Synopses & Reviews
Many of William Claxtons photographs of American jazz musicians have become the iconic images by which we remember them a young Chet Baker lying on his back in the studio, trumpet in hand; Bill Evans and Ray Charles at their pianos; a sparkling Sarah Vaughan; a somber Miles Davis; and countless more. Less well known is the fact that since the early 1950s, Claxton has also photographed scores of actors, directors, writers, artists, singers, and entertainers from outside the world of jazz.
Photographic Memory, his first-ever monograph of these images, features more than 100 such wonderful and revealing portraits, only a handful of which have ever been seen before.
Anecdotal stories by Claxton accompanying the images reveal the intimate and first-name basis with which he photographed the well-known icons of celebrity, wit, and style from the past five decades, many of them his dear personal friends. Here for the first time Claxton describes a backstage photo session with Marlene Dietrich; antique shopping with Gloria Swanson; unwittingly provoking Shirley MacLaine into a bawdy comment on a tense, crowded, film set love scene; and many other unforgettable moments.
A stunningly intimate document of our most-loved film and entertainment icons, Claxtons Photographic Memory is sure to become an instant pop-culture heirloom.
Review
"Many of the 115 black-and-white portraits have been previously unpublished. But what makes this book remarkable is Claxton's recall of each personality and photo shoot...which gives us an insider's view of his famous subjects." Library Journal
Synopsis
Photographic Memory, Claxon's first-ever monograph of these images, features more than 100 such wonderful and revealing portraits, only a handful of which have ever been seen before. Anecdotal stories by Claxton accompanying the images reveal the intimate and first-name basis with which he photographed the well-known icons of celebrity, wit, and style from the past five decades, many of them his dear personal friends. Here for the first time Claxton describes a backstage photo session with Marlene Dietrich; antique shopping with Gloria Swanson; unwittingly provoking Shirley MacLaine into a bawdy comment on a tense, crowded film set during a love scene; and many other unforgettable moments. A stunningly intimate document of our most-loved film and entertainment icons, Claxton's Photographic Memory is sure to become an instant pop-culture heirloom.
About the Author
William Claxtons photographs have appeared in a wide range of national and international magazines, including The New Yorker, Time, Life, Vogue, Paris Match, Vanity Fair, and on countless album covers. He has had numerous one-man shows around the world, and has published several books, including Jazz (Twelvetrees Press, 1988); The Rudi Gernreich Book, with his wife Peggy Moffitt (Rizzoli, 1991); Young Chet (Schirmer/Mosel, 1993); Claxography: The Art of Jazz Photography (Nieswand Verlag, 1995); and Jazz Seen (Taschen, 1999).