Helen Levitt
photographer
Helen Levitt (1913–2009) was an American street photographer and filmmaker renowned for her poetic and spontaneous documentation of everyday life in New York City. Born in Brooklyn to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, she began her career in a portrait studio in the Bronx at age 18. Inspired by the work of Henri-Cartier Bresson, she purchased a 35-mm Leica camera and began capturing the gritty reality and beauty of urban life, particularly focusing on children in underprivileged neighborhoods like Spanish Harlem and the Lower East Side. Her work is characterized by its humanity and keen sense of composition. In addition to her photography, Levitt was an accomplished filmmaker, collaborating on documentary projects such as 'The Quiet One' and 'In the Street'. She received Guggenheim Fellowships in 1959 and 1960 to investigate color photography techniques.[1,2,3]
- street photography
- urban life
- children at play
- New York City
- documentary film
Books
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A Way of Seeing€116.00 -
Crosstown€67.00
Works by Helen Levitt
- 1965 A Way of Seeing: Photographs of New York Compiled in the late 1940s; published in 1965.
- 1987 In the Street: Chalk Drawings and Messages, New York City, 1938–1948
- 1997 Mexico City
- 2001 Crosstown
- 2005 Slide Show
- 2008 Helen Levitt
Exhibitions
- 1943 Photographs of Children
Awards
- 1959 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1960 Guggenheim Fellowship