Steve Schapiro

“I Love You…Leave A Message”

Memorial Retrospective

December 1, 2022 through January 21, 2023

Exhibition Reception: Thursday, December 1st     

It is the Fahey/Klein Gallery’s great honor to present Steve Schapiro: “I Love You…Leave A Message”. This memorial retrospective of photographs from Schapiro’s breathtaking archive will celebrate his life, legacy, and long career as a photojournalist.

On display in Steve Schapiro: “I Love You…Leave A Message”, is a tightly curated selection of Schapiro’s vast range of images. While often praised for his expansive work documenting the American Civil Rights Movement - this important subject matter just begins to scratch the surface of the breadth and depth of Steve Schapiro’s photographic archive. Schapiro photographed some of the most enduring images of the past century.

In the early 1960’s Steve Schapiro began working as a freelance photographer for publications such as Life, Rolling Stone, TIME, and Newsweek. During this time, he produced photo-essays documenting the Civil Rights movement in America, the plight of migrant farm workers, addiction in underserved communities, and Robert Kennedy’s political campaigns. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Schapiro continued his documentary projects and began working in Hollywood photographing prominent figures in music, art, and film. Schapiro created behind the scenes images for notable films including The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, Chinatown, among many others. He also collaborated on projects with a number of musicians such as David Bowie, Barbra Streisand, and Lou Reed.

“Steve was a talented image-maker that created powerful photographs with passion and grace. His pictures are objective but also interpretive. He is an expert storyteller with a single image, as well as with a photo essay - making images that are informational, emotional, and truth-telling. His photographs are not only a record of a time and place, but also have a way of addressing collective feelings (past & present) in our culture and society. All photographers will say ‘my pictures speak for themselves’. But to know Steve Schapiro the person, you have only to listen to the voicemail recording on his phone:

‘Hi, this is Steve Shapiro. I hope you’re having a great day – I sure am. And I hope to talk to you real soon. And if I can’t, I love you’”

- David Fahey

Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles

Steve Schapiro’s work is represented in numerous private collections and institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Steve peacefully passed at his home in Chicago on Saturday, January 15, 2022 - perhaps fittingly on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Steve lived a long, productive, and fruitful 87 years.

Press Photographs Available on Request