Exhibit features rare images of Kennedy years

Kimberley McGee

Friday, June 29, 2001 | 9:17 a.m.

Long after the end of the brief days of Camelot in the White House, the wonder of that era in American history still captivates the public.

Those heady political years in the early '60s of the Kennedy White House are captured in pictures by New York photographer Jacques Lowe.

A selection from Lowe's private collection of photos from that time will be on display Saturday through July 6 at UNLV's Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery.

The exhibit, titled "Jackie Kennedy: The First Lady/A Photographic Salute," features poignant photographs never before seen by the public.

Lowe was one of the few outsiders allowed in the inner realm of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' tight circle of friends from the early days of the White House years and throughout her life.

The exhibit was created soon after the May 1994 death of Kennedy Onassis from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is an homage to the life of Lowe's friend, and a tribute to the memory of a respected public figure.

The exhibit toured the country until the winter of 2000, when it was placed at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza in Dallas (adjacent to the spot where President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963), where the entire exhibit is permanently housed.

The two dozen photos featured in the traveling exhibit were hand-picked by Lowe, who died in May from cancer.

Jeff West, director for the Sixth Floor Museum for the past eight years, spent hours with Lowe as he combed through the collection to choose 24 images that tell the story of the first lady.

"He was amazing," West said. "He had great stories."

Although Lowe was a bit of a curmudgeon, West said, he shared his stories with the museum staff as they chose photos to be used for the exhibit.

Lowe first met the Kennedys in 1957 as he photographed the family -- Jacqueline, John and their young daughter, Caroline -- for the upcoming Massachusetts senate race.

The day went well, and the family was in good spirits, but Lowe was not pleased with the work he had done. He was sure he would not be asked to photograph the Kennedys again.

Some weeks later Jacqueline Kennedy phoned to urge Lowe to come to the house and look at the photos.

"They were excited to have him see what he'd done," West said. "He was the official photographer after that."

Lowe's photos are powerful images of Jacqueline Kennedy's life in the White House years, as she restored the interior of the White House for a television tour in 1962, which won her an Emmy Award; played with her children on the grounds of the White House and up to the final days before the tragic death of President Kennedy.

Throughout, America watched, captivated by the Kennedys. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis knew this and gave the public carefully planned glimpses into the lives of the Kennedy family.

Lowe once said, "She was aware of what the camera did for the children, and for the family."

After the assassination of her husband, Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnet Aristotle Onassis in 1968. Following his death in 1975, she continued to stay in the public eye as one of the most photographed women in America. This exhibit, however, concentrates on her years in the White House.

The photos may reveal a sense of the former first lady's style and charm, West said, but Lowe truly wanted his work to aid the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, in honor of what Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had meant to him in life.

The Northern Trust, a Chicago-based company, is responsible in Nevada for the exhibit's placement in Las Vegas.

The wealth-management company made a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in order to display the exhibit in its offices, as well as at a few galleries around the country.

Incline Village near Lake Tahoe will host the exhibit July 9 and 10 at the Sierra Nevada College, before it is shipped to Michigan.

Pamela Newell, vice president of private client services for Northern Trust in Las Vegas, said the company chose the exhibit in honor of the 40th anniversary of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' tenure as first lady.

"There's still a lot of interest in her after all these years and all that she did," Newell said. "We wanted to share in that."

The country first became enthralled with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis from images of her on television and in fashion magazines, said Dr. Eugene Moehring, professor of history at UNLV.

"For the first time we had a president and his family on television," Moehring said.

At work, at play and even at dinner, the president and Kennedy were photographed and interviewed. The camera loved the telegenic couple. But the first lady was obviously America's sweetheart, Moehring said.

"People liked her more than they liked John (Kennedy)," he said. "She was almost royalty."

The fascination continues today, Moehring said, because of her strength when faced with tragedy.

The image of the first lady scrambling over the back of a limousine for a secret service agent when her husband was assassinated is embedded in the country's memory.

She maintained a strong public front after the assassination of her much-loved brother-in-law, Robert Kennedy, in 1968 and again in the spring of 1994 when faced with her own mortality.

As the country learned of her terminal condition, she was photographed in Central Park walking with her grandchildren, always smiling.

"She was a very strong model of strength for this country," Moehring said. "She still is."