In this book Henry Leutwyler documents the professional and private life of renowned Life
magazine photographer Philippe Halsman (1906-79) who had a total of 101 Life covers to his
name-more than any other photographer. Leutwyler first saw Halsman's work as a teenager in an
exhibition at the International Center of Photography in 1979 now more than 40 years later
his fascination has finally found fruition. With his trademark approach both forensic and
imaginative he teases out the meanings held within inanimate objects and how they reveal their
owner's personality. In close collaboration with the Halsman Archive Leutwyler has
photographed hundreds of objects belonging to Halsman-from his cameras to his glasses from his
passport to a range of letters (from Janet Leigh Richard Avedon and Richard Nixon to name but
a few) from table-tennis bats and balls to a collection of jewel-like paper-wrapped soaps
from around the world-in the words of Halsman's grandson Oliver Halsman Rosenberg magical
evidence of a time that will never exist again.
