A display that pays tribute to the “unofficial” photographer of the presidential family through his most iconic images and unpublished material. The photographer Mark Shaw used his skill and his intimate friendship with John Fitzgerald Kennedy to create the most intimate portrait of the family of the President of the United States. Even if the Kennedys always seemed relaxed before the media – the vast amount of graphic material documenting his 1.036 days at the White House stand as proof to this – Shaw enhances his photographs with a warm sense of familiarity scarcely found in other images. The portraits of the President, his wife, Jackie, and their children evoke graceful naturalness.
Shaw’s early death kept his work in the dark for decades. At the end of the ’90s, his son and daughter-in-law unearthed the material stored since his death and created the archive that bears his name. This exhibition, which coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s death, pays tribute to Mark Shaw by bringing together the most iconic images of the presidential family as well as unpublished material.
American photographer Mark Shaw (1921-1969) began working for LIFE in 1952. In 16 years working with the magazine he produced 27 covers and over 100 features. He also collaborated with magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Mademoiselle, among others. His lens caught stills of personalities, such as Pablo Picasso, Brigitte Bardot, Coco Chanel, Yves St. Laurent, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn and Nico from The Velvet Underground.
