Researching is always fun because I take a deep dive on a certain person and understand how their life and creations still affect ours, from Aldous Huxley to Robert Oppenheimer."

Oliver also shared what he would like for people to take away from his grandfather’s work: “He worked at a time when photography was not so ubiquitous. There was no Photoshop or retouching apps. Everything he did was analogue. He wanted to capture a subject's inner essence, not their superficial appearance. Shooting on film, you had a limited amount of shots you could take (not like now where you can shoot infinitely on digital), so he waited to release the shutter till he had the moment he wanted. Often he used psychology in the discussion he was having during the shoot, as well as the lighting to create a specific mood. There is so much to say, honestly, he did so much and was not limited to any one genre. He was always experimenting.”

And lastly, Oliver added: “I am working on a documentary film about my grandfather. It's gonna be an in-depth look at his amazing life and his creative journey. Here is the sizzle reel.”

Philippe Halsman was known for creating some of the most memorable portraits in the 20th century, capturing the essence of personalities like Marilyn Monroe and Salvador Dali. His dedication to photography, even when it was a less conventional career path, allowed him to leave behind a rich legacy of iconic images. Oliver Halsman Rosenberg describes how these portraits go beyond capturing superficial attributes, aiming to convey the true nature of his subjects. This dedication to capturing the essence of individuals is what sets apart Philippe Halsman's work from others.

Exploring this legacy of iconic portraits reveals the depth and insight Philippe brought to the art of photography.