Girls in the Windows: And Other Stories

About this book

Ormond Gigli had an illustrious career as a photojournalist over the course of some 40 years and took many magnificent photographsbut one photograph has eclipsed all the others. It was a photograph he conceived for himself without an editorial assignment. It is the incomparable "Girls in the Windows" of 1960. Girls in the Windows: And Other Stories is the first book to survey the work of Ormond Gigli and escorts the viewer behind the faade of that incredible photographto understand its genesis and to celebrate its remarkable achievementin addition to creating a portal into the rest of Giglis brilliant career. This beautifully illustrated volume showcases Giglis celebrity and fashion photographs and includes his innovative work in the worlds of theater film and dance as well as his little-known travel photography and photojournalism. Gigli a master of photo art direction orchestrated his photo shoots like an accomplished film director and his portraits are intimate and revealing as a result his set work inventive and at times even playful. His engagement with his subjects was unparalleled among whom are included Sophia Loren Gina Lollobrigida Anna Moffo Anita Ekberg Marcel Duchamp Willem de Kooning John F. Kennedy Halston Marlene Dietrich Leslie Caron Judy Garland Liza Minnelli Barbra Streisand Laurence Olivier Alan Bates Richard Burton Louis Armstrong Miles Davis and many more. Many of these images have not been widely seen since they were first published decades ago. In addition to the photographs Gigli contributes his personal account of the making of many of the pictures evoking long-ago encounters that resulted in such timeless images. This handsome volume highlights a significant body of work captures a vital aspect of the great age of photojournalism and places in context an iconic image of the postwar era at the height of its prosperity and on the verge of transformation.