Elliott Erwitt (b. 1928)


Elliott Erwitt's photographs of everyday life, beach scenes, celebrities, children and dogs have delighted viewers for decades. His superb sense of humor coupled with a deceptively casual photographic technique inspired the eminent photography critic, John Szarkowski, to remark that Erwitt is "one of the few photographers whose work is also identified by extraordinary wit." Erwitt's photographs of Hollywood legends like Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe, and political figures like Nikita Khrushchev and Richard Nixon are penetrating and insightful portraits.

Elliott Erwitt was born in Paris in 1928, the only child of displaced Russian parents who raised him in Milan. When he was 11 the family fled Europe on the last boat to leave free France, relocating in New York City and later California. Edward Steichen gave Erwitt his first commercial job in New York, and in the 1940s and 50s he established himself as a leading magazine photographer. His friendship with Robert Capa resulted in his joining the Magnum Agency in 1953 after he got out of the army.

Erwitt's photographs are housed internationally in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and the Kunsthaus in Zurich, among others. His photographic books include the comprehensive monograph, Personal Exposures/Elliott Erwitt (Norton, 1988); On the Beach (Norton, 1991), Elliott Erwitt: To the Dogs (Norton, 1992), and Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best (teNeues, 2010). Elliot Erwitt currently lives in New York City.

Liz Kay

Elliott Erwitt Exhibitions


 

Six Decades
October 13 - November 20, 2006