Elliott Erwitt

Sarcastic yet tender, Elliott Erwitt stands amongst the greatest photographers of the 20^th century. Born in Paris in 1928, he spent his childhood in Milan before returning to the French capital when he was ten years old. In 1939, his parents, who were Russian immigrants, moved to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. While attending the Hollywood Senior High School, Elliott Erwitt worked in a commercial darkroom processing movie star prints "signed" for fans.

After studying photography and filmmaking at the Los Angeles City College and the New School for Social Research, Elliott Erwitt was drafted in the United States Army as a photographer's assistant. In 1953, freshly decommissioned from the army, he reconnected with Robert Capa – whom he had met prior to his military service – who invited him to join Magnum. From 1968 to 1970, Erwitt was President of the prestigious photo agency.

As a leading photojournalist, he participated in The Family of Man, the famous 1955 MoMA exhibition curated by John Szarkowski. Throughout his career, he also photographed Hollywood stars, including famous shots of Marilyn Monroe and her flowing white dress during the promotion of the Seven Year Itch and those taken on the set of the Misfits.

In the seventies, he developed a keen interest for films and while continuing his work still as a photographer, he made several documentaries such as Beauty Knows No Pain (1971), Red, White and Bluegrass (1973), and The Glass Makers of Heart (1979). Never losing touch with his mischievous side, he also produced seventeen comedy and satire television programs for HBO.

Even while working on numerous photo and video projects, whether for editorial, industrial or commercial clients, Elliott Erwitt devoted his spare time to personal projects, producing over twenty books and countless exhibitions, including one man shows at the MoMA (New York), the Chicago Art Institute (Chicago), the Smithsonian (Washington, DC), the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), the Reina Sofia Museum (Madrid), the Barbican (London) and the Spazio Oberdan (Milan).