Dive Into Memorial Day: A Look at the Most Captivating Pools
Memorial Day, which arrives Monday, marks the unofficial start to summer, and with it the entire nation’s desire to be somewhere, anywhere, that’s close to water. Thank God for swimming pools. Long utilized by humans, whether for rituals in ancient Greece or summer camp at the YMCA, pools offer a place for both athletics and ultimate relaxation—which is exactly what this long weekend, not to mention all of the summer, calls for. The book publisher Hatje Cantz knows this well. In July it will release The Swimming Pool in Photography, a collection of more than 200 images of pools and swimmers by photographers like Larry Sultan, Martin Parr, Slim Aarons, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Emma Hartvig. So go ahead: Dive into some of the world’s most enticing pools, including an incredibly inspiring one designed by Le Corbusier, from the past century, here.
1
A car that its drunken owner “parked” in a swimming pool in Beverly Hills, May 1961.
2
A woman sitting poolside, photographed by H. Armstrong Roberts, ca. 1950s.
3
House on the Cliff by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos in Spain, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, photographed by Diego Opazo.
4
The winner of a female diving contest at the Georges Vallerey pool in Paris, July 1962.
5
A mother and son taking refuge from below-freezing temperatures, in a warm pool in Vail, Colorado.
6
Sunbathers at a pool in Deligny, Paris.
7
The pool on the rooftop of Le Corbusier’s Unite d’ Habitation in Marseille, France.
8
Inside Washington, D.C.’s Mount Vernon Seminary, between 1890 and 1950.
9
The German edition of The Swimming Pool in Photography
