In 1942, while working as camp counselors in the Catskills, 20-year-old Art Shay met Florence Gerson. And so began a love story for the ages…
As a photographer for over 60 years, Art has captured some of the most influential world leaders, celebrities, and cultural icons. His subjects included the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Muhammad Ali, among countless others. His work has appeared in Life, Fortune and Sports Illustrated to name just a few. But none of those would compare to the most beautiful subject he ever captured — his wife, Florence.
In a beautiful exhibit at Columbia College Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Photography called My Florence, Art created a tribute to his beloved wife and their 67 years of marriage. Through his nearly seventy photographs on display, he weaved together a tapestry of their life, documenting celebrations, private moments, children and grandchildren, even capturing the beauty in simple things like running errands.
The photographs presented in My Florence began with the first photograph he ever took of her on that fateful day they met in the Catskills. The final photograph in the exhibition was taken just after her funeral in August 2012, simply a single candle burning. She was 90 years old.
"A photograph is a biography of a moment" says Shay. What a beautiful biography indeed!
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