Mark Shaw and Jackie Kennedy became very good friends after Mark photographed Jackie for the cover of Life magazine in 1959. They continued to be friends until Mark Shaw’s death in 1969.
In 1960 Mark and his wife Pat Suzuki traveled to Ravello, Italy with JFK and Jackie where they vacationed with the famous Italian Aristocratic family – the Agnellis. During this trip Mark took a photo of Jackie on the Agnelli’s yacht. Jackie was holding one of Mark’s cameras. The image is shown below and is one of our favorite photos of Jackie from this period.
In 1967, after JFK’s assassination, Jackie wrote to Mark thanking him for lending her some camera equipment, the letter is shown here.
Over the course of their friendship, and especially during the period when JFK was the President, Jackie wrote to Mark dozens of times about his photography along with other personal matters. These letters are discussed in our upcoming Biography of Mark Shaw ( publication details to be announced soon).