Philippe Halsman, “Jean Seberg with Cat,” vintage silver print, 1959
Laurence Miller Gallery
20 West 57th St. between Fifth & Madison Aves.
Tuesday – Saturday through May 28
Admission: free
212-397-3930
www.laurencemillergallery.com
The Laurence Miller Gallery has followed up Denis Darzacq’s “Hyper,” recent colorful photographs of street dancers leaving their feet in French megamarts, with quite a blast from the past, Philippe Halsman’s ecstatic 1950s shots of international celebrities jumping for joy. His Jumpology series features black-and-white photographs of such iconic figures as Benny Goodman, Audrey Hepburn, Aldous Huxley, Brigitte Bardot, Dick Clark, Grace Kelly, Jackie Gleason, Marilyn Monroe (three times, including one in color and another with Halsman himself), and the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor jumping for his camera. He captures such dance figures as Merce Cunningham and Marth Graham, Edward Villella, and Gisele MacKenzie alongside such newsmen as Mike Wallace and Murray Kempton, fellow photojournalists Weegee and Edward Steichen, and even Richard Nixon. Leave it to Salvador Dalí to come up with the most creative and bizarre jumps, one involving popcorn, loaves of bread, and a nude woman, another making use of cats and water. It’s an engaging exhibition that brings out the child in the subjects as well as the viewer.