SAM SHAW
(1912-1999)
PHOTOGRAPHS
Westwood Gallery NYC presented a premiere U.S. solo exhibition for Sam Shaw.
To inquire regarding prices for vintage photographs or limited edition prints, and to purchase any of the photographs shown below, contact the gallery at info@westwoodgallery.com.
Photographs © Sam Shaw, Inc.
Sam Shaw's photographic archives cover over 60 years of American history, from social essays, film documentation, icon figures and legendary personalities. His work has been exhibited internationally, in museums, galleries and art fairs, has been included in numerous traveling exhibitions and is in important institutional and private collections.
Photographs © Sam Shaw, Inc.
BIOGRAPHY
Sam Shaw, born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, was a man of the world, with a passion for art, photography and film. He began his artistic career as a sculptor and painter, while working in the atelier of Romare Bearden. He moved on to become the political cartoonist for the Daily Worker and then art director for the Brooklyn Eagle. In the beginning of the 1940's he was hired as a reporter and photojournalist for Collier's Magazine. Sam became known for his reportages of coal miners in West Virginia and stories on New Orleans jazz musicians, many of whom became his lifelong friends. By 1951, he had started working in the film industry as a special photographer; among his most celebrated images are the ones on the set of the movie "The Seven Year Itch", such as the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe over the subway grate.
Sam traveled to many cities in the U.S. and Europe, absorbing local culture through his camera. He became intrigued with Cinécitta (Cinema City), considered the second Hollywood, located in Italy. After returning to the United States Sam became more involved in film and worked closely with Billy Wilder, Anthony Quinn, Marlon Brando and many other cinema legends. He worked closely with John Cassevettes producing a series of films where the actors created their characters on screen through improvisation.
EXHIBITION HISTORY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 - Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography, City Gallery, Regensburg, Germany
2016 - Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography, Opelvillen Arts and Cultural Foundation, Russelsheim, Germany
2015 - Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography, Cascaus Cultural Center, Cascais, Portugal
2005 - Marilyn Monroe: The New York Years, Westwood Gallery, NYC
1999 - Sam Shaw: A Tribute, Duke Ellington Centennial Firm Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC
1995 - 100 Years of Cinema: Sam Shaw’s Hollywood, Martin Gropias Museum, Berlin, Germany
1993 - The Cassavetes By Sam Shaw, Parco Gallery, Tokyo
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016 - Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon, The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, England
2015 - Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon, National Portrait Gallery, London
2014 - 1955-1965 An Era of Cultural Revolution, Westwood Gallery, NYC
2012 - Marilyn, The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, Florence, Italy
2011 - Paris Blues Revisited: Romare Bearden, Albert Murray, Sam Shaw, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City
2010 - The Rebels: Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn, Museo Nazionale Del Cinema, Turin, Italy
2009 - America the Beautiful, Staley-Wise Gallery, NYC
2009 - Audrey and Marilyn, Proud Gallery, London
2008 - Hollywood Portraits, Kaizen Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland
2008 - Stars on Stage, Alinari Museum, Florence, Italy
2007 - Images of Marilyn, Silver K Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2005 - I Want to Be Loved By You: Photographs of Marilyn Monroe, The Brooklyn Museum, NYC
2005 - Hollywood Portraits of the 50’s and 60’s, Art Deco Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2003 - Marilyn Monroe: Life of a Legend, County Hall Gallery, London
2002 - Marilyn Monroe: The Movies and New York, First Tribeca Film Festival, NYC
1999 - Alfred Hitchcock Centenary, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
1993 - John Cassavetes, Vienna International Film Festival, Vienna, Austria
1993 - Cassavetes, Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1992 - Marilyn Monroe: Aphrodite of Hollywood, Troia Film Festival, Setubal, Portugal
1992 - Marilyn Monroe: Aphrodite of Hollywood, San Sebastian Film Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece
1989 - Marilyn Monroe and Hollywood, Shibuya Seibu Seed Hall, Tokyo
1989 - John Cassavetes, Miami Film Festival, Miami, Florida
1972 - Marilyn Monroe: The Legend and the Truth, David Stuart Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1968 - Career of an Actor: Anthony Quinn, Museum of Modern Art, NYC
1954 - Viva Zapata: Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Anthony Quinn, Venice Biennale, Venice
PUBLICATIONS
> Marilyn—The New York Years, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> Marilyn Among Friends, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> The Joy of Marilyn: In the Camera Eye, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> Sophia Loren: In the Camera Eye, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> Brando: In the Camera Eye, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> Marilyn Monroe As the Girl: The Candid Picture Story of the Making of the Seven Year Itch, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> John Wayne: In the Camera Eye, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> Cassavetes’ Streams, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> Sam Shaw: A Personal Point of View, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> 100 Photos of Sam Shaw for Press Freedom, Photographs by Sam Shaw
> John Cassavetes, Autoportraits, Photographs by Sam Shaw