Arthur Leipzig (October 25, 1918 – December 5, 2014) was an American photographer who specialized in
street photography
Street photography (also sometimes called candid photography) is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Although there is a difference between street and ca ...
and was known for his photographs of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
.
Career
Leipzig was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
. After sustaining a serious injury to his right hand while working at a glass wholesaler, Leipzig joined the
Photo League
The Photo League was a cooperative of photographers in New York who banded together around a range of common social and creative causes. Founded in 1936, the League included some of the most noted American photographers of the mid-20th century amon ...
where he studied photography, took part in
Sid Grossman's Documentary Workshop, taught Advanced Technique classes for three years, and exhibited his work.
[Arthur Leipzig bio at The Jewish Museum](_blank)
/ref> From 1942 until 1946 he was a staff photographer for '' PM.'' He also studied under Paul Strand
Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century ...
before quitting the League to pursue a career as a freelance photojournalist.
In 1955 Leipzig's 1943 photograph ''King of the Hill'', depicting two little boys challenging each other on a sand heap, was selected by Edward Steichen
Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography.
Steichen was credited with tr ...
for the world-touring exhibition ''The Family of Man
''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Department of Photography. According to Steichen, the exhibitio ...
'' at the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...
in New York, that was seen by 9 million visitors.[Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery Presents ''On Assignment: Photographs by Arthur Leipzig'']
, UMBC News, 24 March 2005. Accessed 6 January 2011. In an effort to build his department and enhance the quality of photographic techniques, Leipzig recruited two well known photojournalists, Louis Stettner
Louis Stettner (November 7, 1922 – October 13, 2016) was an American photographer of the 20th century whose work included streetscapes, portraits and architectural images of New York and Paris. His work has been highly regarded because of its hum ...
and Ken Johnson (formerly a photo editor with Black Star Black Star or Blackstar may refer to:
Astronomy
*Black star (semiclassical gravity), a theoretical star built using semiclassical gravity as an alternative to a black hole
*Saturn, referred to as "Black Star" in ancient Judaeic belief
Literature
...
) to his staff. He also recruited the now, highly regarded female photographer, Christine Osinski.
Leipzig contributed his work to many publications including '' Fortune, Look, Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...
,'' and '' Natural History,'' while continuing to pursue his independent projects.Sea Cliff, New York
Sea Cliff is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the village population was 4,995.
Geography
According to the United States Census B ...
on December 5, 2014, aged 96.
Exhibitions
Selected solo exhibitions
* 2005 Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery, UMBC (Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
)Columbus Museum of Art
The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collect ...
(Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
, MS)[Arthur Leipzig: Exhibitions]
, Photography-now.com. Accessed 6 January 2011.
* 2007 "On Assignment: A Retrospective", Photographic Gallery (New York)
", Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, 2008. Accessed 6 January 2011.
* 2009 "Arthur Leipzig: Next Stop New York", Städtische Galerie Iserlohn (
Iserlohn
Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region.
Geography
Iserlohn is loc ...
)
Selected group exhibitions
* 2003 "Looking for Leisure", Staley + Wise Gallery (New York)
* 2005 "Winter Selections", Gendell Gallery (
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
)
* 2006 "Right of Passage: Youth Culture from the Mid-Century", Howard Greenberg Gallery (New York)
* 2007 "New York, NY", Fifty One Fine Art Photography (
Antwerp)
* 2009 "Sexy and the City - New York Photographs", Yossi Milo Gallery (New York)
* 2009 "Greenberg in Hamburg", Flo Peters Gallery (
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
)
* 2010 "Family of Man", Howard Greenberg Gallery (New York)
* 2011-201
"The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951" The Jewish Museum
The Jewish Museum is an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the former Felix M. Warburg House, along Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The first Jewish museum in the ...
(New York)
Permanent collections
*
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national reposito ...
(Paris),
Photographic Resource Center, Boston University, 2007. Accessed 7 January 2011.
*
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...
*
National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC)
Photographic books
* Sarah’s Daughters: A Celebration of Jewish Women, published by Women’s American ORT, 1988
* Growing up in New York; Boston: David R. Godine, 1995 ()
* On Assignment with Arthur Leipzig; Boston: Long Island University Press, 2005 (; )
* Arthur Leipzig: Next Stop New York; Munich / New York: Prestel, 2008
Awards
* 2004 Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art Photography
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leipzig, Arthur
American photojournalists
Photographers from New York (state)
Photography academics
People from Brooklyn
Street photographers
Long Island University faculty
1918 births
2014 deaths
Journalists from New York City