Richard Shay

Oprah Winfrey at the Bud Billiken Parade in Chicago, 1984 - Black & White Photo

2023

This publicity photo of Oprah Winfrey and famed choreographer Michael Peters was for a fantasy sequence with two of the stars from the hit musical "Dreamgirls". Oprah had been heard saying this was the best thing since 64 Crayola Crayons and that she cried tears of joy upon hearing the news that this would become a reality. She became a "Dreamgirl" for the day but the metaphor of her "dream" life is what is so intriguing about this photograph. This piece is matted and framed in a simple black frame measuring 16.25h x 20.25w inches. Richard Shay Oprah Rehearses Dream Girls with Michael Peters, 1984 archival pigment print 12h x 16w in 30.48h x 40.64w cm A.P. RSY003 Richard Shay grew up in Deerfield, Illinois where his father, the famed photojournalist, Art Shay and his wife Florence had moved to raise their family. Surrounded by the influence of his larger-than-life dad, Richard would go on to follow in his father's path. After traveling the world in his early 20's, Richard returned to Chicago and began photographing at The Oprah Winfrey Show. He became the family photographer for basketball player and Chicago treasure, Michael Jordan. He would go on to tour the US and Russia with The Smashing Pumpkins...

Richard Shay met Oprah in the very early days of both of their careers. Here, he captures the then fairly unknown talk show host in an informal portrait. It is a pose much of the world will recognize in the years to come. This A.P. photograph is matted and framed in a simple black frame measuring 16.25h x 20.25w inches. Richard Shay Oprah Portrait Seated on AM Chicago, 1985 archival pigment print 16h x 12w in 40.64h x 30.48w cm A.P. RSY017 Richard Shay grew up in Deerfield, Illinois where his father, the famed photojournalist, Art Shay and his wife Florence had moved to raise their family. Surrounded by the influence of his larger-than-life dad, Richard would go on to follow in his father's path. After traveling the world in his early 20's, Richard returned to Chicago and began photographing at The Oprah Winfrey Show. He became the family photographer for basketball player and Chicago treasure, Michael Jordan. He would go on to tour the US and Russia with The Smashing Pumpkins...

Art Shay Brooklyn: Sisters, 1952 silver gelatin print 24.25 x 20.25 framed ASY103 Art Shay photographed the community of Brooklyn, IL for Ebony Magazine, 1952. These photographs are the result of that experience. Brooklyn (popularly known as Lovejoy), is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. Located two miles north of East St. Louis, Illinois and three miles northeast of downtown St. Louis, Missouri, it is the oldest town incorporated by African Americans in the United States. It was founded by freed and fugitive slaves from St. Louis, led by "Mother" Priscilla Baltimore in the period of 1829 to 1839. Its motto is "Founded by Chance, Sustained by Courage". “Art Shay’s photography shakes you up, sets you down gently, pats you on the head and then kicks you in the ass.” Roger Ebert “[Shay’s work] ranks with some of the greats of the 20th century.” Ellen & Richard Sandor, Renowned photo collectors “I’ve admired Art Shay’s work for almost forty years, and he keeps getting better. He can do anything with a camera, but what he mostly does is capture real moments and transform them into visual poetry. His work continues to be an inspiration to me.” William Friedkin, Director of French Connection “Art Shay is one of our finest photographers. His work over the past fifty years has artfully captured the beauty, humor, and pathos of America.” Studs Terkel “Art Shay is one of the best photojournalists I know. I’ve been a fan of his work since the early 1950s - before the launch of playboy magazine.” Hugh Hefner Algren, Terkel, Royko, they gave us a voice. Art Shay gave us a face.” Tony Fitzpatrick, Chicago Artist “Art Shay is America’s Cartier-Bresson.” Thomas Dyja, author of The Third Coast “Chicago’s Art Shay in many ways is to American photography what Nelson Algren was to American writing: that rare and absolutely necessary citizen who’s blessed with a cold eye, a clear head, and a warm heart. What is it about Chicago that keeps giving us men like this?” Russell Banks, Novelist “The best images of Simone de Beauvoir and her times have been passed down to us by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gisele Freund, Robert Doisneau, Georges Brassai, and in America, the Chicago-based Art Shay, all world-class photographers.” Christophe Loviny, Art Editor, Paris “Art Shay is the best photo-journalist Chicago ever produced.” Arthur Siegel...

The excitement and innocence is profoundly evident on the faces of Dianna Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard - AKA The Supremes, in this behind the scenes photograph, dancing to ...

Woman on Bus, from the March on Washington, 1963 (printed later) by Leonard Freed, is a 11" x 14" gelatin silver print, signed and stamped on verso (back of photo) by the estate, Brigitte Freed (wife of the photographer). The photo is from Leonard Freed's series This Is the Day: The March on Washington and is on p. 81 of the book (Getty Museum, 2013). American photographer Leonard Freed enjoyed documentary storytelling and was a "concerned photographer" whose work demonstrated humanitarian concerns. Provenance: Freed archive. *** Artist’s Bio: Leonard Freed (1929-2006) was an American photographer from Brooklyn, New York. His "Black in White America" series made him known as a documentarian, a social documentary photographer. Freed worked as a freelance photographer from 1961 onwards and as a Magnum photographer Freed traveled widely abroad and, in the US, photographing African Americans (1964-65), events in Israel (1967-68, 1973), and the New York City police department (1972-79). Freed's coverage of the American civil rights...

Woman Protestor, March on Washington, 1963 by Leonard Freed, is a 14" x 11" gelatin silver photograph, signed and stamped on verso (back of photo) by the estate, Brigitte Freed (wife of the photographer). The photo is in Leonard Freed's book “This Is the Day: The March on Washington'' (p. 50). Leonard Freed enjoyed documentary storytelling and as a "concerned photographer" his work demonstrated humanitarian concerns. The photographer travelled to New York, Washington, D.C., and throughout the South, capturing the daily life of African-Americans. Documenting the 1960s Civil Rights Movement from the East Coast to the Deep South, Freed’s photo essay culminated in the book Black in White America, which contributed to Freed's becoming one of the well-known documentary photographers of 20th Century America. After Freed’s death in 2006 his widow, Brigitte Freed was inspired to compile a book on the March on Washington from her late husband’s archive when she heard then-Senator former President Barack Obama remark to an audience of civil rights activists, “I stand here because you walked.” The March on Washington series is a powerful visual testimony, capturing protests that culminated in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream'' speech, delivered at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. Provenance: Freed archive. *** Artist’s Bio: Leonard Freed (1929-2006) was an American photographer from Brooklyn, New York. His "Black in White America" series made him known as a documentarian, a social documentary photographer. Freed worked as a freelance photographer from 1961 onwards and as a Magnum photographer Freed traveled widely abroad and, in the US, photographing African Americans (1964-65), events in Israel (1967-68, 1973), and the New York City police department (1972-79). Freed's coverage of the American civil rights...

Feeling the Spirit by Earlie Hudnall, Jr. depicts a group of men and women standing outside, singing into a microphone. A woman dressed in white stands in front of the group, passion...

Title: Illinois Rally for Civil Rights’ at Soldier Field, Chicago Estate-stamped, gelatin-print silver Crowds at the ‘Illinois Rally for Civil Rights’ at Soldier Field in Chicago, ...