Elliott Erwitt was a child prodigy with a camera, shooting remarkable photographs when he was only 15 years-old. In a career spanning more than 60 years, his body of work displays his versatility. As a photojournalist, he recorded key moments in history—Richard Nixon poking Nikita Khrushchev in the stomach during the “kitchen debate,” for example—while he entertained his playful side with candid shots of people and dogs. Erwitt himself selected 100 photographs for his current show at the International Center of Photography, Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best, and was on hand at a recent press preview to open the exhibit.
Walking through the exhibit is like taking a walk through history, recorded by “one of our greatest living photographers,” said Brian Wallis ICP’s chief curator. The amazing longevity of Erwitt’s work is best illustrated with two photographs involving the Presidency—a grief-striken Jacqueline Kennedy at her husband’s funeral, and Barack and Michelle Obama celebrating at the 2009 Inaugural Ball. Erwitt’s fanciful side emerges in the Obama photo: the new President and First Lady can be seen in the background with a sea of onlookers capturing the moment on digital cameras and cellphones. Wallis said that Erwitt, hired to shoot photos at the Obama event, “took that one and walked out.”
“Elliott Erwitt is one of the few photographers who can use humor and wit in his photographs,” said Wallis, who gave a gallery tour. Erwitt also had a talent for being “in the right place at the right time,” although he often created his own opportunities. In 1955, Erwitt was in Moscow covering an appliance fair when he heard about Nixon’s visit. Fluent in Russia (his parents were Jewish-Russian emigres), he was able to talk his way in and photographed the historic moment.
Erwitt was born in Paris in 1928 and spent his childhood in Italy. His family returned to France in 1938, then fled to the U.S. in 1939. He attended Hollywood High School and, fitting for that location, spent time processing photographs of movie stars. From 1949 to 1950, he studied filmmaking at the New School for Social Research in New York. (The exhibit includes three of his short films: Little Big Man, about the making of the film starring Dustin Hoffman; Beauty Knows No Pain, about the Kilgore College Rangerettes; and Red, White and Bluegrass, about musicians in North Carolina).
Returning to New York after military service in Europe, Erwitt met Edward Steichen and Robert Capa, who became strong influences in his career. In 1953, Capa invited him to join Magnum Photos, the photographic cooperative co-founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Erwitt may have been inspired by Steichen and Capa, but he soon developed his own style. Wallis noted that Erwitt made a distinction between his professional photographs, working for Life Magazine among others, and those photos he characterized as “snaps.” ICP’s exhibit includes Erwitt’s work as a photojournalist, portraits of Hollywood stars (don’t miss the cast of The Misfits), and serious and humorous examples of Erwitt’s work.
Erwitt’s humor plays out in photographs where two unrelated objects are set side by side. We see a crane posed next to a tall faucet. “Who would ever think of that?” Wallis asked. Another photograph is a takeoff on an earlier well-known Erwitt photo of a small dog and a woman’s feet. The more recent one, shot for an advertisement, shows the woman’s boots flanked by the legs of a tall dog on one side, and small dog on another.
One photograph shows a newly married couple staring at a second man whose enigmatic expression never fails to mesmerize. What is this man thinking? Is this marriage blessed? Doomed? “This is a photograph [Ewitt] gives to everyone who is either getting married or divorced,” Wallis said. “It serves both purposes.”
Erwitt did not formally address the press at the exhibit’s opening, although he graciously answered questions and autographed postcards and his photography books.
Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best
International Center for Photography
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212-857-0045
www.icp.org
