Iconoclasm

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The collection includes 73 vintage prints by Philippe Halsman (1906-1979). Accompanying the exhibit is a group titled Celebrity, with similar portraits by a number of Halsman's contemporaries like Irving Penn, Louise Dahl-Wolfe and Richard Avedon.

The comparison exemplifies Halsman's talent with portraiture. Avedon's photographs of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart make them look tragic and tortured. Halsman's approach sees them in a much more optimistic and humanistic light.

Portrait photography was Halsman's signature genre. His portraits are celebrated for their ability to reveal the true personality behind famed media icons. As Halsman explained, "Every face I see seems to hide - sometimes, fleetingly, to reveal - the mystery of another human being."

This pursuit of the inner character inspired Halsman's interest in each of his subjects. But this wasn't, he pointed out, a matter of finding the perfect pose or camera angle. Rather, he found the personality inside, "by provoking the victim, amusing him with jokes, lulling him with silence, or asking impertinent questions which even his best friend would be afraid to ask."

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The photographs of Marilyn Monroe epitomize his talent for showing the real person, and understanding commercial demands. For a cover of Life, he emphasizes her demure sexuality with an American modesty. For the inside pictures however, he disregards this bombshell image, and captures her personality, laughing and smiling in an interview.

A series of photographs titled Jump further demonstrates Halsman's humor in his work. By making his subjects like Nixon, Audrey Hepburn or the Windsors jump in the air while photographing them, he's removed all studied pretenses and concentration, coming off with a charming portrait.

Though he found commercial success with his portraits for major magazines, the exhibition includes some of Halsman's more daring artistic works as well. In the '40s, Halsman became involved with Salvador Dali and the surrealist movement. They collaborated in a number of works, as Dali wanted to reproduce the idea of dreaming in photography, like in his own paintings. They made variations on Dali's earlier works, and in one piece showed Dali's decapitated head sitting on a table. The most phenomenal collaboration was "Dali Atomicus" (1948), a classic surrealist photograph. Hovering mid-air, Dali is surrounded by a room of flying chairs, cats and water. Dali found his photographic dream.

The exhibition gives a great overview of Halsman's style, and even insight to his own humorous character. Though his one self-portrait hardly reveals this, Halsman relished in the frivolity and optimism of 20th century American culture.

Philippe Halsman: A Retrospective is showing through May 30. Tuesday, April 6, the CCP is hosting a Gallery Talk called Portraiture: Beyond the Surface with another of Halsman's collaborators, Dan Budnik.