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Elliott Erwitt

Elliott Erwitt11 posts
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1 Sep, 1939

Leaves Italy to escape Fascism

Moves Country0 Comments

Erwitt’s family moves to the United States to get away both from fascist regime and Fascist racial laws that exclude all Jews from attending schools. His family leaves just two days before the outbreak of World War II.

Actually we left on September 1 and war was declared on the third. It was the last boat to leave.

1943

Hollywood high school

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Erwitt attends Hollywood High School and works in a commercial darkroom processing signed photographs of movie stars.

1950

A black boy pointing a gun at his head

Photoshoot0 Comments

Erwitt takes what he says is his favorite photo, of a black boy pointing a gun at his head in Pittsburgh.

The picture that I keep coming back to more and more, which has a lot to do with me and my attitude and my point of view, is of the little black boy with the gun to his head. It’s a picture that for me has the elements … that speak of me as a photographer. The photograph is funny and tragic at the same time.

1953

Erwitt, Capa meet

Meeting0 Comments

Erwitt meets Capa, one of the founders of the select Magnum photographic agency, in New York. Capa invites him to join the Magnum photos. He works with Magnum for over forty years , mixing commercial jobs with personal photography.

1968

Erwitt, Dann marry

Marriage0 Comments

Erwitt marries his second wife, Dann, a Swedish-Irish American woman that at first he meets around 1963. He meets her again in 1968, while working on various photo shoots in nudist colonies in Ireland, and they marry. Dann:

He sees himself as one of those rag-tag mongrels, a little sad- eyed dog on his way to a great journey, or just stopping off for a few moments from one.

1977

Erwitt, Ringo marry

Marriage0 Comments

Erwitt marries Ringo, a Texan, who he first met in 1975. A photograph of Erwitt with his wife Susan taken in the first year of their marriage shows her covered from head to toe in dark clothes, with a baby in her arms.

1995

Erwitt, Frankenberg marry

Marriage0 Comments

Erwitt marries his fourth wife, Frankenberg, an actress, film producer and a woman of considerable culture and social prestige. Frankenberg:

He is a tough cookie to deal with if people aren’t used to him. Now that I know him I feel for everyone who is a little intimidated because they don’t know how to handle him. It is like when people think that comedians are funny people and they are not.

4 Feb, 2015

Sony ‘Outstanding Contribution to Photography’ award

Art ExhibitionOther Awards0 Comments

The World Photography Organisation announces Erwitt will receive the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards Outstanding Contribution to Photography. As part of the award, an exhibition of his most famous imagery, alongside his lesser known works and spanning his 60 year career, is presented at Somerset House, London. WPO spokesperson:

Elliott is entirely unique and independent in every way. Photography is part of his very fabric, but he also clearly separates what he calls his ‘hobby’, from his client work. To most, there will be no noticeable difference between the two. That is what makes him a master.

12 Sep, 2015

PDNB Gallery exhibition

Art Exhibition0 Comments

PDNB Gallery, Dallas, opens an exhibition of Erwitt’s work, featuring a selection of photographs showing dogs, one of Erwitt’s favorites topics. Erwitt, including the one taken in New York City in 1974, which is  one of the most popular of his dog images.

I can talk to them, and they talk back to me […] If a dog doesn’t answer me, it’s because he’s hard of hearing.