2023-12-01 09:46:12
A few hours after the death of Henry Kissinger, whom he had portrayed in 1958, photographer Elliott Erwitt, dean of the Magnum agency, died at the age of 95. Her atypical journey, which spans nearly 70 years of career, makes her an endearing personality but also one of the most recognized in the photographic art.
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of beloved Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt.
He died peacefully at home surrounded by family.
PHOTO: New York, USA. 1999.
© Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos pic.twitter.com/Kz83cHSZce— Magnum Photos (@MagnumPhotos) November 30, 2023
For him, it all starts very early. Fleeing Europe and the war with his family of Russian origin, he arrived in the United States in 1939, when he was 11 years old. Studying photography and cinema at Los Angeles City College, he began his apprenticeship by working as a shooter in a laboratory specializing in celebrity portraits.
Pillar of the Magnum agency
After the war, events jostled. Hired as a photographer’s assistant in the American army, he returned to Europe and photographed the aftermath of the conflict in France and Germany. Back in New York, Erwitt met the photographers Edward Steichen, then director of the photographic department at Moma, and especially Robert Capa who sponsored him in 1953 to join the Magnum agency.
More street photographer than war reporter, he travels the world and navigates, in his own way, the turbulence of history by taking a personal look at the great historical figures. The image of Richard Nixon’s inquisitive finger on Khrushchev’s chest during their meeting in Moscow in 1959 already sets the tone of his images, offbeat and far from official views. A style that leaves a lasting impression on memories.
Elliott Erwitt’s all-terrain view falls, with the same acuity, on ordinary people and political leaders like Fidel Castro or John Fitzgerald Kennedy, movie stars – Marilyn Monroe immortalized with sensuality and tenderness -, or even artists and writers. Jack Kerouac’s series of portraits further testifies to his talent and his ability to capture the depth of a look or the evanescent grace of a moment.
Withdrawn from the world
Moving away from the turbulence of history that he extensively documented in the 1950s, he then chose to distance himself from world news to devote himself, with humor, to the humanity of everyday life. He then displays an amused predilection for dogs, which he loved so much, and the foibles of their owners.
A contact sheet by Elliott Erwitt on fashion, shoes and dogs, during an exhibition dedicated to the photographer, in October 2023 at La Sucrière in Lyon. / Richard MOUILLAUD/LE PROGRES/MAXPPP
The intimate always accompanies him, in the softness of black and white. There we find pell-mell the face of a woman, asleep in the sheets, the amused look of a street child or the reflection of a loving kiss in the rearview mirror of a sedan by the ocean.
This funny photographer, who took humor seriously, also took his talent well beyond that. He also devoted himself to fashion photography and video which led him to direct several documentaries and, more curiously, comedy programs for HBO in the 1980s.
If his multiple commitments still bear witness to his incessant activity, he left behind 600,000 negatives, of which 6,000 are kept at the Magnum agency. Elliott Erwitt leaves behind, forever, some of the most beautiful and iconic black and white photographs of the second half of the 20th century.
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