Elliot Erwitt the renowned Magnum Photographer is celebrated at a new exhbition at the Magnum Print Room in London, EC1 until 13 November 2010.
For much of the past 60 years he and his trusty Leica camera have criss-crossed the world documenting the touching, the crucial and the downright bizarre. Erwitt, now 82, witnessed and documented some of the most important moments of the 20th century. But it was often the photographs he took for his own personal pleasure – the snatched shots of people caught unawares – that have produced his most memorable work.
Resident in the USA, Elliot Erwitt was born in Paris in 1928. His family emigrated to America in 1939 after spending some years in Italy, firstly to New York and soon afterwards to Los Angeles. At high school he became interested in photography and worked part time as a printer and processor for a company providing publicity stills for the Hollywood film studios.
For much of the past 60 years he and his trusty Leica camera have criss-crossed the world documenting the touching, the crucial and the downright bizarre. Erwitt, now 82, witnessed and documented some of the most important moments of the 20th century. But it was often the photographs he took for his own personal pleasure – the snatched shots of people caught unawares – that have produced his most memorable work.
Resident in the USA, Elliot Erwitt was born in Paris in 1928. His family emigrated to America in 1939 after spending some years in Italy, firstly to New York and soon afterwards to Los Angeles. At high school he became interested in photography and worked part time as a printer and processor for a company providing publicity stills for the Hollywood film studios.
Completely unblinkered by fame, Erwitt one famously said, "The famous and the non-famous are the same, the advantage of taking pictures of the famous is that they get published."
