Elliott Erwitt (born Elio Romano Erwitz, July 26, 1928 – November 29, 2023) was a French-born American advertising and documentary photographer known for his black and white candid photos of

ironic Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what, on the surface, appears to be the case with what is actually or expected to be the case. Originally a rhetorical device and literary technique, in modernity, modern times irony has a ...

and absurd situations within everyday settings. He was a member of

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

from 1953.

Early life

Elliott Erwitt was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, on July 26, 1928, to Jewish-Russian immigrant parents, Eugenia and Boris Erwitz, who soon moved to Italy. In 1939, when he was 10 years old, his family migrated to the United States. He studied photography and filmmaking at

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus of the U ...

and the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

. In 1951, he was drafted into the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, and discharged in 1953.

Photography career

Erwitt served as a photographer's assistant in the 1950s in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

while stationed in France and Germany. After moving to New York in 1948, he met the photographers

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (; March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine ''Art et Décoration'' in 1911 were the first modern ...

Robert Capa Robert Capa (; born Endre Ernő Friedmann, ; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.Kershaw, Al ...

and Roy Stryker. Stryker, the former Director of the

Farm Security Administration The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937). The FSA is famous for its small but ...

's photography department, hired Erwitt to work on a photography project for the

Standard Oil Company Standard Oil Company was a corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founded in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. The ...

. He then began a freelance photographer career and produced work for ''

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'', '' Look'', ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' and ''

Holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

''. Erwitt was invited to become a member of

by the founder

in 1953. Again and again he has also documented socio-political events in his photographs, such as

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

's visit to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1959, the funeral service for

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

in 1963 or the inauguration of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

in 2009. One of the subjects Erwitt has frequently photographed in his career is dogs: they have been the subject of five of his books, ''Son of Bitch'' (1974), ''To the Dogs'' (1992), ''Dog Dogs'' (1998), ''Woof'' (2005), and ''Elliott Erwitt's Dogs'' (2008). Erwitt created an alter ego, the

beret A beret ( , ; ; ; ) is a soft, round, flat-crowned cap made of hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production of berets began in the 19th century in Southern France and the north of History of Spain (1808 ...

-wearing and pretentious "André S. Solidor" (which abbreviates to "ass"), "a contemporary artist, from one of the French colonies in the Caribbean, I forget which one" to "satirise the kooky excesses of contemporary photography." His work was published in a book, ''The Art of André S. Solidor'' (2009), and exhibited in 2011 at the Paul Smith Gallery in London. Erwitt was awarded the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2002 in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography, a

Honorary Fellowship in 1994 and the International Center for Photography's Infinity Award, Lifetime Achievement category, in 2011.

Filmmaking career

From the 1970s, he devoted much of his energy toward movies. His feature films, television commercials, and documentary films included ''Arthur Penn: the Director'' (1970), ''Beauty Knows No Pain'' (1971), ''Red, White and Bluegrass'' (1973) and the prize-winning ''

Glassmaker Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container pro ...

s of Herat, 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). A collection of Erwitt's films were screened in 2011 as part of the DocNYC Festival's special event "An Evening with Elliott Erwitt".

Philanthropy

In October 2020, Erwitt partnered with the digital collectible cards company Phil Ropy and created a card to raise awareness for

Project HOPE Project Hope (希望工程; ''Xiwang gongcheng'') is a Chinese public service project organized by the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) and the Communist Youth League (CYL) Central Committee. Started in 1989, it aims to bring schools i ...

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

response. The picture on the card shows a pair of medical rubber gloves as a reminder of how exposed health-care workers are and as an allusion to Project HOPE's logo. The proceeds from the sales of the card are redistributed to the organization.

Personal life

Erwitt was married to the German

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and writer Pia Frankenberg from 1998 to 2012.

Death

Erwitt died at his home in New York on November 29, 2023, while sleeping. He was 95.

Publications

* 1972 – ''Photographs and Anti-Photographs'' * 1972 – ''Observations on American Architecture'' * 1974 – ''Elliott Erwitt: The Private Experience'' (In the series "Masters of Contemporary Photography", text by Sean Callahan.) Los Angeles: Petersen. Sean Callahan describes and to some extent explains Erwitt's work. * 1974 – ''Son of Bitch'', photographs of dogs * 1978 – ''Recent Developments'' * 1988 – ''Personal Exposures'' * 1991 – ''On the Beach'' * 1992 – ''To The Dogs'' * 1993 – ''The Angel Tree'' * 1994 – ''Between the Sexes'' * 1997 – ''100+1 Elliott Erwitt'' * 1998 – ''Dog Dogs'' A collection of black and white photographs of dogs Erwitt was intrigued by throughout his world travels. * 1999 – ''Museum Watching'' * 2001 – ''Snaps''. London & New York: Phaidon. A large anthology (over 500 pages) of Erwitt's work. * 2002 – ''EE 60/60'' * 2002 – ''Elliott Erwitt's Handbook'' * 2005 – ''Woof'' * 2009 – ''Elliott Erwitt's Rome''. teNeues Publishing * 2009 – ''Elliott Erwitt's New York'' * 2010 – ''The Art of Andre S. Solidor aka Elliott Erwitt'' * 2010 – ''Elliott Erwitt Personal Best'' * 2011 – ''Elliott Erwitt, Sequentially Yours'' * 2012 – ''Elliott Erwitt XXL – Special and Collectors Edition'' * 2013 – ''Elliott Erwitt's Kolor'' Kempen, Germany: teNeues . * 2017 – ''Pittsburgh 1950'' London. Gost. With an essay by Vaughn Wallace. Photographs made in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

for Pittsburgh Photographic Library. * 2018 – ''Elliot Erwitt's Scotland''. teNeues Publishing Company * 2021 – ''Found, Not Lost''. London. Gost.

Exhibitions

*''Roma. Fotografie di Elliott Erwitt'', Museo di Roma, Rome, November 2009 – January 2010 *''Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best'',

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP) is a photography museum and school at 84 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. ICP's photographic collection, reading room, and archives are at Mana Contemporary in Jer ...

, New York, May–August 2011 *''Elliott Erwitt, Black & White and Kolor'', A Gallery for Fine Photography,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 2011 *''Elliott Erwitt: Home Around The World'',

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

The University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

at Austin, 2016–2017 *''Elliott Erwitt: Pittsburgh 1950'', International Center of Photography, New York, 2018 *''Elliott Erwitt: A retrospective'', Musée Maillol,

, 2023 *''Elliott Erwitt. Retrospective in Brussels'', Grand Place,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, 2024 *''Elliott Erwitt. Vintages'', Städtische Galerie

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

, 2024

Iconic photographs

* ''USA, New York City'', 1946 – Street-level shot comparing the size of a woman's feet to a chihuahua wearing a sweater. * ''USA,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, Segregated Water Fountains'', 1950. * ''USA, New York City'', 1953 – Image of Erwitt's wife looking at their baby on a bed lit by window light. * ''USA, NYC, Felix, Gladys, and Rover'', 1974 – Image of a woman's booted feet between that of a

Great Dane The Great Dane is a German list of dog breeds, breed of large mastiff-sighthound, which descends from hunting dogs of the Middle Ages used to hunt bears, wild boar, and deer. They were also used as guardian dogs of German nobility. It is one o ...

's legs and a little chihuahua. * ''USSR, Russia, Moscow,

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

and

'', 1959 – Powerful Cold War image in which Nixon is poking his index finger at Khrushchev's suit lapel. * ''USA, California'', 1955 – Image of a side-view mirror of an automobile parked facing a beach sunset, with a playful couple shown in the mirror as the focal point.

Collections

Erwitt's work is held in the following permanent collections: *

, Austin, TX *

, New York, NY * Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA * Met Museum, New York, NY * International Photography Hall of Fame, St.Louis, MO * Richard M. Ross Art Museum, Delaware, OH

References

External links

*
Elliott Erwitt collection
at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Portfolio
on Magnum Photos
Portfolio
on Robert Koch Gallery
Peter Conrad, "Elliott Erwitt's law of intended consequences", ''The Observer'', 20 February 2011

Elliott Erwitt
in ''Encyclopædia Britannica''

September 22, 2011 (Archive is not available online) * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20200219232346/https://pdnbgallery.com/SITE/elliott-erwitt/index.html PDNB Gallery, Dallas, Texas (archived)* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erwitt, Elliott 1928 births 2023 deaths American documentary film directors American people of Russian-Jewish descent American photojournalists American portrait photographers French emigrants to the United States French people of Russian-Jewish descent French photojournalists Los Angeles City College alumni Magnum photographers Photographers from Paris Street photographers The New School alumni