William Claxton and Steve McQueen -- by TD

Sharing a passion for fast cars, Steve McQueen (1930-1980) and William Claxton became friends early in McQueen’s career and remained close until his premature death. Claxton frequented McQueen throughout his many incarnations (daredevil, dirt biker, movie star, sports car driver, ladies man, family man, etc.), capturing at every turn another side of McQueen’s enigmatic tough-guy/nice-guy personality. Claxton’s photographic talent and sensibilities were perfectly attuned to the actor’s multifaceted character. This is the real Steve McQueen, immortalized by Claxton’s empathetic lens. William Claxton (1927-2008) began his career shooting jazz record cover art. His iconic images of Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and many others reflect his preeminence among photographers of jazz music. Claxton worked for many of the biggest publishers including Life, Paris Match, and Vogue magazines. His work has been shown in galleries around the world, and his photographic prints are now sought after by collectors of fine art photography. He passed away on October 11, 2008 in his hometown of Los Angeles. Claxton's iconic photographic works can be seen right here in our CollectorConnector by viewing the collection of user member "TD"