Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere

Steve Schapiro

Being Everywhere

January 22nd through March 21st

Exhibition Reception: Thursday, January 22nd      

Fahey/Klein Gallery is honored to present Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere, an exhibition of photographs by one of the most significant American photojournalists of the 20th century. The exhibition celebrates Schapiro’s extraordinary six-decade career and his singular ability to bear witness to history as it unfolded.

Being Everywhere takes its title from the documentary (directed by Maura Smith) chronicling Schapiro’s life and work, a phrase that perfectly encapsulates both the scope of his archive and the ethos that guided his practice. From the American Civil Rights Movement to Hollywood film sets, from intimate portraits of cultural icons to quiet human moments on the margins of society, Schapiro’s photographs form a sweeping visual record of modern American life.

Beginning in the early 1960s, Schapiro worked as a freelance photographer for publications including Life, Time, Newsweek, among many others. His images from this period documenting voter registration drives in the South, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery march are among the most enduring photographs of the Civil Rights era. Traveling extensively with writer and activist James Baldwin, Schapiro captured both the gravity of the movement and the moments of humanity, love, and community that sustained it.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Schapiro extended his “fly-on-the-wall” approach to Hollywood, producing behind-the-scenes photographs on the sets of iconic films including The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, and Chinatown. These images, like his documentary work, are marked by an unguarded intimacy and an instinctive sense of narrative.

Across all genres, Schapiro’s photographs are both objective and interpretive. Simultaneously historical documents and emotional touchstones. His images do not simply record events; they invite viewers to feel the weight, urgency, and humanity of their moment. As David Fahey, co-founder of Fahey/Klein Gallery, has written, Schapiro’s work “addresses collective feelings—past and present—in our culture and society,” a quality that makes his photographs as resonant today as when they were first made.

Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere is a testament to a life spent looking closely, with compassion, curiosity, and unwavering commitment to visual truth. Together, the photographs in this exhibition reveal an artist who was not merely present at history’s pivotal moments, but deeply engaged in them by someone who understood that bearing witness is both a responsibility and an act of love.

Steve Schapiro (1934–2022) lived and worked between New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. His work is held in numerous private and public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Press Photographs Available on Request