Elliot Erwitt

Artist Info

Elliot ErwittAmerican, born 1928

Elliott Erwitt - biography

Born on July 26, 1928, in Paris, Elliott Erwitt spent his childhood in Milan. His family moved back to Paris in 1938, and immigrated to New York the following year then moved to Los Angeles in 1941. His interest in photography began while he was a teenager living in Hollywood. While attending Hollywood High School, he began working in a commercial darkroom in 1944. In 1948 Erwitt moved to New York, there he met Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker. After spending the year 1949 traveling in France and Italy, Erwitt returned to New York and began working as a professional photographer. Drafted into the army in 1951, he continued to take photographs while stationed in Germany and France

Elliott Erwitt was invited to join Magnum Photos in 1953 by Robert Capa. A member of the prestigious agency ever since, Erwitt has served several terms as its president . One of the leading figures in the competitive field of magazine photography, Erwitts journalistic essays, illustrations, and advertisements have been featured in publications around the world for more than forty years.

While continuing his work as a still photographer, Erwitt began making films in 1970. His documentaries includes BEAUTY KNOWS NO PAIN (1971), RED WHITE AND BLUEGRASS (1973) made with the assistance of an American Film Institute grant, and the prize winning GLASS MAKERS OF HERAT (1977). Erwitt has produced seventeen comedy and satire specials for Home Box Office.

Erwitt has had one-man exhibitions in numerous museums and galleries around the world including New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, Paris' Museum of Modern Art, Zurich's Kunsthaus and Cologne's Photokina. Several editions of a large retrospective exhibition based on his book Personal Exposures have been touring the United States Europe and Japan since 1989. Other exhibitions in circulation around the world, include "To The Dogs", "On The Beach" and "Museum Watching" A major exhibition of Erwitt's Photographs dating from 1946 to 2001 opened at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid July 2002 quickly followed by one at the Spazio Oberdan in Milan Italy A new exhibition based on his book “Personal Best” is scheduled for spring 2007 in Tokyo and will travel afterward to various Asian and European venues.

Presently Elliott Erwitt is archiving his massive collection of works while keeping active in the Editorial and Advertising fields.

Based in New York City, Elliott Erwitt travels obsessively.

He likes children and dogs.

BOOKS:

- Eastern Europe (1965)

- Photographs and Anti-Photographs (1972)

- Observations on American Architecture (1972)

- Elliott Erwitt:The Private Experience (1974)

- Son of Bitch (1974)

- Recent Developments (1978)

- The Angel Tree (1984)

- Elliott Erwitt: Personal Exposures (1988)