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David Lawrence Levinthal (born March 8, 1949) is an American
/ref> His politically charged series, ''Blackface'', consists of close-ups of black memorabilia, household objects infused with African-American stereotypes, and caused such a controversy that the Institute of Contemporary Art of Philadelphia was forced to cancel the exhibition while still in its early planning stages. On his use of toys, Levinthal said that "Toys are intriguing, and I want to see what I can do with them. On a deeper level, they represent one way that society socializes its young." Furthermore, Levinthal is aware of the power of toys: “Ever since I began working with toys, I have been intrigued with the idea that these seemingly benign objects could take on such incredible power and personality simply by the way they were photographed. I began to realize that by carefully selecting the depth of field and making it narrow, I could create a sense of movement and reality that was in fact not there.
'Untitled, from the series The Wild West. 1989' in MoMA collection
/ref> *
David Levinthal at Julie Nester Gallery
David Levinthal photographs
a
New-York Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levinthal, David 1949 births Living people Photographers from California Photographers from New York (state) MIT Sloan School of Management alumni Fine art photographers 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers
photographer
A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographe ...
who lives and works in New York City. He uses small toys and props with dramatic lighting to construct miniature environments for subject matters varying from war scenes to voyeurism to racial and political references to American pop culture
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* Pop (Gas al ...
.
Levinthal's major series include ''Hitler Moves East'' (1972–1975), ''Modern Romance'' (1983–1985), ''Wild West'' (1986–1989), ''Desire'' (1991–1992), ''Blackface'' (1995–1998), ''Barbie'' (1997–1998), ''Baseball'' (1998–2004), and ''History'' (2010–2018).
Biography
Levinthal was born in 1949 in San Francisco, California. He received aScientiæ Magister
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
in Management Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...
(1981), an MFA in Photography from Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
(1973), and a BA in Studio Art from Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
(1970). He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been ...
in 1995 and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
in 1990–1991.
He has had retrospective exhibitions of his work at the International Center of Photography
The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...
and the George Eastman Museum
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
.
Levinthal has produced a diverse oeuvre, utilizing primarily large-format Polaroid
Polaroid may refer to:
* Polaroid Corporation, an American company known for its instant film and cameras
* Polaroid camera, a brand of instant camera formerly produced by Polaroid Corporation
* Polaroid film, instant film, and photographs
* Polar ...
photography. His works touch upon many aspects of American culture, from Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration.
...
to baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
to X-rated dolls. Levinthal's major series include ''Hitler Moves East'' (1972–1975), ''Modern Romance'' (1983–1985), ''Wild West'' (1986–1989), ''Desire'' (1991–1992), ''Blackface'' (1995–1998), ''Barbie'' (1997–1998), ''Baseball'' (1998–2004), and ''History'' (2010–2018).Nice Boy Shares Toy/ref> His politically charged series, ''Blackface'', consists of close-ups of black memorabilia, household objects infused with African-American stereotypes, and caused such a controversy that the Institute of Contemporary Art of Philadelphia was forced to cancel the exhibition while still in its early planning stages. On his use of toys, Levinthal said that "Toys are intriguing, and I want to see what I can do with them. On a deeper level, they represent one way that society socializes its young." Furthermore, Levinthal is aware of the power of toys: “Ever since I began working with toys, I have been intrigued with the idea that these seemingly benign objects could take on such incredible power and personality simply by the way they were photographed. I began to realize that by carefully selecting the depth of field and making it narrow, I could create a sense of movement and reality that was in fact not there.
Books
* ''Hitler Moves East: A Graphic Chronicle, 1941–43'' (Sheed, Andrews & McMeel, 1977). Published withGarry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series ''Alpha House''.
...
.
* ''The Wild West'' (Smithsonian Institution, 1993). Text by Richard B. Woodward.
* ''Small Wonder: Worlds in a Box'' (Smithsonian Institution, 1995). Text by David Corey.
* ''Barbie Millicent Roberts'' (Pantheon, 1998). Text by Valerie Steele
Valerie Fahnestock Steele (born 1955) is an American fashion historian, curator, and director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Steele has written more than eight books on the history of fashion, and can be regarded as one of t ...
.
* ''Mein Kampf'' (Twin Palms, 1998). Texts by James Young, Roger Rosenblatt
Roger Rosenblatt (born 1940) is an American memoirist, essayist, and novelist. He was a long-time essayist for ''Time'' magazine and ''PBS NewsHour''. He is currently the Distinguished Professor of English and Writing at Stony Brook University.
C ...
, and Gary Trudeau.
* ''Blackface'' (Arena Editions, 1999). Text by Manthia Diawara
Manthia Diawara (born December 19, 1953) is a Malian writer, filmmaker, cultural theorist, scholar, and art historian. He holds the title of University Professor at New York University (NYU), where he is Director of the Institute of Afro-American ...
.
* ''XXX'' (Galerie Xippas, 2000). Text by Cecilia Andersson.
* ''David Levinthal: Modern Romance'' (St. Ann's, 2001). Text by Eugenia Parry.
* ''Netsuke'' (Galerie Xippas, 2004). Text by Eugenia Parry.
* ''David Levinthal: Work from 1975-1996'' (International Center of Photography, 1997). Texts by Charles Stainback and Richard Woodward.
* ''Baseball'' (Empire, 2006). Text by Jonathan Mahler.
* ''I.E.D: War in Afghanistan and Iraq'' (powerHouse, 2009). Text by Levinthal.
* ''Bad Barbie'' (JMc & GHB Editions, 2009). Texts by Richard Prince
Richard Prince (born 1949) is an American painter and photographer. In the mid-1970s, Prince made drawings and painterly collages that he has since disowned. His image, ''Untitled (Cowboy)'', a rephotographing of a photograph by Sam Abell and ...
and John McWhinnie.
* ''Hitler Moves East: A Graphic Chronicle, 1941-43: 35th Anniversary Edition'' (Andrews McMeel, 2013). Texts by Roger Rosenblatt and Garry Trudeau.
* ''War Games'' (Kehrer, 2013). Texts by Dave Hickey
David Hickey (December 5, 1938 – November 12, 2021) was an American art critic who wrote for many American publications including ''Rolling Stone'', ''ARTnews'', '' Art in America'', ''Artforum'', '' Harper's Magazine'', and '' Vanity Fair''. ...
, Paul Roth, and Kaitlin Booher.
* ''History'' (Kehrer, 2015). Texts by Lisa Hostetler and Dave Hickey.
* ''War, Myth, Desire: Box Set'' (Kehrer, 2018). Texts by Lisa Hostetler, Joanna Marsh, Dave Hickey, Garry Trudeau, Levinthal, and Roger Rosenblatt.
* ''War, Myth, Desire'' (Kehrer, 2018). Texts by Lisa Hostetler, Joanna Marsh, Dave Hickey.
Collections
Levinthal's work is held in the following permanent public collections: *Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
*Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
*Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.
Overview
The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...
in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
*Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
*Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
*Minneapolis Institute of Art
The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...
*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 ...
/ref> *
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...
in 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 ...
.
References
External links
*David Levinthal at Julie Nester Gallery
David Levinthal photographs
a
New-York Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levinthal, David 1949 births Living people Photographers from California Photographers from New York (state) MIT Sloan School of Management alumni Fine art photographers 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers