Elliott Erwitt (born Elio Romano Erwitz, July 26, 1928 – November 29, 2023) was a French-born American advertising and
documentary photographer known for his black and white candid photos of
ironic and
absurd situations within everyday settings. He was a member of
Magnum Photos from 1953.
Early life
Elliott Erwitt was born in Paris, France on July 26, 1928, to Jewish-Russian immigrant parents, Eugenia and Boris Erwitz, who soon moved to Italy.[1][2] In 1939, when he was ten, his family migrated to the United States. He studied photography and filmmaking at
Los Angeles City College[3] and the
New School for Social Research.[4] In 1951 he was drafted into the
Army, and discharged in 1953.[3]
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).[12]
Erwitt created an alter ego, the
beret-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.[12][13]
From the 1970s, he devoted much of his energy toward movies. His feature films, television commercials, and documentary films included Arthur Penn: the Director (1970), Beauty Knows No Pain (1971), Red, White and Bluegrass (1973) and the prize-winning Glassmakers of
Herat, Afghanistan (1977).[17] He was, as well, credited as camera operator for Gimme Shelter (1970), still photographer for Bob Dylan: No Direction Home (2005), and provided additional photography for Get Yer Ya Ya's Out (2009).[18]
A collection of Erwitt's films were screened in 2011 as part of the DocNYC Festival's special event "An Evening with Elliott Erwitt".[19][20]
Philanthropy
In October 2020, Erwitt partnered with the
digital collectible cards company
Phil Ropy and created a card to raise awareness for
Project HOPE's
COVID-19 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.[21] The proceeds from the sales of the card are redistributed to the organization.[22][23]
1972 – Observations on American ArchitectureASINB00A6V15X4
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.
ISBN0-8227-0070-0
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's legs and a little chihuahua.
USSR, Russia, Moscow,
Nikita Khrushchev and
Richard Nixon, 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.
Collections
Erwitt's work is held in the following permanent collections: