SEQUENCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY: RESEARCH

"Who better to grapple with this constant conundrum than Elliott Erwitt? Over a notable career, he’s established himself as master of the unembellished moment. As you’d expect from Erwitt, these sequences are often comic – sometimes heart-rending – and always compelling".

My favourite thing about Erwitt's photography is his sense of humour, which is evident in each of his works. I also like that you can clearly see the movement and sequence. 

"Sequentially Yours" - Elliott Erwitt

“You just have to care about what's around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy,” Elliott Erwitt once said

Marilyn Monroe, The Seven Year Itch, 1954 - Elliott Erwitt

"Born in Paris in 1928 to Russian parents, Erwitt spent his childhood in Milan, then emigrated to the US, via France, with his family in 1939. As a teenager living in Hollywood, he developed an interest in photography and worked in a commercial darkroom before experimenting with photography at Los Angeles City College. In 1948, he moved to New York and exchanged janitorial work for film classes at the New School for Social Research.

Erwitt travelled in France and Italy in 1949 with his trusty Rolleiflex camera. In 1951, he was drafted for military service and undertook various photographic duties while serving in a unit of the Army Signal Corps in Germany and France.

Elliott Erwitt

While in New York, Erwitt met Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker, the former head of the Farm Security Administration. Stryker initially hired Erwitt to work for the Standard Oil Company, where he was building up a photographic library for the company, and subsequently commissioned him to undertake a project documenting the city of Pittsburgh.

In 1953, Erwitt joined Magnum Photos and worked as a freelance photographer for Collier’s, Look, LIFE, Holiday and other luminaries in that golden period for illustrated magazines. To this day, he is for hire and continues to work for a variety of journalistic and commercial outfits.

In the late 1960s, Erwitt served as Magnum’s president for three years. He then turned to film: in the 1970s, he produced several notable documentaries and in the 1980s eighteen comedy films for HBO. Erwitt became known for benevolent irony, and for a humanistic sensibility traditional to the spirit of Magnum".

Reference:

Elliott Erwitt: Sequentially Yours

URL: https://monovisions.com/elliott-erwitt-sequentially-yours/

Published: 07.04.2019

Visited: 13.10.2020

Elliott Erwitt

URL: https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/elliott-erwitt/

Visited: 13.10.2020