April 04, 2009

helen levitt . 1913-2009

i wanted to mention that one of my favourite photographers, helen levitt passed away on march 29th at the age of 95.


known for her street photography of new york, helen levitt was lauded and supported by such luminaries as walker evans, edward steichen, luis buñuel, james agee, john szarkowski and henri cartier-bresson. she has been called new york's visual poet laureate and 'the most celebrated and least known photographer of her time'.

her photographs have a wonderful life and honesty to them, and from everything i've heard of her very private profile, they seem to come from a simple and easy place, outside of the world of art and photography and closer to our common joy of seeing. the world needs more helen levitts.


nyt obituary
npr interview
fraenkel gallery sf

5 comments:

  1. She had a good, long life, and her photgraphs will keep it going a little bit longer. We are all in search of the memories we want to leave behind: the closest we can get to immortality.

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  2. This is very sad news, and a nice post.

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  3. Thanks for showing some of her work here, Nick. I hadn't known of her and now am going to learn more about this pretty remarkable photographer.

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  4. Daniel C.11:12 AM

    i gotta check out that gallery.

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  5. Nice work. Nice picture.

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