Salvidor Dali

Salvidor Dali

Philippe Halsman (1906-1979) arrived in the United States, fleeing Hitler’s invasion of France,  in 1940.  His friend Albert Einstein helped him get a US visa.  Two years later Halsman was photographing covers for Life Magazine.  He ended up with 101 covers to his credit, the most of any photographer.

Philippe Halsman by Yale Joel

Philippe Halsman by Yale Joel

Some of Halsman's Life Magazine covers.

Some of Halsman's Life Magazine covers.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

In 1952, after finishing his assignment, Halsman started to ask his subjects to jump.  And so started his science of jumpology.  Halsman himself described his newly invented science as “when you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so the real person appears.”

Bridgette Bardot

Bridgette Bardot

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

His book,  Philippe Halsman’s Jump Book, published in 1959, is a must read.