Portland, OR - World-renowned photographer Elliott Erwitt is best known for his black and white candid images of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings – the master of the “indecisive moment.” Personal Best: Photographs by Elliott Erwitt  will present 88 images picked by the artist as his “personal best.” The Portland Art Museum is the first venue to host this intimate retrospective of the acclaimed photographer’s work. On Exhibition until 29 April, 2007.

Born in Paris to Russian immigrant parents in 1928, Elliott Erwitt moved to New York in 1948. He studied film at the New School for Social Research, and from the outset his work focused on the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. A talent to capture the poignant ironies of life seemingly without effort distinguishes his work and has earned him the respect of other photographers, critics, and devoted fans, distinguishes his work. A member of Magnum Photo since the 1950s, Erwitt’s photography has been the subject of several books and many one-man exhibitions at such museums as the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Chicago Art Institute.

One of the finest image-makers of his generation, Elliott Erwitt describes himself as “a professional photographer by trade and an amateur photographer by vocation.” He sprung to fame through the kitchen debate photograph, taken in 1959, of Khrushchev and Nixon arguing in front of a Westinghouse refrigerator and he has since become one of the best loved observers of life. With unmistakable style and wit, his work captures the famous and the ordinary, the strange and the mundane, during more than half a century.

The seventh oldest museum in the United States, and the oldest on the West Coast, the Portland Art Museum is internationally recognized for its permanent collection and ambitious special exhibitions drawn from the Museum’s holdings and the world’s finest public and private collections. The Museum’s collection of 40,000 objects, displayed in 112,000 square feet of galleries, reflects the history of art from ancient times to today. The collection is distinguished for its holdings of arts of the native peoples of North America, English silver, and the graphic arts. An active collecting institution, dedicated to preserving great art for the enrichment of future generations, the Museum dedicates 90 percent of its galleries to its permanent collection. The Museum’s campus of landmark buildings, a cornerstone of Portland’s cultural district, includes the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, the Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts, the Schnitzer Center for Northwest Art, the Northwest Film Center, and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Center for Native American Art. With a membership of 22,000 households and serving more than 350,000 visitors annually, the Museum is a premier venue for education in the visual arts. For information on exhibitions and programs, visit www.portlandartmuseum.org