Paul Jasmin obit

In Memoriam : Paul “Jazz” Jasmin (1935 – 2025)

He was not on the list. 

Paul “Jazz” Jasmin left us a few days ago, Fahey/Klein Gallery sent us the following obituary along with a selection of photographs to remember him.

It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Paul “Jazz” Jasmin, who died on Saturday, May 24th, at his home in Los Angeles. “Jazz”, the revered photographer, teacher, and quiet chronicler of “dreamers”, passed away peacefully at the age of 90. For decades, Jasmin used the streets around his apartment, below the Hollywood hills, as his photographic backdrop in capturing the people who drifted through Los Angeles. Each of his frames were imbued with “becoming” – and with the “dreams harbored inside” his subjects.

Born in Helena, Montana in 1935, Jasmin left his small-town beginnings in 1954 for a life of global wandering and boundless artistic pursuit. His early life read like a novel: painting in Paris, acting in New York, sketching in Morocco — and finally, arriving in Los Angeles, a city as restless and radiant as he was. It was in L.A., the city that became his muse, that Jasmin found the essence of his artistic voice. He lived a dozen creative lives before finding his true love in photography, thanks to a nudge from his dear friend Bruce Weber. As a teacher for many years at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, he nurtured generations of artists with the same sensitivity and grace that marked his own work. He didn’t just teach technique; he taught people to imagine intensely — with empathy and wonder.

To his friends, he was “Jazz” — a name that suited his soul. And indeed, Jasmin’s photographs sang a multitude of emotions. As Bruce Weber put so beautifully, “Looking at photographs is a little bit like playing different tunes in your head and living out the fantasies that lie within the melodies and lyrics.”

“Paul Jasmin is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring photographers we’ve had the honor of knowing and exhibiting. His passion for glamour, fantasy, and the magic of photography was palpable. He always saw art with fresh eyes – even when those eyes happened to be 90 years old. Imagery excited ‘Jazz’. To watch his wonder and joy at the majesty of ‘creating’ was, and is, such a gift that all here will treasure.” – David Fahey, Fahey/Klein Gallery

Paul Jasmin leaves behind countless friends, students, and muses who carry his spirit forward. And Los Angeles —his eternal muse — will never quite look the same without him. He is deeply loved and is greatly missed.

His commercial work appeared in Vogue, Teen Vogue, GQ, Details, V Magazine, V Man, Vogue Hommes, W Magazine, and Interview. Jasmin illustrated and photographed fashion campaigns for luxury brands, including Valentino, A.P.C, and he sat on the faculty of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

In 1954 Jasmin left his hometown of Helena, Montana to travel and pursue acting in Paris, Egypt, New York, Morocco and Los Angeles. He appears as an actor in Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959), Midnight Cowboy (1969) and, later, Adaptation (2002). Together with actresses Virginia Gregg and Jeanette Nolan, Paul Jasmin provided the voice for Norman's mother in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Psycho (1960). The three voices were thoroughly mixed except for the last speech, which is all Gregg's.

 

After Jasmin's brief career as an actor the artist pursued painting and illustration. From 1965–1975, Jasmin illustrated fashion campaigns for the luxury brand, Valentino. He also illustrated the poster for the 1972 film Bijou, directed by Wakefield Poole.

Actor

Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette (2006)

Marie Antoinette

6.5

Baron Jasmin

2006

 

Nicolas Cage in Adaptation. (2002)

Adaptation.

7.7

Orlean Dinner Guest

2002

 

Michael Crichton, Susan Dey, Albert Finney, Vanna White, and Tawny Moyer in Looker (1981)

Looker

6.1

Steve

1981

 

Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Midnight Cowboy

7.8

Party Guest (uncredited)

1969

 

Anthony Perkins, John Gavin, Janet Leigh, and Heather Dawn May in Psycho (1960)

Psycho

8.5

Norma Bates (voice, uncredited)

1960

 

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955)

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

7.6

TV Series

Louis Vanik

1960

1 episode

 

The only authorized DVD edition of all episodes in  Season One.

The Rifleman

8.3

TV Series

Alison Mitchell

1959

1 episode

 

Man Without a Gun (1957)

Man Without a Gun

7.6

TV Series

Winn Carver

1959

1 episode

 

Virginia Aldridge, Scott Marlowe, and Dorothy Provine in Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959)

Riot in Juvenile Prison

4.9

Bobby (uncredited)

1959

 

Zane Grey Theatre (1956)

Zane Grey Theatre

7.5

TV Series

Tom Brannigan

1959

1 episode

 

Have Gun - Will Travel (1957)

Have Gun - Will Travel

8.4

TV Series

Hank Bosworth

1958

1 episode

 

Thanks

The Elephant's Room

Short

special thanks

2005

 

Self

Carnival Sun (2003)

Carnival Sun

6.5

Short

Self

2003

 

E! True Hollywood Story (1996)

E! True Hollywood Story

6.5

TV Series

Self

1998

1 episode