Helen Levitt was an American photographer who was renown for her “street photography.” Levitt was renown for her photographs of the Big Apple, New York City. Helen Levitt was born in Besonhurst, Brooklyn, New York. At the age of eighteen she began to work for a company specializing in commercial photography and the portrait. The artist quit high school and decided she would teach herself the art of photography.
In the mid 1930s she would meet french photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Shortly after meeting the photographer Levitt switched to using the same type of camera Bresson had.
First photographs of Levitt were published in a magazine in 1939.
What I enjoy most about Levitt is the idea of capturing New York for the lower and middle class people that lived there. Especially intriguing are the shots of children at play. They seem so carefree and natural rather than posed. Another theme I love is she saw the value of street art in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Its awesome to be able to compare street artists from older times to the very impressive form and gallery level street are we see in the present day art world. Levitt enjoyed shooting art that was created by children.
Helen Levitt had a solo exhibition of her work in 1943. This was a show having to do with her photographs of children.
The artist also worked in the film industry. Levitt was a writer and head of cinematography.
Winner of two Guggenheim Fellowships.
In this clip a great montage of images by Helen Levitt:
Levitt passed away in 2009 at the age of 95 years old.
price range information: Works range from $3,000 to $55,000.
D
Diattaart Blog 
Leave a Reply