Holden Luntz Gallery - 02.05.2023
William Helburn: The Idea Man
William Helburn was an American fashion photographer whose work helped define the look of fashion and advertising photography in the 1950s and 60s. Born in 1924 in Manhattan, Helburn attended the Art Students League and worked briefly as an illustrator but didn’t see photography in his future. That began to change after Helburn joined the US Army Air Force in 1942, washed out of flight school and was trained instead as a photo technician. Helburn served in the South Pacific, where he and future partner Ted Croner learned how to operate cameras, make contact prints and aerial maps and load and develop film – including the first pictures of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
William Helburn, Dovima Opera Box, 1961, Silver gelatin photograph
William Helburn, Simone D’Aillencourt Crossing the Street, Park Ave., New York, 1939, Silver gelatin photograph
William Helburn, Stopping Traffic, Joanna McCormick, Janet Randy, Betsy Pickering and Gretchen Harris, Park Avenue South, New York, 1958, Silver gelatin photograph