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Trim Size: 11-1/4 x 14-1/4
Page Count: 88
ISBN: 9781576878392
In June, 1963, on assignment from Sports Illustrated, peerless portrait photographer Steve Schapiro traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to spend some time with the young Olympic champion boxer Cassius Clay and accompany him on a road trip to New York City. At 21, Clay was yet to adopt the mantel of Muhammad Ali, but his boastful persona, intelligence, black pride, and sharp tongue were already fully formed.
Of the course of their five days together, Schapiro–a master at developing trust and capturing unguarded intimacy on film—revealed both sides of the young Ali: the one side posing and preening for the camera, ever conscious of his image; the other, unguarded and unselfconscious, in candid images of the young fighter at home with his family and immersed in his community and neighborhood.
Ali collects the best of Schapiro’s images of the late fighter; many in print for the first time ever. They offer a glimpse of a star on the rise. It is an indelible portrait of the early life of one of the most talented, graceful, controversial, athletic, and influential American figures of the 20th century.
Steve Schapiro is a photographer and photojournalist who captured some of the most important historical events of the 1960s and 1970s. Schapiro also produce memorable films stills for The Godfather (1972) and Taxi Driver (1976), as well as portraits of David Bowie and James Baldwin. Born in New York, NY in 1934, his interest in photography began at the age of 9 and was furthered by his study of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work. Schapiro went on apprentice with the renowned photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, who deeply influenced his own work. “I stayed with Eugene Smith in 1961 and he really taught you how to make prints in terms of getting intense blacks and intense whites,” he said of his mentor. That same year, he began working as a freelance photojournalist, with his images appearing in publications such as LIFE, Vanity Fair, Newsweek, and Time. Among his seminal images are those of Martin Luther King in 1963 and Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Known for his compassionate and activist approach to his subjects, his works played an important role in bringing issues such as the Civil Rights Movement, immigration, and narcotic addition to national attention. The artist lives and work in Chicago, IL. Today, Schapiro’s photographs are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, among others.
