Elliott Erwitt, born in 1928, is a French-born American photographer who currently based in New York. He is an advertising and documentary photographer known for his candid and humorous black and white photos within everyday settings. In 1953 Elliott Erwitt was invited to join the Magnum Photos by Robert Capa, a great Hungarian-American war photographer who was admired by Elliott Erwitt’s Off-the-Cuff style photograph.
Elliott Erwitt focuses on the interaction of the subjects in his work. In his documentary for the HOME project, he mentioned that he likes to take pictures of the dogs because dogs are sympathetic creatures. They have human characteristics, and they don’t mind being photographed. He took many pictures of dogs without him realizing it until he was going through his contact sheets.
“You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what’s around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy.”-Elliott Erwitt
In “New York City (Mother and Baby), 1953.” one of Elliott Erwitt’s most iconic photographs, a photo of his first wife, Lucienne, their 6-day-old daughter Ellen, and a cat on the bed in their apartment. The window’s light highlights the mother’s cheek and baby’s bare bottom. A very simple but lovely family portrait.
In “‘California Kiss’, Santa Monica, CA, 1955.”, this is one of his photos in which the focus is on the reflection of a mirror. He has few photographs taken through the reflection of the mirror, but I think this is my favorite because of the sun’s light and the focus on the woman’s face. The woman is enjoying the moment, and this serves the purpose of Photography because it captured the moments like these.
In “‘Felix, Gladys, and Rover’ USA, New York City. New York, 1974.” you must look at it for a while to recognize what it is in the photo. There is at first the chihuahua and then a person with boots is in the middle. Finally, you notice, to the left, the enormous paws and legs like tree trunks. The photo is juxtaposing the sizes of each subject. The Chihuahua is so little that the person with the black boots and the dog on the left seems to the giants.
Work Cited
www.artnet.com/artists/elliott-erwitt/9
www.jacksonfineart.com/artists/305-elliott-erwitt/works/34664/
www.magnumphotos.com/shop/collections/elliott-erwitt/
www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/arts/design/elliott-erwitts-photographs-review.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDxzFRzA4_k