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Extraordinary artist-proof portfolio of 41 archival pigment prints of Steve Jobs, produced by photographer Jeffrey Newbury from his unpublished August 1997 Time magazine cover session conducted at Jobs's Palo Alto home shortly after his return to Apple as interim CEO. Intended for a proposed Time cover story, the session was ultimately not used by the magazine. Newbury later revisited the original negatives and transparencies to create this signed portfolio, combining the original portraits with a substantial body of reinterpretive works developed over nearly two decades.
Each print, measuring 20 x 24 or 24 x 20, is signed by the photographer and dated between 1997 and 2015. The series ranges from dramatic black-and-white and color portraits to split-light studies, shadow compositions, mirrored and fragmented imagery, typographic designs, film-negative references, and other experimental treatments derived from the original photographs. Particularly notable are the recurring contrasts of light and shadow, including images that present Jobs and his silhouette as dual subjects.
Accompanied by Newbury’s signed artist statement and portfolio description, which recounts how Steve Jobs specifically requested a portrait in the style of Robert Freeman’s iconic Meet the Beatles! album cover, prompting the two to spend the evening exploring numerous lighting and color variations in pursuit of that aesthetic. Although both photographer and subject believed they had achieved the desired result, the cover image was ultimately not used by Time magazine. Newbury further explains that while the portfolio includes the original ‘Meet the Beatles’ images in both black-and-white and color variations, many of the later works were created to ‘visually interpret’ Jobs’s technical brilliance and personal journey, expanding the 1997 photo session into a unique artistic examination of the Apple co-founder. In overall very fine condition.
In August 1997, Steve Jobs had only recently returned to Apple as interim CEO following the company’s acquisition of NeXT. The portrait session captured him at a pivotal moment, before the products and design philosophy that would restore Apple’s fortunes and reshape the consumer technology landscape. The resulting photographs preserve Jobs at the beginning of that transformation, while the later works demonstrate how the session continued to resonate with the photographer long after it had ended.
This portfolio is offered for auction by a private collector. No copyright, reproduction rights, licensing rights, or other intellectual property rights are conveyed with the sale. Ownership is limited to the physical prints and accompanying materials.
