• sam shaw
    • Biography
    • Timeline
    • Publications
    • Filmography
    • Exhibitions
    • Awards
  • larry shaw
    • Biography
    • Exhibitions

  • 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 glamourphotographs 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

  • 2010

  • Sam Shaw: A Personal Point of View

    Photography: Sam Shaw
    Text: Lorie Karnath
    Publisher: Hatje Cantz, Berlin

  • Rebels, 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, Italy

  • Marilyn - 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 Group

  • Sophia 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 Group

  • The 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 Photographer

  • Big 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 Photographer

  • The 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 Photographer

  • Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers

    Director: Robert J. Kaplan
    Starring: Holly Woodlawn, Tally Browne, Suzanne Skillen
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Solaris

    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 Photographer

  • McKenna's Gold

    Director: J. Lee Thompson
    Starring: Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Vince 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, Publicity

  • Funny 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 Photographer

  • Casino 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 Photographer

  • Marco 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 Photographer

  • Ship of Fools

    Director: Sanley Kramer
    Starring: Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, Jose Ferrer, Oskar Werner
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • What'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 Photographer

  • Peyton Place (TV)

    Director: Ted Post, Walter Doniger
    Starring: Ryan O'Neal, Barbara Parkins, Ed Nelson
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Pleasure Seekers

    Director: Jean Negulesco
    Starring: Ann-Margaret, Anthony Franciosa, Carol Lynley
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Seventh Dawn

    Director: Lewis Gilbert
    Starring: William Holden, Susannah York, Capucine
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Third Secret

    Director: Charles Crichton
    Starring: Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Richard Attenborough
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Visit

    Director: Bernhard Wicki
    Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Quinn, Irina Demick
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Zorba 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 Photographer

  • Love With the Proper Stranger

    Director: Robert Mulligan
    Starring: Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen, Edie Adams
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Tchin Tchin (Theatre)

    Director: Peter Glenville
    Starring: Margaret Leighton, Anthony Quinn
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Cardinal

    Director: Otto Preminger
    Starring: Tom Tryon, Carol Lynley, Dorothy Gish
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The 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 Photographer

  • Sweet Bird of Youth

    Director: Richard Brooks; Writer: Tennessee Williams
    Starring: Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The 300 Spartans

    Director: Rudolph Mate
    Starring: Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Longest Day

    Director: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck
    Starring: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Richard Burton
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Walk 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 Photographer

  • One-Eyed Jacks

    Director: Marlon Brando
    Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Katy Jurado
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Paris Blues

    Director: Martin Ritt
    Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier
    Sam Shaw: Producer, Special Still Photographer

  • Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

    Director: Jose Quintero
    Starring: Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, Croal Browne
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Something Wild

    Director: Jack Garfein
    Starring: Carroll Baker, Ralph Meeker, Mildred Dunnock
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Splendor in the Grass

    Director: Elia Kazan
    Starring: Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Summer and Smoke

    Director: Peter Glenville
    Starring: Laurence Harvey, Geraldine Page, Rita Moreno
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Comancheros

    Director: Michael Curtiz, John Wayne
    Starring: John Wayne, Stuart Whitman, Ina Balin
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Pleasure of His Company

    Director: George Seaton; Writer: Tennessee Williams
    Starring: Fred Astaire, Lili Palmer, Debbie Reynolds
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Madame

    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 Photographer

  • Heller in Pink Tights

    Director: George Cukor
    Starring: Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Margaret O'Brien
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Swiss Family Robinson

    Director: Ken Annakin
    Starring: John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Alamo

    Director: John Wayne
    Starring: John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The 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 Photographer

  • Unforgiven

    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 Photographer

  • Lil' Abner

    Director: Melvin Frank
    Starring: Leslie Parish, Stubby Kaye, Peter Palmer
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Shadows

    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 Photographer

  • Separate Tables

    Director: Delbert Mann
    Starring: Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, David Niven
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Spanish 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 Photographer

  • The 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, Publicity

  • Los quince misterios del Santo Rosario (TV)

    Director: M. Breen
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Moby Dick

    Director: John Huston
    Starring: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn
    Sam Shaw: Title Design

  • Trapeze

    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 Photographer

  • The 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 Photographer

  • Dov'e la Liberta...?

    Director: Roberto Rossellini
    Starring: Toto, Ingrid Bergman, Alexander Knox, Ettore Giannini
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • La Strada

    Director: Federico Fellini
    Starring: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Mambo

    Director: Robert Rossen
    Starring: Silvana Mangano, Michael Rennie, Vittorio Gassman
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The 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 Photographer

  • Taxi

    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 Photographer

  • The Golden Coach (La Carrosse d'or)

    Director: Jean Renoir
    Starring: Anna Magnani, Odoardo Spadaro, Nada Fiorelli
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Greatest Love (Europa '51)

    Director: Roberto Rossellini
    Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Alexander Knox, Ettore Giannini
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • Viva 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 Photographer

  • Panic in the Streets

    Director: Elia Kazan
    Starring: Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The Flame and the Arrow

    Director: Jacques Tourneur
    Starring: Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Robert Douglas
    Sam Shaw: Special Still Photographer

  • The 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 Reviews

  • The 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

Larry Shaw: Selected Awards