Steve Schapiro

Steve Schapiro (1934–2022) captured key moments of modern American history and is one of the most respected and renowned photographers of the last 60 years. His photographs have graced the covers of magazines such as Time, Life, Vanity Fair, Paris Match, and many others. Museums and galleries have exhibited his artworks worldwide, and he is represented in many private and public collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C.; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

Born and raised in New York City in 1934, Steve Schapiro began working as a freelance photojournalist in 1961, marking the start of a decade he called the “golden age in photojournalism.” He captured some of the defining moments during a critical turning point of American history, such as Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential run and the “Summer of Love” in San Francisco. His images of Martin Luther King are considered one of the most famous documents of the civil rights movement.

Besides his career as a photojournalist, Schapiro also achieved a reputation as an excellent portraitist. He photographed many actors, musicians, and artists, including Barbra Streisand, David Bowie, and René Magritte, and accompanied Muhammad Ali as well as Andy Warhol and his entourage for a long time.

Schapiro became well known to a wider audience through his photographs of Hollywood movies. He photographed about 400 cinema productions and was responsible for the campaigns of many iconic films. He created unforgettable images for cinematic masterpieces, including “Taxi Driver” with Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster, directed by Martin Scorsese; “Chinatown” with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, directed by Roman Polanski; and “The Godfather” with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. These films are frequently listed among the greatest movies of all time and will forever remain in the memory of every movie lover.