The International Center of Photography (ICP) Celebrates the Career of Elliott Erwitt

Written by Hank Gardner Wednesday, 10 August 2011 20:46

New York.- "Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best" at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York runs from May 20th to August 28th 2011. This major retrospective showcases the career of photographer and filmmaker Elliott Erwitt, the recipient of this year's ICP Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement. Distinguished as both a documentary and commercial photographer, Erwitt has made some of the most memorable photographs of the twentieth century, including portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, and Che Guevara, as well as astonishing scenes of everyday life, filled with poetry, wit, and special sense of humor. Born in Paris in 1928 to Russian émigrés, On view are over 100 of his favorite images from the past sixty years, as well as some previously unseen and unpublished prints from his early work.

Elliott Erwitt was born on July 26, 1928, in Paris, but spent his childhood in Milan. His family returned to Paris in 1938, before immigrating to the USA the following year. His interest in photography began while he was a teenager living in Hollywood, and he began working in a commercial darkroom while attending Hollywood High School. In 1948 Erwitt moved to New York and sought out Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker, who would become his mentors. After spending 1949 traveling in France and Italy, Erwitt returned to New York and began working as a professional photographer. He continued taking pictures and served as a photographer's assistant whilst in the US Army stationed in France and Germany. Elliott Erwitt was invited to join Magnum Photos in 1953 by Robert Capa, and has remained with the agency ever since (and served as its president). One of the leading figures in the field of magazine photography, Erwitts journalistic essays, illustrations, and advertisements have been featured in publications around the world for more than forty years. Erwitt began making films in 1970.  His documentaries includes "Beauty Knows no Pain" (1971), "Red White and Bluegrass" (1973) and the prize winning "Glass Makers of Herast (Afghanistan) (1977). 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). Erwitt has had solo exhibitions of his work 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. The exhibition based on his book “Personal Best” is opened in Tokyo in Spring 2007 and has been travelling the world since then. Visit the artist's website at ... http://www.elliotterwitt.com



Interpreting the power and evolution of photography, the International Center of Photography is a museum and school dedicated to the understanding and appreciation of photography. ICP creates programs of the highest quality to advance knowledge of the medium. These include exhibitions, collections, and education for the general public, members, students, and professionals in the field of photography. Photography occupies a vital and central place in contemporary culture; it reflects and influences social change, provides an historical record, is essential to visual communication and education, opens new opportunities for personal and aesthetic expression, has transformed popular culture, has revolutionized scientific research, and continually evolves to incorporate new technologies. Since its founding in 1974 by Cornell Capa (1918–2008) in the historic Willard Straight House, ICP has presented over 500 exhibitions, bringing the work of more than 3,000 photographers and other artists to the public in one-person and group exhibitions and provided thousands of classes and workshops that have enriched tens of thousands of students. ICP was founded as an institution to keep the legacy of "Concerned Photography" alive and has seen enormous growth in its exhibitions, collections, education programs, and staff. All kinds of photography were included in this expansion. In 1985, a satellite facility, ICP Midtown, was created to help accommodate this growth. The expanded galleries, at 1133 Avenue of the Americas and 43rd Street, were designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects for the display of photography and new media with state-of-the-art lighting, climate control systems, and digital presentation systems. The reopening of the 17,000-square-foot site in the fall of 2000 provided in one location the same gallery space as the two previous sites combined and became the headquarters of ICP's public exhibitions programs. The new ICP also provided an expanded store and café. The expansion of the School of the International Center of Photography in the fall of 2001 created an exciting Midtown campus diagonally across from the Museum in the Grace Building at 1114 Avenue of the Americas. Designed by the architecture firm Gensler, the new, 27,000-square-foot school facility doubled ICP's teaching space and allowed ICP to expand both its programming and community outreach. Visit the ICP's website at ... http://www.icp.org

Source: email from ICP (invitation to a preview showing - reply to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), ICP website, artists website, wikipedia and Sudest57 gallery websites for artist biography

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