1912
Born
Sam Shaw was born Samuel Joseph Warshawsky on January 15 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City.
1929
Attended DeWitt Clinton High School
Sam Shaw attended DeWitt Clinton High School from 1925-1929, where he was a member of the Sketch Club. The high school has a remarkable list of notable graduates, including Richard Avedon (a friend and colleague), Aaron Siskind, James Baldwin (photographed by Shaw), Barnett Newman, Earl "Bud" Powell, Thomas "Fats" Waller, George Cukor, Martin Ritt (who directed Paris Blues, produced by Shaw), Burt Lancaster (photographed by Shaw), Ralph Lauren, Neil Simon, and his good friend Romare Bearden (pictured above outside the Apollo Theater in Harlem).
1940s
Photojournalism
In the 1940s, Sam Shaw worked as a courtroom artist, political cartoonist, art director of The Brooklyn Eagle, and a photojournalist. Shaw traveled throughout the United States on assignment documenting the lives of coal miners, sharecroppers, burlesque performers, New Orleans' musicians, civil rights activists, and other everyday people and circumstances. Shaw took the photograph above for a 1946 Collier's magazine article on Senator Theodore Bilbo from Mississippi, known for his racist positions.
1950s
Still Photographer for Films
In the 1950s, Sam Shaw was a regular contributor to Magnum Photos, LIFE, Look, and Paris Match. He also began working in the film industry as a special still photographer, starting with Panic in the Streets (1950), directed by Elia Kazan (pictured above).
1951
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sam Shaw was the still photographer for the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. Shaw's photo of Brando in a ripped T-shirt became the iconic image used for the film's publicity campaign.
1954
The Seven Year Itch
Sam Shaw took his most famous photographs of Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate with her skirt blowing in The Seven Year Itch.
1961
Paris Blues
Paris Blues was the first film Sam Shaw produced. The film, which Shaw also photographed, was based on Harold Flender's 1957 novel of the same name. It was intended to be an interracial love story starring Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Diahann Carroll. Duke Ellington agreed to cancel a number of appearances and fly to Paris to do the film's music largely because he was attracted to a story about romance between the races. Both Ellington and Shaw were disappointed when the studio executives changed the story, making the characters fall in love with their same-race counterparts.
1974
A Woman Under the Influence
Sam Shaw produced A Woman Under the Influence, directed by John Cassavetes and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director and Best Actress (Gena Rowlands). The film also received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, and Gena Rowlands won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress. Shaw photographed the film and designed the posters used for its publicity.
1980
Gloria
Sam Shaw produced the John Cassavetes film Gloria. The film won the prestigious Golden Lion Award at the 1980 Venice Film Festival. Gena Rowlands received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her role as a woman on the run with a young boy after gangsters kill the boy's family. In addition to producing the film, Shaw designed the titles, which incorporate watercolors by artist and friend Romare Bearden.
1999
Sam Shaw Died
Sam Shaw died on April 5, 1999 in New York.
2002
Shaw Family Archives Formed
Shaw Family Archives was created to preserve and promote the legacy of artists Sam Shaw and Larry Shaw. It continues to manage the photography collection today.
2010...
Sam Shaw Monograph and Retrospective Exhibition Tour
Hatje Cantz published the first Sam Shaw monograph in 2010, which then developed into a large retrospective exhibition tour featuring 275 photographs and ephemera items from Sam Shaw's collection. The exhibition traveled to 9 locations throughout Europe from 2015 through 2019.
Sam Shaw: Photographer
Sam Shaw (1912-1999), a lifelong New Yorker, was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Shaw is internationally recognized for his photographs of films and movie stars, though his interests and talents covered a wide array of subjects including music, theater, sculpture, painting, literature, journalism, as well as social and political activism. Shaw's prolific six-decade career is remarkable in its breadth and diversity, and remains a historic record of the twentieth century.
Shaw displayed his artistic talents from an early age. Without money for materials, he gathered tar from the streets of New York to make sculptures. Shortly after graduating high school, he shared an art studio with the artist Romare Bearden. Shaw eventually turned towards photography but Bearden and Shaw continued to work together throughout their lives. Many of Shaw's photographs from films, as well as portraits of jazz and blues musicians appear in Bearden's collages and murals. The two also collaborated on projects with the jazz and literary critic Albert Murray.
In the 1940s, Shaw worked as a courtroom artist, then as a political and sports cartoonist and art director for The Brooklyn Eagle. His career as a photojournalist began with Colliers magazine, which allowed him to travel throughout the United States documenting the lives of coal miners, sharecroppers, burlesque performers, New Orleans' musicians, civil rights activists, and other everyday people and circumstances. These soulful photographs comprise Shaw's "Americana" collection, images depicting American life in the mid-twentieth century. Shaw was also an early contributor to the prestigious photographic agency Magnum Photos.
In the early 1950s, Shaw began working in the film industry as a special still photographer. He captured countless stars of the cinema, including Woody Allen, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, Fred Astaire, Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Charlie Chaplin, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, and many more. His photographs appeared often on the cover of LIFE and Look magazines, as well as in Paris Match, L'Europeo, The Daily Mail, Der Stern, Harper's Bazaar, Connaissance des Arts, and others. Shaw preferred to shoot his subjects without set-ups, makeup, or decorations, encouraging them to be spontaneous and improvise, a style that set Shaw's work apart from the stereotypical Hollywood glamourphotographs of the day and foreshadowed his later role as an independent filmmaker.
Shaw was also known as a master of publicity for many of the films and stars with whom he worked. In 1951, he photographed Marlon Brando in a ripped t-shirt, a portrait that came to symbolize A Streetcar Named Desire. A few years later, he created the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe with her white skirt blowing over a subway grate in the film The Seven Year Itch. Shaw's flying skirt pictures are some of the most widely seen photographs ever taken.
After years on film sets, Shaw started making films himself in the 1960's. The first film he produced was Paris Blues (1961), starring Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Joanne Woodward, Diahann Carroll and Louis Armstrong. Shaw's good friend Duke Ellington wrote the score for the film. Shaw also worked closely with acclaimed actor-director John Cassavetes, the father of American independent cinema, as an advisor on Cassavetes' first film Shadows (1959). Shaw went on to produce many of Cassavetes' films including A Woman Under the Influence (1974), nominated for Best Actress and Best Director at the 1975 Academy Awards, and Gloria (1980), which won the prestigious Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion. In addition, Shaw produced Cassavetes' Husbands (1970), Opening Night (1977), and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) (he later removed his name as Producer), the latter for which he was also the Production Designer. These films, like Shaw's pictures, embraced independence and encouraged spontaneity.
John Cassavetes aptly described his best friend Sam as a "Renaissance Man".Shaw's true love, however, remained photography. Even as a producer, Shaw remained the special photographer on set, while also helping to create the publicity and advertising campaigns for all the films he produced.
Shaw carried at least two beat-up Nikons around his neck wherever he went; ready to capture anything and anyone that caught his attention in both black and white and color. As a result, Shaw's photographic archive contains a vast array of subject matter from crime photography, sports, landscapes and photojournalism to classic American and European cinema, independent film, and portraiture. The collection includes photos of prominent musicians, artists, intellectuals, and other well-known individuals such as Marc Chagall, Arthur Miller, Marcel Duchamp, Igor Stravinsky, Joe DiMaggio, Irving Berlin, Tennessee Williams, Patti Smith and Deborah Harry of the rock band Blondie.
Today, Sam Shaw's legacy and work is preserved and promoted by his children and grandchildren through Shaw Family Archives.
Sam Shaw: Selected Publications
2012
100 Photos of Sam Shaw for Press Freedom
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Francois Forestier, Charlotte Rampling, Melissa Stevens
Publisher: Reporters Without Borders, Paris
2010
Sam Shaw: A Personal Point of View
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Lorie Karnath
Publisher: Hatje Cantz, BerlinRebels, Marlon Brando & Anthony Quinn (exhibition catalog)
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Alberto Barbera
Publisher: Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino
2006
Marilyn & Marlon, Vicino Alle Stelle (exhibition catalog)
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Paolo Mereghetti
Publisher: Mazzotta, Italy
2004
Marilyn and Friends (exhibition catalog)
Photography: Sam Shaw, Larry Shaw
Publisher: Firenze: Alinari, ItalyMarilyn - The New York Years
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Sam Shaw
Publisher: Lardon Media, Berlin
1993
Cassavetes' Streams
Photography: Sam Shaw, Larry Shaw
Publisher: FilmArt-Sha, Japan
1992
John Cassavetes, Autoportraits
Photography: Sam Shaw, Larry Shaw
Text: Andre Labarthe
Publisher: Cahiers du Cinema, France
1987
Marilyn Among Friends
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Norman Rosten, Sam Shaw
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, New York
1980
John Wayne: In the Camera Eye
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Sam Shaw
Publisher: Hamlyn Publishing GroupSophia Loren: In the Camera Eye
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Sam Shaw
Publisher: Hamlyn Publishing Group
1979
Brando: In the Camera Eye
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Sam Shaw
Photography: Hamlyn Publishing GroupThe Joy of Marilyn: In the Camera Eye
Photography: Sam Shaw
Text: Sam Shaw
Publisher: Exeter Books
Sam Shaw: Selected Filmography
1986
Angel River
Director: Sergio Olhovich
Starring: Lynn-Holly Johnson, Salvador Sanchez, Peter Matthey
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerBig Trouble
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Beverly D'Angelo
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer, Title Designer
1984
Love Streams
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, Diahnne Abbott
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Purple Rose of Cairo
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1980
Gloria
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Gena Rowlands, Buck Henry, Julie Carmen
Sam Shaw: Producer, Special Still Photographer, Title Designer
1978
Blondie (Documentary)
Director: Sam Shaw
Starring: Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clement Burke, James Destri, Frankie Infante
Sam Shaw: Director, Producer, Special Still Photographer
John Cassavetes: Cinematographer
1977
Opening Night
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara
Sam Shaw: Executive Producer, Special Still Photographer, Publicity
1976
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassell
Sam Shaw: Production Design, Special Still Photographer, Publicity
1974
A Woman Under the Influence
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Fred Draper
Sam Shaw: Producer, Special Still Photographer, Publicity
1972
Across 110th Street
Director: Barry Shear
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerScarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
Director: Robert J. Kaplan
Starring: Holly Woodlawn, Tally Browne, Suzanne Skillen
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerSolaris
Director: Audrey Tarkovskiy
Starring: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis
Sam Shaw: Distribution
1970
Husbands
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, John Cassavetes
Sam Shaw: Associate Producer, Special Still Photographer, Publicity
1969
Hard Contract
Director: S. Lee Pogostin
Starring: James Coburn, Lee Remick, Lilli Palmer
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerMcKenna's Gold
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Starring: Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerVince Lombardi's The Science and Art of Football
Director: Sam Shaw
Starring: Vince Lombardi, members of the Green Bay Packers
Sam Shaw: Director, Producer
1968
Faces
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: John Marley, Gena Rowlands, Lynn Carlin
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer, PublicityFunny Girl
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1967
A Countess from Hong Kong
Director: Charles Chaplin
Starring: Marlon Brando, Sophie Loren, Sydney Chaplin
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerCasino Royale
Director: Val Guest, Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish, Richard Talmadge
Starring: Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, David Niven
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer, Second Unit DP
1965
12 O'clock High (TV, The Cry of Fallen Birds episode)
Director: Walter Grauman
Starring: Robert Lansing, Dana Wynter, Lloyd Bochner
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerMarco the Magnificent (La fabuluese aventure de Marco Polo)
Director: Denys de La Patelli re, Raoul Levy, Noel Howard
Starring: Horst Buchholz, Anthony Quinn, Akim Tamiroff
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerShip of Fools
Director: Sanley Kramer
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, Jose Ferrer, Oskar Werner
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerWhat's New Pussycat?
Director: Clive Donner, Richard Talmadge; Writer: Woody Allen
Starring: Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1964
Marriage Italian Style (Matrimonio all'Italiana)
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Starring: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Puglisi
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerPeyton Place (TV)
Director: Ted Post, Walter Doniger
Starring: Ryan O'Neal, Barbara Parkins, Ed Nelson
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Pleasure Seekers
Director: Jean Negulesco
Starring: Ann-Margaret, Anthony Franciosa, Carol Lynley
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Seventh Dawn
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: William Holden, Susannah York, Capucine
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Third Secret
Director: Charles Crichton
Starring: Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Richard Attenborough
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Visit
Director: Bernhard Wicki
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Quinn, Irina Demick
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerZorba the Greek
Director: Michael Kakogiannis
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene Papas
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1963
Cleopatra
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Rouben Mamoulian, Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerLove With the Proper Stranger
Director: Robert Mulligan
Starring: Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen, Edie Adams
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerTchin Tchin (Theatre)
Director: Peter Glenville
Starring: Margaret Leighton, Anthony Quinn
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Cardinal
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: Tom Tryon, Carol Lynley, Dorothy Gish
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Wheeler Dealers
Director: Arthur Hiller
Starring: James Garner, Lee Remick, Phil Harris
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1962
Satan Never Sleeps
Director: Leo McCarey
Starring: William Holden, Clifton Webb, France Nuyen
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerSweet Bird of Youth
Director: Richard Brooks; Writer: Tennessee Williams
Starring: Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe 300 Spartans
Director: Rudolph Mate
Starring: Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Longest Day
Director: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Richard Burton
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerWalk on the Wild Side
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Starring: Laurence Harvey, Capucine, Jane Fonda
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1961
Barabbas
Director: Richard Fleischer
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerOne-Eyed Jacks
Director: Marlon Brando
Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Katy Jurado
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerParis Blues
Director: Martin Ritt
Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier
Sam Shaw: Producer, Special Still PhotographerRoman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Director: Jose Quintero
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, Croal Browne
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerSomething Wild
Director: Jack Garfein
Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerSplendor in the Grass
Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerSummer and Smoke
Director: Peter Glenville
Starring: Laurence Harvey, Geraldine Page, Rita Moreno
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Comancheros
Director: Michael Curtiz, John Wayne
Starring: John Wayne, Stuart Whitman, Ina Balin
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Pleasure of His Company
Director: George Seaton; Writer: Tennessee Williams
Starring: Fred Astaire, Lili Palmer, Debbie Reynolds
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerMadame
Director: Christian-Jaque
Starring: Sophia Loren, Robert Hossein, Renaud Mary
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1960
From the Terrace
Director: Mark Robson
Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Myna Loy
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerHeller in Pink Tights
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Margaret O'Brien
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerSwiss Family Robinson
Director: Ken Annakin
Starring: John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Alamo
Director: John Wayne
Starring: John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Fugitive Kind
Director: Sidney Lumet; Writer: Tennessee Williams (based on his play "Orpheus Descending")
Starring: Marlon Brando, Joanne Woodward, Anna Magnani
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerUnforgiven
Director: John Huston
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Audie Murphy
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1959
Anatomy of a Murder
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerLil' Abner
Director: Melvin Frank
Starring: Leslie Parish, Stubby Kaye, Peter Palmer
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerShadows
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, Hugh Hurd
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1958
Run Silent, Run Deep
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden, Brad Dexter
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerSeparate Tables
Director: Delbert Mann
Starring: Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, David Niven
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerSpanish Affair
Director: Luis Marquina, Don Siegel
Starring: Carmen Sevilla, Richard Kiley, José Guardiola
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1957
Love in the Afternoon
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Pride and the Passion
Director: Stanley Kramer
Starring: Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1956
Alexander the Great
Director: Robert Rossen
Starring: Richard Burton, Frederic March, Claire Bloom
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer, Storyboards, PublicityLos quince misterios del Santo Rosario (TV)
Director: M. Breen
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerMoby Dick
Director: John Huston
Starring: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn
Sam Shaw: Title DesignTrapeze
Director: (Sir) Carol Reed
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1955
Abdullah's Harem
Director: Gregory Ratoff
Starring: Gregory Ratoff, Kay Kendall, Marina Berti
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Seven Year Itch
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer, Publicity
1954
Attila
Director: Pietro Francisci
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Sophia Loren, Henri Vidal
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerDov'e la Liberta...?
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Starring: Toto, Ingrid Bergman, Alexander Knox, Ettore Giannini
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerLa Strada
Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerMambo
Director: Robert Rossen
Starring: Silvana Mangano, Michael Rennie, Vittorio Gassman
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe City Stands Trial (Processo alla Citta)
Director: Luigi Zampa
Starring: Amedeo Nazzari, Silvana Pampanini, Paola Stoppa
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1953
I Confess
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerTaxi
Director: Gregory Ratoff
Starring: Dan Dailey, Constance Smith, Neva Patterson
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1952
Flight into Egypt (Theatre)
Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Zero Mostel, Fred Williams, David Opatoshu
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Golden Coach (La Carrosse d'or)
Director: Jean Renoir
Starring: Anna Magnani, Odoardo Spadaro, Nada Fiorelli
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Greatest Love (Europa '51)
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Alexander Knox, Ettore Giannini
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerViva Zapata!
Director: Elia Kazan; Writer: John Steinbeck
Starring: Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1951
A Streetcar Named Desire
Director: Elia Kazan; Writer: Tennessee Williams
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter
Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer
1950
No Way Out
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerPanic in the Streets
Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Flame and the Arrow
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Robert Douglas
Sam Shaw: Special Still PhotographerThe Glass Menagerie
Director: Irving Rapper; Writer: Tennessee Williams
Starring: Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Gertrude Lawrence
Sam Shaw: Publicity
Sam Shaw: Selected Exhibitions
2022
Suited: Empowered Feminine Fashion
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
2021
Suited: Empowered Feminine Fashion
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
Chelsea Hotel: Stories from the Rooms
Palazzo Fruscione, Salerno, Italy
2020
Something Over Something Else: Romare Bearden's Profile Series
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
2019
Tiffany & Co. Vision and Virtuosity
Fosun Foundation, Shanghai, China
Something Over Something Else: Romare Bearden's Profile Series
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
Centro Cultural La Misericordia, Mallorca, Spain
Divine Marilyn
Galerie Joseph, Paris, France
2018
Renoir: Father and Son / Painting and Cinema
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
Brandts Museum, Odense, Denmark
Marilyn
La Galerie de L'Instant, Paris, France
2017
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
Potsdam Film Museum, Potsdam, Germany
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
LUDWIGGALERIE, Oberhausen, Germany
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
Brandts Museum, Odense, Denmark
Marilyn
La Galerie de L'Instant, Paris, France
2016
Film Stills: Photography Between Advertising, Art and The Cinema
Albertina, Vienna
Marilyn: I Wanna Be Loved By You
Centre d'Art de Caumont, Aix-en-Provence, France
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
Prague City Gallery - House of Photography, Prague, Czech Republic
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
City Museum of Heilbronn, Germany
Marilyn Monroe: La donna oltre il mito
Palazzo Madama, Turin, Italy
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
City Gallery, Regensburg, Germany
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
Opelvillen Arts and Cultural Foundation, Russelsheim, Germany
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of An Icon
The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, England
2015
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
Cascais Cultural Center, Cascais, Portugal
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon
National Portrait Gallery, London, U.K.
Romare Bearden: The Black Odyssey
Columbia University Global Center Europe, Paris, France
Sam Shaw: 60 Years of Photography
Opelvillen Arts and Cultural Foundation, Russelsheim, Germany
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of An Icon
The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, England
2013
Marilyn
Prague Castle, Czech Republic
2012
Marilyn in New York
42nd Street / Bryant Park and Times Square Subway stations, MTA Arts for Transit, New York
Marilyn
The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, Florence, Italy
2011
Paris Blues Revisited: Romare Bearden, Albert Murray, Sam Shaw
Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York
Picturing Marilyn
Staley-Wise Gallery, Milk Studio, New York
2010
The Rebels: Marlon Brando & Anthony Quinn
Museo Nazionale Del Cinema, Turin, Italy
Anthony Quinn
Lumière 2010 Grand Lyon Film Festival, Lyon, France
2009
John Cassavetes
Filmmuseum of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Marilyn Monroe: Diva del Novecento
Bipielle Arte, Lodi, Italy
Audrey and Marilyn
Proud Gallery, London, England
America the Beautiful
Staley-Wise Gallery, New York, New York
2008
Stars on Stage
Alinari Museum, Florence, Italy
Life is a Movie: John Cassavetes and Friends
Hellenic American Union, Athens, Greece
Marilyn and Friends
Palazzo Todeschini, Desenzano del Garda, Italy
Hollywood Portraits
Kaizen Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland
2007
Images of Marilyn
Silver K Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2006
Marilyn and Friends
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy
Marilyn and Friends
Young Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Marilyn and Friends
Art Beatus, Hong Kong, China
Vicino alle Stelle: Marilyn & Marlon
Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, Milan, Italy
Vicino alle Stelle: Marilyn & Marlon
Stazione Termini, Rome, Italy
Marilyn Monroe
Staley-Wise Gallery, New York, New York
2005
Marilyn and Friends
Galleria Caetani, Rome, Italy
Marilyn and Friends
Photoforum PasquArt, Biel, Switzerland
Marilyn and Friends
Centro Comunale D'Arte e Cultural Exma, Cagliari, Sardinia
Marilyn Monroe: The New York Years
Westwood Gallery, New York, New York
Hollywood Portraits of the 50's and 60's
Art Deco Basel, Basel, Switzerland
I Want to Be Loved by You: Photographs of Marilyn Monroe
The Brooklyn Museum, New York
2004
Marilyn and Friends
Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin, Italy
Marilyn and Friends
Montpellier, France
Hollywood Portraits of the 50's and 60's
Bollag Galleries, Zurich, Switzerland
2003
Marilyn Monroe: Life of a Legend
County Hall Gallery, London, England
2002
Marilyn Monroe: the Movies and New York
First Tribeca Film Festival, New York, New York
1999
Sam Shaw: A Tribute
Duke Ellington Centennial Film Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, New York
Alfred Hitchcock Centenary
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
1997
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii
1996
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, Tennessee
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
San Jose Museum of Art, California
1995
100 Years of Cinema: Sam Shaw's Hollywood
Martin Gropias Museum, Berlin, Germany
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
New York Historical Society, New York, New York
1994
Elvis + Marilyn 2X Immortal
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
1993
John Cassavetes
Vienna International Film Festival, Vienna, Austria
Cassavetes
Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
The Cassavetes by Sam Shaw
Parco Gallery, Tokyo
John Cassavetes, A Photographic Tribute
Brussels, Belgium
Cassavetes
The Viennale, Vienna
1992
Marilyn Monroe: Aphrodite of Hollywood
Troia Film Festival, Setubal, Portugal
Marilyn Monroe: Aphrodite of Hollywood
Casino Vilamoura, Vilamoura, Portugal
John Cassavetes: Courage, Hope, Love
San Sebastian Film Festival, San Sebastian, Spain
John Cassavetes
Thessaloniki Film Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece
Marilyn Monroe
Nyack, New York
1990
Back to the 50’s: LIFE Covers
Svak Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1989
John Cassavetes
Miami Film Festival, Miami, Florida
John Cassavetes
Troia Film Festival, Setubal, Portugal
John Cassavetes
Barcelona Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain
Marilyn Monroe and Hollywood
Shibuya Seibu Seed Hall, Tokyo, Japan
1987
The Joy of Marilyn
DeRempich Gallery, New York, New York
Photographic Exhibition of Celebrities
Los Angeles
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, New York
1954
Viva Zapata: Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Anthony Quinn
Venice Biennale, Venice
Sam Shaw: Selected Awards
1992
Costa Azul Award - Lifetime Achievement
Troia Film Festival, Troia, Portugal
1989
Audience Award
Opening Night
Barcelona Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain
1980
Golden Lion Award - Best Film
Gloria
Venice Film Festival, Venice, Italy
1977
Sponsor's Commendation
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
The Hollywood Reporter, Sixth Annual Key Art Awards
1974
Top Ten Films of 1974
A Woman Under the Influence
National Board of ReviewsThe Independent Film Critics Award of Merit - Best English Language Film
A Woman Under the Influence
The Independent Film Critics
Larry Shaw: Photographer
Larry Shaw was born in New York in 1937. As a boy, he learned the art of photography and inherited a love of cinema from his father, the artist Sam Shaw. The distinguished photographers Martin Munkácsi, Louis Faurer and Bert Stern, friends of his father's, also influenced and contributed to Larry Shaw's photographic development.
Larry made his own debut as a photographer in 1958 with a story on strip tease for the first edition of Huntington Hartford's Show Magazine. In 1960, Larry worked as his father Sam's assistant on the film Paris Blues, which was also the first feature film Sam produced. Selections of Larry Shaw's photographs covering the film shoot appeared in LIFE, Ebony, Paris-Match, and L'Europeo magazines.
Larry developed his career photographing film shoots, including Jules Dassin's Phaedra (1962) starring Anthony Perkins and Melina Mercuri, Edward Dmytryk's Walk on the Wild Side, (1962) starring Jane Fonda, Satan's Bed (1965) starring Yoko Ono, Robert Aldrich's The Dirty Dozen (1967) starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and Telly Savalas, Roman Polansky's The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) starring Sharon Tate, and the James Bond parody Casino Royale (1966) starring David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen. Larry also photographed some of the films of iconic independent filmmaker John Cassavetes, such as Husbands (1969), Gloria (1980), and Love Streams (1983).
In 2002 Larry Shaw founded Shaw Family Archives along with his sisters Meta Shaw Stevens and Edith Shaw Marcus. Larry died in New York in 2007. Today, Larry's legacy and work is preserved and promoted by his relatives through Shaw Family Archives.
Larry Shaw: Selected Publications
2004
Marilyn and Friends (Exhibition Catalog)
Photography: Sam Shaw, Larry Shaw
Publisher: Firenze: Alinari, Italy
1994
Cassevetes' Streams
Photography: Sam Shaw, Larry Shaw
Publisher: FilmArt-Sha, Japan
1992
John Cassavetes, Autoportraits
Photography: Sam Shaw, Larry Shaw
Text: André Labarthe Publisher: Cahiers du Cinéma, France
Larry Shaw: Selected Filmography
Larry Shaw: Selected Exhibitions
2009
John Cassavetes
Filmmuseum of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2008
Marilyn and Friends
Palazzo Todeschini, Desenzano del Garda, Italy
Stars on Stage
Alinari Museum, Florence, Italy
Life is a Movie: John Cassavetes and Friends
Hellenic American Union, Athens, Greece
2006
Marilyn and Friends
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy
Marilyn and Friends
Young Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Marilyn and Friends
Art Beatus, Hong Kong, China
2005
Marilyn and Friends
Galleria Caetani, Rome, Italy
Marilyn and Friends
Photoforum PasquArt, Biel, Switzerland
Marilyn and Friends
Centro Comunale D'Arte e Cultural Exma, Cagliari, Sardinia
2004
Marilyn and Friends
Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin, Italy
Marilyn and Friends
Montpellier, France