COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
mediaCollectionId
AMICO~1~1
The AMICA Library
Collection
true
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1990.134
amicoid
CMA_.1990.134
AMICA ID
false
AMICA Library Year:
1998
aly
1998
AMICA Library Year
false
Object Type:
Photographs
oty
Photographs
Object Type
false
Creator Name:
Levitt, Helen
crn
Levitt, Helen
Creator Name
false
Creator Nationality:
North American; American
crc
North American; American
Creator Nationality
false
Creator Role:
artist
crr
artist
Creator Role
false
Creator Dates/Places:
1918
cdt
1918
Creator Dates/Places
false
Biography:
Helen Levitt American, 1918-Born in New York City, Helen Levitt is a documentary photographer known for her images of urban street life. She began her career in the mid-1930s, inspired by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans. In 1936 she purchased a 35mm Leica (the same type of camera used by Cartier-Bresson) and by the following year was photographing people on the streets of New York, particularly children in the city's poor and working-class neighborhoods. From 1938-41 Levitt worked withEvans on a series made in New York's subways, and in July 1939 her first published image appeared in Fortune magazine. By the early 1940s her photographs were also being reproduced in U.S. Camera, PM's Weekly, Minicam, and Harper's Bazaar. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, featured her images of children in a one-person show in 1943 and three years later awarded her a photography fellowship. In the 1940s Levitt also became involved with film, assisting director Luis Buñuel in editing documentary footageand working as an assistant editor in the Film Division of the Office of War Information (1944-45). Encouraged by writer James Agee, Levitt began directing films in the late 1940s. She worked with Janice Loeb and Sidney Meyers in 1949 on The Quiet One, afeature-length documentary about a home for delinquent boys, and in 1951 made In the Street with Agee and Loeb. During the 1950s she concentrated primarily on film, producing very little still photography. In 1959-60 Levitt was awarded fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to explore color photography and began shooting 35mm color slides of street scenes and children. Her color slides were included in a three-person exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1963, and in 1974 hercolor images were featured in a solo exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Levitt's work was included in numerous one-person exhibitions throughout the 1970s-80s, and in 1992 was the subject of a major retrospective organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Levitt lives in New York. M.M.
crb
Helen Levitt American, 1918-Born in New York City, Helen Levitt is a documentary photographer known for her images of urban street life. She began her career in the mid-1930s, inspired by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans. In 1936 she purchased a 35mm Leica (the same type of camera used by Cartier-Bresson) and by the following year was photographing people on the streets of New York, particularly children in the city's poor and working-class neighborhoods. From 1938-41 Levitt worked withEvans on a series made in New York's subways, and in July 1939 her first published image appeared in Fortune magazine. By the early 1940s her photographs were also being reproduced in U.S. Camera, PM's Weekly, Minicam, and Harper's Bazaar. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, featured her images of children in a one-person show in 1943 and three years later awarded her a photography fellowship. In the 1940s Levitt also became involved with film, assisting director Luis Buñuel in editing documentary footageand working as an assistant editor in the Film Division of the Office of War Information (1944-45). Encouraged by writer James Agee, Levitt began directing films in the late 1940s. She worked with Janice Loeb and Sidney Meyers in 1949 on The Quiet One, afeature-length documentary about a home for delinquent boys, and in 1951 made In the Street with Agee and Loeb. During the 1950s she concentrated primarily on film, producing very little still photography. In 1959-60 Levitt was awarded fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to explore color photography and began shooting 35mm color slides of street scenes and children. Her color slides were included in a three-person exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1963, and in 1974 hercolor images were featured in a solo exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Levitt's work was included in numerous one-person exhibitions throughout the 1970s-80s, and in 1992 was the subject of a major retrospective organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Levitt lives in New York. M.M.
Biography
false
Gender:
F
cgn
F
Gender
false
Creator Birth Place:
New York, NY
cbp
New York, NY
Creator Birth Place
false
Creator Name-CRT:
Helen Levitt
crt
Helen Levitt
Creator Name-CRT
false
Title:
New York
otn
New York
Title
false
Title Type:
Primary
ott
Primary
Title Type
false
View:
Full View
rid
Full View
View
false
Creation Date:
c. 1942
oct
c. 1942
Creation Date
false
Creation Start Date:
1940
ocs
1940
Creation Start Date
false
Creation End Date:
1944
oce
1944
Creation End Date
false
Materials and Techniques:
gelatin silver print
omd
gelatin silver print
Materials and Techniques
false
Classification Term:
Photography
clt
Photography
Classification Term
false
Dimensions:
Image: 11.3cm x 17.3cm
met
Image: 11.3cm x 17.3cm
Dimensions
false
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
oon
The Cleveland Museum of Art
AMICA Contributor
false
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
oop
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Owner Location
false
ID Number:
1990.134
ooa
1990.134
ID Number
false
Credit Line:
John L. Severance Fund
ooc
John L. Severance Fund
Credit Line
false
Inscriptions:
Written in pencil on verso: "Helen Levitt [signed]/*"
oin
Written in pencil on verso: "Helen Levitt [signed]/*"
Inscriptions
false
Copyright:
Copyright ? 1942 Helen Levitt
ors
Copyright ? 1942 Helen Levitt
Copyright
false
Rights:
orl
<a href="http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html"target="_new">http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html</a>
Rights
false
Context:
Helen Levitt's long and distinguished career reflects her ability to create lyrical compositions from the commonplace events of New York street life. Her black-and-white work from the 1940s depicts life in working-class and slum neighborhoods, revealingmoments of joy, sadness, reverie, tenderness, work, and play. Her casual, non-intrusive style is evident in this example. With remarkable intuition and technical skill, she created an evocative image that is neither idealizing nor cynical, but simply reveals the love between mother and child.
cxd
Helen Levitt's long and distinguished career reflects her ability to create lyrical compositions from the commonplace events of New York street life. Her black-and-white work from the 1940s depicts life in working-class and slum neighborhoods, revealingmoments of joy, sadness, reverie, tenderness, work, and play. Her casual, non-intrusive style is evident in this example. With remarkable intuition and technical skill, she created an evocative image that is neither idealizing nor cynical, but simply reveals the love between mother and child.
Context
false
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1990.134.tif
ril
CMA_.1990.134.tif
Related Image Identifier Link
false