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Florence never quite believed she was as beautiful as I said she was. I often took her on Vegas shoots for Life or The Saturday Evening Post involving the Mafia. She was a wonderful decoy.

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Florence never quite believed she was as beautiful as I said she was. I often took her on Vegas shoots for Life or The Saturday Evening Post involving the Mafia. She was a wonderful decoy.

Maker Shay, Arthur American, 1922-2018

Datec. 1965; printed 2014

MediumInkjet print

Dimensionspaper: 16 in x 20 in

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object number2014:243

About the ArtistOne of Chicago’s most prolific photographers, Art Shay published more than 30,000 photographs during his career, which spanned more than half a century and covered such subjects as John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign, the fights of Muhammad Ali, Hugh Hefner’s infamous bedroom office, the last man alive to have seen Abraham Lincoln’s corpse, Chicago police clubbing demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and a swan snubbing a pig as they swim. Some of his favorite photographs, however, are those of Chicago writer Nelson Algren, author of The Man with the Golden Arm and winner of the first National Book Award. Shay and Algren met in 1949 when Shay pitched a story on “the prose poet of the Chicago slums” to his editors at Life magazine. The two men became close friends and spent time roaming near the West Side, encountering addicts, hookers, alcoholics, bums, cops, and hustlers, among many other street characters. The gritty photo essay was never published, but photographs from the series are currently held in many private and public collections. Both passionate about and critical of Chicago, Shay wrote a novel, Never Come Morning, depicting the seedy underbelly of crime and poverty in the city, which was banned by the Chicago Public Library System. After Algren’s death in 1981, Shay published Nelson Algren’s Chicago, a collection of his photographs from the men’s years together as well as accompanying texts.

Art Shay worked first as a reporter and then as a photographer for numerous publications including Life, Fortune, The New York Times, and Sports Illustrated. His photograph of Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev on an Iowa farm won Life Magazine’s “Picture of the Year” in 1959. Shay also published several books on photography and sports, including Nelson Algren’s Chicago (1988), Album for an Age (2000), and Animals (2002). His play, Where Have You Gone, Jimmy Stewart was produced by Chicago’s American Theater Company (ATC) in 2002.

Discover More

Years later Florence often worked with me on crime stories for Life Magazine, Time, and the Saturday Evening Post. We worked with hidden cameras. In Vegas, she nailed Cleveland Mafia leader Moe Dalitz with her purse camera, two tables away.

Years later Florence often worked with me on crime stories for Life Magazine, Time, and the Saturday Evening Post. We worked with hidden cameras. In Vegas, she nailed Cleveland Mafia leader Moe Dalitz with her purse camera, two tables away.

Shay, Arthur

c. 1948; printed 2014

Hyers + Mebane

2012

Florence often accompanied me when I was photographing at Northbrook Court Mall. She would scoot from shop to shop while waiting for us to have dinner, or I fussed with my hidden camera. One evening, I saw my beloved wife and model doing what she had steadfastly refused to do all her life, trying on a wig. Years later, here is Florence in her nursing home-surprising me for our Passover dinner [...]

Florence often accompanied me when I was photographing at Northbrook Court Mall. She would scoot from shop to shop while waiting for us to have dinner, or I fussed with my hidden camera. One evening, I saw my beloved wife and model doing what she had steadfastly refused to do all her life, trying on a wig. Years later, here is Florence in her nursing home-surprising me for our Passover dinner [...]

Shay, Arthur

n.d.; printed 2014

Miss America on Float

Miss America on Float

Wolke, Jay

1989

A month before she died I took her to Glenwood Hospital in Glenview for her conference with yet another team of oncologists. Florence understood the futility of the visit in which a picture of her ovarian cancer, having spread to her cerebellum, was clearly visible. [...]

A month before she died I took her to Glenwood Hospital in Glenview for her conference with yet another team of oncologists. Florence understood the futility of the visit in which a picture of her ovarian cancer, having spread to her cerebellum, was clearly visible. [...]

Shay, Arthur

2012; printed 2014

Florence was a stickler for control and details, and insisted on planning and paying for her own funeral. Here she chooses a mid-level coffin from the rabbi’s brochure. I took the picture through my tears.

Florence was a stickler for control and details, and insisted on planning and paying for her own funeral. Here she chooses a mid-level coffin from the rabbi’s brochure. I took the picture through my tears.

Shay, Arthur

c. 2012; printed 2014

Reading and books were the mainstays of Florence’s life. Until a month before she died she liked to sit on our deck and read mindless mysteries under our beloved begonia trees planted by Harmon when he was 11 in 1962. As she grew weaker in her final days I would cut the heavy books in thirds so she could handle (our joke) heavy pop literature.

Reading and books were the mainstays of Florence’s life. Until a month before she died she liked to sit on our deck and read mindless mysteries under our beloved begonia trees planted by Harmon when he was 11 in 1962. As she grew weaker in her final days I would cut the heavy books in thirds so she could handle (our joke) heavy pop literature.

Shay, Arthur

c. 1980; printed 2014

Florence hid her pain from us, but she liked her oncologist Dr. Adi Gidron and described the precise location of all her pains to him. He called her “the best patient I ever had,” and became a sad friend to both of us, having exhausted all the medical treatments Florence was capable of surviving. We had a false flash of hope after she began responding positively to chemo therapy, but it didn’t last. She had 4th stage cancer, the very worst. [...]

Florence hid her pain from us, but she liked her oncologist Dr. Adi Gidron and described the precise location of all her pains to him. He called her “the best patient I ever had,” and became a sad friend to both of us, having exhausted all the medical treatments Florence was capable of surviving. We had a false flash of hope after she began responding positively to chemo therapy, but it didn’t last. She had 4th stage cancer, the very worst. [...]

Shay, Arthur

c. 2010.; printed 2014

Florence poses filling a rare book order for a foreign customer in her shop. My favorite Florence story involving foreign sales: Florence had bought a fine Gold Coast collection of unusual and expensive books. On the same day she sold separate books on falconry to an Arab prince and a Japanese dealer with a Samurai customer.

Florence poses filling a rare book order for a foreign customer in her shop. My favorite Florence story involving foreign sales: Florence had bought a fine Gold Coast collection of unusual and expensive books. On the same day she sold separate books on falconry to an Arab prince and a Japanese dealer with a Samurai customer.

Shay, Arthur

c. 1990; printed 2014

Author Nelson Algren, a great friend of the family, visited often. He was Harmon’s godfather, and at Harmon’s birth wrote Florence a postcard from California advising her to warn the kid “never to eat at a place called Mom’s, never to play poker with a guy named Doc, and never to sleep with a woman who has more troubles than your own.” Advice he never took for himself. Especially rule 3.

Author Nelson Algren, a great friend of the family, visited often. He was Harmon’s godfather, and at Harmon’s birth wrote Florence a postcard from California advising her to warn the kid “never to eat at a place called Mom’s, never to play poker with a guy named Doc, and never to sleep with a woman who has more troubles than your own.” Advice he never took for himself. Especially rule 3.

Shay, Arthur

c. 1960; printed 2014

Dressed for fencing or t’ai-chi, Florence kept her great figure long past this candid of her in her fifties. She once offered me $700 for all the books you see, mostly review copies. When I asked her why so little she replied. Because they are all dog-eared and marked up. “They show too much wear for resale- you read your books- a real downer for a dealer.”

Dressed for fencing or t’ai-chi, Florence kept her great figure long past this candid of her in her fifties. She once offered me $700 for all the books you see, mostly review copies. When I asked her why so little she replied. Because they are all dog-eared and marked up. “They show too much wear for resale- you read your books- a real downer for a dealer.”

Shay, Arthur

c. 1966; printed 2014

Florence’s favorite flower was roses. I thought of this as family and friends threw roses onto her coffin. My mind told me that she was finally out of her night-time routine of pain and drugs, and had forever achieved the death she so urgently wished for at the end. It comforted me.

Florence’s favorite flower was roses. I thought of this as family and friends threw roses onto her coffin. My mind told me that she was finally out of her night-time routine of pain and drugs, and had forever achieved the death she so urgently wished for at the end. It comforted me.

Shay, Arthur

2012; printed 2014