15
Elliott Erwitt.
American photographer of Russian
descent, born in Paris in 1928. After
living in Paris and Milan, he moved
to Los Angeles (1940) and then to
New York, where he attended the
New School for Social Research.
Erwitt was infl uenced by his meetings
with famous photographers such as
Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and
Roy Stryker. The latter, director at the
time of the Photography department
at the Farm Security Administration,
hired Erwitt to work on a photo-
graphic project for Standard Oil.
After this period he embarked on a
career as a freelance photographer,
working for magazines like Collier’s,
Look, Life and Holiday or companies
like Air France and KLM. In 1953 he
joined the prestigious Magnum Photos
agency, an association that gave him a
great deal of visibility and allowed him
to undertake photographic projects all
over the world. He eventually became
its president (1968), a position he held
for three terms. Interested in subjects
from everyday life, he brings irony
and wit to his photographs of street
scenes, situations where the protago-
nists can be human beings or animals,
especially dogs. His photos, displayed
in several collections (Museum of
Modern Art, New York; Institute of
Art, Chicago; etc.), have been shown
during a number of exhibitions. From
2006 he has been leading Artemide
Human Light advertising campaigns.
Jean Nouvel: Equilibrist
