Elliott Erwitt (born Elio Romano Erwitt, July 26, 1928) is a French-born American advertising and

documentary photographer Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional pho ...

known for his black and white candid photos of

ironic Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

and absurd situations within everyday settings. He has been a member of

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, Maria Eisn ...

since 1953.

Early life

Erwitt was born in Paris, France, to Jewish-Russian immigrant parents, who soon moved to Italy. In 1939, when he was ten, his family migrated to the United States. He studied photography and filmmaking at

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campu ...

and the New School for Social Research, finishing his education in 1950. In 1951 he was drafted into the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, and discharged in 1953.

Photography career

Elliott Erwitt in the Westlicht Museum of Photography, Vienna

Erwitt served as a photographer's assistant in the 1950s in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

while stationed in France and Germany. He was influenced by meeting the famous photographers

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 ...

Robert Capa Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some t ...

and Roy Stryker. Stryker, the former Director of the Farm Security Administration's photography department, hired Erwitt to work on a photography project for the Standard Oil Company. He then began a

freelance photographer A photographer (the 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 photographers As in other ...

career and produced work for '' Collier's'', '' Look'', ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' and '' Holiday''. Erwitt was invited to become a member of

by the founder

. One of the subjects Erwitt has frequently photographed in his career is dogs: they have been the subject of five of his books, ''Son of Bitch'' (1974), ''To the Dogs'' (1992), ''Dog Dogs'' (1998), ''Woof'' (2005), and ''Elliott Erwitt's Dogs'' (2008). Erwitt has created an alter ego, the

beret A beret ( or ; ; eu, txapela, ) is a soft, round, flat-crowned cap, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production of berets began in 19th century France and Spain, and the beret rema ...

-wearing and pretentious "André S. Solidor" (which abbreviates to "ass") — "a contemporary artist, from one of the French colonies in the Caribbean, I forget which one" — to "satirise the kooky excesses of contemporary photography." His work was published in a book, ''The Art of André S. Solidor'' (2009), and exhibited in 2011 at the Paul Smith Gallery in London. Erwitt was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and an honorary fellowship (HonFRPS) in 2002 in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography. and the International Center for Photography's Infinity Award, Lifetime Achievement category, in 2011.

Filmmaking career

Since the 1970s, he has devoted much of his energy toward movies. His feature films, television commercials, and documentary films include ''Arthur Penn: the Director'' (1970), ''Beauty Knows No Pain'' (1971), ''Red, White and Bluegrass'' (1973) and the prize-winning ''

Glassmaker Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

s of Herat, Afghanistan'' (1977). He was, as well, credited as camera operator for ''Gimme Shelter'' (1970), still photographer for '' Bob Dylan: No Direction Home'' (2005), and provided addition photography for ''Get Yer Ya Ya's Out'' (2009). A collection of Erwitt's films were screened in 2011 as part of the DocNYC Festival's special event "An Evening with Elliott Erwitt".

Exhibitions

*''Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best'',

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. ...

, New York, 2011 *''Elliott Erwitt, Black & White and Kolor'', A Gallery for Fine Photography,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, 2011 *''Elliott Erwitt: Home Around The World'',

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

The University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

at Austin, 2016–2017 *''Elliott Erwitt: Pittsburgh 1950'', International Center of Photography, New York, 2018

Iconic photographs

* ''USA, New York City'', 1946 – Street-level shot comparing the size of a woman's feet to a chihuahua wearing a sweater. * ''USA,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, Segregated Water Fountains'', 1950. * ''USA, New York City'', 1953 – Image of Erwitt's wife looking at their baby on a bed lit by window light. * ''USA, NYC, Felix, Gladys, and Rover'', 1974 – Image of a woman's booted feet between that of a

Great Dane The Great Dane is a large sized dog breed originating from Germany. The Great Dane descends from hunting dogs from the Middle Ages used to hunt wild boar and deer, and as guardians of German nobility. It is one of the largest breeds in the worl ...

's legs and a little chihuahua. * ''USSR, Russia, Moscow,

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

and

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

'', 1959 – Powerful Cold War image in which Nixon is poking his index finger at Khrushchev's suit lapel. * ''USA, California'', 1955 – Image of a side-view mirror of an automobile parked facing a beach sunset, with a playful couple shown in the mirror as the focal point.

Collection

, Austin, TX *

, New York, NY * Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA * Met Museum, New York, NY *

International Photography Hall of Fame The International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Louis, Missouri honors those who have made great contributions to the field of photography. History In 1977 the first Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Santa Barbara, California and a ...

, St.Louis, MO

Books

* 1972 – ''Photographs and Anti-Photographs'' * 1972 – ''Observations on American Architecture'' * 1974 – ''Elliott Erwitt: The Private Experience'' (In the series "Masters of Contemporary Photography", text by Sean Callahan.) Los Angeles: Petersen. Sean Callahan describes and to some extent explains Erwitt's work. * 1974 – ''Son of Bitch'', photographs of dogs * 1978 – ''Recent Developments'' * 1988 – ''Personal Exposures'' * 1991 – ''On the Beach'' * 1992 – ''To The Dogs'' * 1993 – ''The Angel Tree'' * 1994 – ''Between the Sexes'' * 1997 – ''100+1 Elliott Erwitt'' * 1998 – ''Dog Dogs'' A collection of black and white photographs of dogs Erwitt was intrigued by throughout his world travels. * 1999 – ''Museum Watching'' * 2001 – ''Snaps''. London & New York: Phaidon. A large anthology (over 500 pages) of Erwitt's work. * 2002 – ''EE 60/60'' * 2002 – ''Elliott Erwitt's Handbook'' * 2005 – ''Woof'' * 2009 – ''Elliott Erwitt's Rome''. teNeues Publishing * 2009 – ''Elliott Erwitt's New York'' * 2010 – ''The Art of Andre S. Solidor aka Elliott Erwitt'' * 2010 – ''Elliott Erwitt Personal Best'' * 2011 – ''Elliott Erwitt, Sequentially Yours'' * 2012 – ''Elliott Erwitt XXL – Special and Collectors Edition'' * 2013 – ''Elliott Erwitt's Kolor'' Kempen, Germany: teNeues . * 2017 – ''Pittsburgh 1950'' London. Gost. With an essay by Vaughn Wallace. Photographs made in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

for

Pittsburgh Photographic Library The Pittsburgh Photographic Library (PPL) is a photography repository held by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh of over 50,000 prints and negatives relating to history of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is also the name of the core coll ...

. * 2018 – ''Elliot Erwitt's Scotland''. teNeues Publishing Company * 2021 – ''Found, Not Lost''. London. Gost.

Philanthropy

In October 2020, Erwitt partnered with the digital collectible cards company Phil Ropy and created a card to raise awareness for

Project HOPE Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is an international global health and humanitarian aid non-governmental organization founded in the United States in 1958. Project HOPE works in five main areas: disasters and health cri ...

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

response. The picture on the card shows a pair of medical rubber gloves as a reminder of how exposed health care workers are and as an allusion to Project HOPE's logo. The proceeds from the sales of the card are redistributed to the organization.

References

External links

* (''requires Flash'')
Magnum Photos portfolio

Robert Koch Gallery portfolio

* ttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/feb/20/elliott-erwitt-intended-sequences Peter Conrad, "Elliott Erwitt's law of intended consequences", ''The Observer'', 20 February 2011
''New York Times'' article about the exhibition May to August at the ICP, New York City

''Encyclopædia Britannica''

* ttps://pdnbgallery.com/SITE/elliott-erwitt/index.html PDNB Gallery, Dallas, Texas {{DEFAULTSORT:Erwitt, Elliott 1928 births Living people Magnum photographers American portrait photographers French emigrants to the United States French people of Russian-Jewish descent The New School alumni Los Angeles City College alumni American people of French-Jewish descent American photojournalists French photojournalists Photography in Italy