A Classic Moment By The Pool

We chronicle the glory days of poolside glamour starting with an iconic image that sets the tone for summer, year on year

- Steven Kurutz

No doubt you’ve seen the photo. Two attractive women sit in lounge chairs beside a teal-blue pool, looking fabulous and moneyed. A third, all legs and carefree attitude, strides toward them with a drink in her hand. In the background is a modern glass and-stone house and purplish mountains. The landscape is idyllic. The sunlight is hazy and golden. You would live inside the photo if you could.

Poolside Gossip, taken by the society photographer Slim Aarons at the Kaufman House in Palm Springs, California, has become as much a symbol of modernism as the Richard Neutra home that was its setting. Open a few shelter magazines and you’re likely to come across the photo hanging in someone’s home - a piece of hip retro décor like the Barcelona chair or the lacquer Parsons desk.

There were three women in the image: Nelda Linsk, who owned the home, and Helen Kaptur, who was married for many years to the midcentury architect Hugh Kaptur and has since passed away from ovarian cancer.

The third woman, walking alongside the pool, was Lita Baron, an actress. Decades later, Nelda Linsk about spoke participating in the original shoot.

What do you remember about the photo shoot?