The magazine of the photo-essay
April 2018 issue
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film maker
by Mark Shaw
A portrait of Jackie and JFK, White House, 1959 © Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com
Jackie was first shot by Mark Shaw for a cover story in LIFE published August 24th, 1959. Titled “Jackie Kennedy—a Front
Runner’s Appealing Wife” this photo essay started the relationship that resulted in some of the most famous and
enduring photos of the Kennedy family during JFK’s presidency.
This shot of Jackie posed behind JFK is partly a caricature of the motto “Behind every Great Man is a Great Woman”. Mark
Shaw shot this series of images in the yellow sunroom in two permutations- a set with JFK in the foreground and also a
set with Jackie in the foreground.
Jackie and JFK in Campaign Car, Wheeling, 1959 © Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com
This portrait of the young couple was taken during JFKs presidential campaign. With American flags waving in the parade
and the romantic gaze shared between the senator and his wife, the picture captures their optimism for the future.
Chillingly, it shows JFK and Jackie in a convertible not unlike the vehicle that JFK was assassinated in a mere 4 years later.
Jackie sits at JFK’s senate desk, Washington DC, 1959 © Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com
This image was made into a postcard during the hugely popular 2001 exhibition of Jackie’s clothing which started at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and travelled around America.
Depicting Jackie relaxing at the Senate’s desk, it illustrates the authority and respect she held in the public spotlight at the
time.
Jackie swings Caroline in the shallows at Hyannis Port, 1959 © Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com
This is the Mark Shaw Photographic Archive’s most popular Kennedy image. The shot embodies the candid relaxed style
that made Mark Shaw’s portraits so well remembered. To take a political figure and to put them in a setting where they
look both relaxed and glamorous was unheard of at that time. America fell in love with the First Family thanks to this
photograph and a few others like it.
