Thursday, December 15, 2022

Jazz for the Eye

My favourite William Claxton portraits.


André Previn by William Claxton, 1961



Elvin Jones by William Claxton, c. 1960



Chet Baker by William Claxton, Hollywood, 1954

"I saw his striking reflection in the piano top & placed my Rolleiflex on the piano. It was a one-time shot because he moved away almost immediately."



William Claxton's shot of Donald Byrd on the A Train, 1959



William Claxton gets in his own shot of Marlene Dietrich, Las Vegas, 1955

"Above all," said Claxton, "my work is about friendship."



Joe Williams by William Claxton, Philadelphia, 1960



I love this William Claxton photo of John Coltrane at the Guggenheim Museum, 1960

The painting is by Franz Kline, but I can't track down which one.



Philly Joe Jones & Larance Marable by William Claxton

"Photography is jazz for the eye. All I ask you to do is listen with your eyes."



Judy Garland by William Claxton, Las Vegas, 1961

"I kept these personal & revealing images for myself. I didn't want a cheap movie fan magazine to print such a revealing shot."



A self-portrait of William Claxton from 1957

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Album Cover Portraits by Lotte Meitner-Graf

I was so impressed when I discovered the portraits of Lotte Meitner-Graf , who made wonderful photographs of artistic and scientific worthie...