Jesse Alexander
In his own words:
A lifetime has been spent in photography, the largest part of it devoted to documenting motorsports. In the beginning I worked primarily in black and white. Then, when I began to make enlargements of my images and show them in galleries I became aware of the added intensity and drama that was missing from an 8x10 glossy. Today, the personal satisfaction gained from my work in the darkroom has moved me into a new chapter, one of producing fine art prints of museum quality and offering them for sale to collectors and enthusiasts all over the world.
My involvement in motorsports began in the early 1950s with the birth of the sports car movement in the USA. My first sports car was an MGTD, then a Morgan Plus Four and then a Sunbeam Talbot. As racing became popular I visited tracks like Pebble Beach and Palm Springs to photograph these early races. One of my first memories was seeing the famous film star, Clark Gable making a lap of honor at Palm Springs in his Jaguar XK120. And of course there was Phil Hill in his Ferrari and Alfa Romeo as well as Johnny von Neumann driving the first Porsche 356 to appear in California. These were the personalities who introduced me to motorsports. In 1953 I travelled to Mexico to cover the Pan American Road Race.
A year later I sailed to Europe with my family. We landed in Holland, then promptly took a train to the Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg to pick up a new Microbus. With wheels to explore the Continent, I found myself at Reims on the fourth of July, 1954 shooting the French Grand Prix. I witnessed the debut of the fabulous Mercedes W196. In the hands of Juan Fangio, Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann these new race cars brought the Germans back to Grand Prix racing. Today, these are still some of favorite images.
His Work:
His catalogue, a wonderfully crafted book entitiled ‘Forty Years Of Motorsport Photography’ is a distillation of his photographic journey. Jesse has compiled in this volume a number of the finer images of his career. These photographs, as well as a selection from his new volume ‘Driven; The Racing Photography of Jesse Alexander 1954-1962’ are featured here in the Gallery.
Over the years his work has appeared in most of the worlds prominent automotive publications including Car & Driver, Road & Track and Automobile. In 1965, he covered the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Newsweek, and in 1967 his work was used in Sports Illustrated for a feature on motorcycle racing. Most recently, Jesse was commissioned by Nissan and it’s Infiniti luxury division to photograph the drivers, crew, and race cars that made up the 1997 Infiniti Indy Project.
Alexander has authored numerous books including ‘At Speed,’ ‘Forty Years of Motorsport Photography’ an ‘Driven.’ His work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and as part of an exhibition of sports photography at the 1996 Summer Olympics. A retrospective exhibition including more than 70 images travelled the world in 1998, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation.
Original prints by Jesse Alexander are available at Wheels On Walls