A Legendary Film Icon's Final Years Are Captured in 'Steve McQueen: The Last Mile,' an Exhibition of Photographs by His Widow Barbara McQueen, Opening at San Francisco Art Exchange With a May 5 Artist's Reception

A Legendary Film Icon's Final Years Are Captured in 'Steve McQueen: The Last Mile,' an Exhibition of Photographs by His Widow Barbara McQueen, Opening at San Francisco Art Exchange With a May 5 Artist's Reception

Rare Images Are From McQueen's Recent Dalton Watson Fine Books Volume of the Same Name and Will Be Available for Sale in Signed Limited Editions

SAN FRANCISCO, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- "Steve McQueen: The Last Mile," an exhibition of rare and previously unseen color photographs of the legendary film actor's final years by his widow Barbara McQueen, will open at the San Francisco Art Exchange (SFAE) with a special artist's reception on Saturday, May 5, 7-10PM. The opening event is co-hosted by Bonhams and Butterfields, the internationally renowned San Francisco-based firm which hosted an unprecedented auction of McQueen memorabilia in late 2006. Barbara has said, "The idea of having a photo exhibit has been a long-time dream of mine. And the perfect place to host such an exhibit is in the city where Steve filmed 'Bullitt.'" Released in 1968, "Bullitt" is one of McQueen's most famous films, immortalized for its hair-raising centerpiece car chase through downtown San Francisco.

Barbara McQueen was an Oregon farm girl turned world class fashion model -- known as Barbara Minty -- when she met McQueen in 1977 and embarked on a 3-1/2 year relationship with him. Roughly half his age, Barbara enjoyed a life outside of Hollywood with the maverick star, who'd mostly left the spotlight behind to pursue his passions for motorcycles, antique airplanes and vintage pick-up trucks, in which the couple would tour around America. Her insightful and personal photographs document their adventures together up until the time of Steve McQueen's untimely death from mesothelioma in 1980. Candid, down-to-earth, intimate and revealing, the images present the film icon and iconoclast completely unvarnished from the gloss of celebrity.

"Steve McQueen was admired for his ruggedness, his 'cool,' his individuality," says SFAE co-founder/director Theron Kabrich. "What immediately jumps out at me about Barbara's stunning photographs of him is the sense of finding him fully in his element. In seeing Steve with the things he cherished, the vintage motorcycles, collectible toys, airplanes, trucks and other old, worn and well loved objects, it's clear he was naturally drawn to things that exuded an authenticity comparable to his own. It's fascinating to see such a famous persona portrayed in a private context, one so organic to who he really was."

The approximately forty color images comprising the show at SFAE are culled from about 400 that Barbara McQueen shot during the time she spent with her late husband, among them ones set in locales including Trancas Beach in Malibu, the airfields in Santa Paula, Ketchum, Idaho and on the road. Previously unpublished and unshown, many of the photos have never been seen outside of McQueen's family and friends, as Barbara has waited until now to share them with the public through an exhibition and book project she sees as a tribute to Steve. They will be available for sale in limited editions of fifty signed & numbered 16" x 20" prints.

The photos are also featured in the just-released book "Steve McQueen: The Last Mile," by Barbara McQueen with Marshall Terrill, published in March 2007 by Dalton Watson Fine Books. Barbara first had the idea of creating a book based on her photographs when Steve was still alive, with plans for him to write captions accompanying the images. The project fell to the wayside after McQueen's cancer diagnosis. "My hundreds of pictures of him stayed tucked away in the closet for nearly 25 years," she writes on the book jacket. "Then something happened inside me when I turned 50 recently -- that's the same age Steve was when he died. It was if a veil had been lifted and I could finally look back on our life together and examine it without fear. This book is my fulfillment of our earlier dream." "Steve McQueen: The Last Mile" is written in passage form, inter-weaving Barbara's own personal history, her relationship with Steve McQueen and the stories behind the hundreds of unique pictures portrayed. Co-writer Marshall Terrill's other works include the best selling biography "Steve McQueen: Portrait Of An American Rebel."

Both Barbara McQueen and Marshall Terrill will be present for the Saturday, May 5 opening of "Steve McQueen: The Last Mile" at SFAE. The evening will include a special presentation of the photos followed by a question and answer session.

Co-founded in 1983 by Theron Kabrich and James Hartley, San Francisco Art Exchange, LLC -- "Gallery Of The Popular Image" -- is a leader in international fine art sales and publishing, with a global reputation as premier purveyors of world-class pop culture imagery including paintings, illustrations, photography and more. SFAE has long represented the art of Alberto Vargas, album cover artist Roger Dean, fantasy-genre master Boris Vallejo, painter Ronnie Wood and many noted rock/celebrity photographers including Bill Wyman, Ethan Russell, Terry O'Neill, Pattie Boyd, Mick Rock, Jerrold Schatzberg, Joel Brodsky and many others. They are located at 458 Geary Street in San Francisco.

For more information, log on to www.sfae.com

Source: San Francisco Art Exchange

CONTACT: Michael Jensen, +1-626-585-9575, info@jensencom.com, for San
Francisco Art Exchange

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http://www.sfae.com/

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