Arthur Leipzig (October 25, 1918 – December 5, 2014) was an American photographer who specialized in

street photography Street photography (also sometimes called candid photography) is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Although there is a difference between street and ca ...

and was known for his photographs of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Career

Leipzig was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. After sustaining a serious injury to his right hand while working at a glass wholesaler, Leipzig joined the

Photo League The Photo League was a cooperative of photographers in New York who banded together around a range of common social and creative causes. Founded in 1936, the League included some of the most noted American photographers of the mid-20th century amon ...

where he studied photography, took part in Sid Grossman's Documentary Workshop, taught Advanced Technique classes for three years, and exhibited his work.Arthur Leipzig bio at The Jewish Museum
/ref> From 1942 until 1946 he was a staff photographer for '' PM.'' He also studied under

Paul Strand Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. ...

before quitting the League to pursue a career as a freelance photojournalist. In 1955 Leipzig's 1943 photograph ''King of the Hill'', depicting two little boys challenging each other on a sand heap, was selected by

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

for the world-touring exhibition ''

The Family of Man ''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photography, photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Department of Photography. According to Steichen, ...

'' at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York, that was seen by 9 million visitors. Leipzig was a professor of art and the director of photography at the CW Post Campus of Long Island University from 1968–1991.Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery Presents ''On Assignment: Photographs by Arthur Leipzig''
, UMBC News, 24 March 2005. Accessed 6 January 2011. In an effort to build his department and enhance the quality of photographic techniques, Leipzig recruited two well known photojournalists,

Louis Stettner Louis Stettner (November 7, 1922 – October 13, 2016) was an American photographer of the 20th century whose work included streetscapes, portraits and architectural images of New York and Paris. His work has been highly regarded because of its hum ...

and Ken Johnson (formerly a photo editor with Black Star) to his staff. He also recruited the now, highly regarded female photographer, Christine Osinski. Leipzig contributed his work to many publications including ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

, Look,

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

,'' and '' Natural History,'' while continuing to pursue his independent projects. In 2004, he won the Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art Photography. Leipzig died in

Sea Cliff, New York Sea Cliff is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the village population was 4,995. Geography According to the United States Census Bu ...

on December 5, 2014, aged 96.

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

* 2005 Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery,

UMBC The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

(

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

) * 2005–2006 "On Assignment",

Columbus Museum of Art The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collect ...

(

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, MS)Arthur Leipzig: Exhibitions
, Photography-now.com. Accessed 6 January 2011. * 2007 "On Assignment: A Retrospective", Photographic Gallery (New York) * 2008 "Arthur Leipzig: Next Stop New York",

Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum The Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum is an art museum in Aachen, Germany. Founded in 1877, its collection includes works by Aelbrecht Bouts, Joos van Cleve, Anthony van Dyck, Otto Dix and Max Beckmann. History The ' (Aachen museum association) was created ...

(

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

).Arthur Leipzig: Next Stop New York - Fotografien
", Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, 2008. Accessed 6 January 2011. * 2009 "Arthur Leipzig: Next Stop New York", Städtische Galerie Iserlohn (

Iserlohn Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region. Geography Iserlohn is locat ...

)

Selected group exhibitions

* 2003 "Looking for Leisure", Staley + Wise Gallery (New York) * 2005 "Winter Selections", Gendell Gallery (

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

) * 2006 "Right of Passage: Youth Culture from the Mid-Century", Howard Greenberg Gallery (New York) * 2007 "New York, NY", Fifty One Fine Art Photography (

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

) * 2009 "Sexy and the City - New York Photographs", Yossi Milo Gallery (New York) * 2009 "Greenberg in Hamburg", Flo Peters Gallery (

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

) * 2010 "Family of Man", Howard Greenberg Gallery (New York) * 2011-201
"The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951"

The Jewish Museum The Jewish Museum is an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the former Felix M. Warburg House, along Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The first Jewish museum in the Unit ...

(New York)

Permanent collections

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

(Paris), Photographic Resource Center, Boston University, 2007. Accessed 7 January 2011. *

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

* National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC)

Photographic books

* Sarah’s Daughters: A Celebration of Jewish Women, published by Women’s American ORT, 1988 * Growing up in New York; Boston: David R. Godine, 1995 () * On Assignment with Arthur Leipzig; Boston: Long Island University Press, 2005 (; ) * Arthur Leipzig: Next Stop New York; Munich / New York: Prestel, 2008

Awards

* 2004 Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art Photography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leipzig, Arthur American photojournalists Photographers from New York (state) Photography academics People from Brooklyn Street photographers Long Island University faculty 1918 births 2014 deaths Journalists from New York City