Elliot+Erwitt+-+Dog+Dogs

//Elliot Erwitt: Dog Dogs//
July 7 - September 23, 2012 (Main floor galleries 2 & 5 plus lower level Long Gallery)
 * The Elliot Erwitt iPad App: []
 * Videos:**
 * [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UM2L3T0KrQ 2.45] //Elliot Erwitt on the art of photographic sequencing.// Erwitt talks about how a sequence of photos can make a simple moment relevant and humorous. One example he uses in this video is the woman and the dog in the cemetery which will be in the exhibition.
 * [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGC7y9DvjS8 9.41] //Personal Best by Elliot Erwitt/Magnum Photos.// This video does a good job of showing Erwitt’s humble humor. Credits much of his success to luck and says that taking pictures is easy or that one doesn’t have to study it. He quickly mentions his journalism past; he didn’t document wars but went to Cuba and spent two weeks with Castro and Che. In the last minute or so he discusses his work with dogs. He says that he is attracted to dogs because they often find themselves in interesting situations. Erwitt says that dogs are evocative and universal.


 * Audio:**
 * [] 2 minute audio with a slide show of his photographs. Erwitt briefly talks about taking a camera along with him and that some years about he noticed that he had taken a lot of pictures of dogs. It didn’t start out as an intentional think but now he searches them out more. He would rather people see his pictures as humorous or amusing than tragic.

Erwitt titles his works with only place and date; he feels that the image should be enough to speak for itself. [|(http://www.photoicon.com/modern_masters/45/)] “What I like in any—young, old, middle-aged, doesn’t matter—photographers is a sense that they are interested in the human comedy, you might say, [and] that the pictures are good technically—by that I mean, good composition, good content. Unfortunately, now taking pictures has become so easy that everyone on Earth who has a telephone is a photographer. Consequently the work is generally a bit shoddy, because it’s so easy.… Somehow Photoshop and the ease with which one can produce an image has degraded the quality of photography in general. Still, there are very good photographers among the masses.” (Source: [|http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/05/elliott-erwitt-photos-slide-show-201105#intro)]
 * Erwitt’s thoughts on photography**

“He [Erwitt] is a bitter enemy of pretension in photography and hates wordy explanations and pseudo-intellectual comments on his photographs, which he firmly believes should be allowed to speak for themselves.” [|(http://www.photoicon.com/modern_masters/45/)] In a video Erwitt said that a good photograph has to be immediately obvious. Interviewer: //John Szarkowski once said that your pictures dealt with the empty spaces between happenings. He has used the phrase ˜The Indecisive Moment” to describe the subject matter of your photos. What do you think of that?// Erwitt: //I had heard about “The Indecisive Moment”, but not the empty spaces. Did he really say that? It sounds good, doesn’t it? Sounds deep!// ([])

“Elliot Erwitt was born in France of Russian émigré parents in 1928. His formative years were spent in Italy. At the age of 10 he moved with his family to France afterward immigrating to the United States in 1939, settling in New York for two years then transferring to Los Angeles.
 * Biographical Information:** (source: [])

In the early 1950s, Erwitt moved to New York City by way of Pittsburgh, Germany and France (the last two locations courtesy of the United States Army). He settled in New York for good establishing his fundamental base of operations...although ‘settling’ in Erwitt parlance means “where you are at the moment for as long as you don’t go somewhere else.” Flexibility and adaptation to the requirements of the profession and personal interests have kept him moving about the globe before returning to base.

While attending Hollywood High School Erwitt worked in a commercial darkroom processing “signed” prints for fans of movies stars. During 1949 he returned to Europe traveling and photographing in Italy and France thus making the start of his professional career. Drafted in to the US Army in 1951 he continued taking photographs for various publications totally apart from his military duties while stationed in New Jersey, Germany and France. By good fortune while looking for work on exploratory trips to New York City prior to his military services, he met Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker who liked his photographs and took a personal guiding interest becoming significant mentors.

In 1953 freshly decommissioned from military service, Elliot Erwitt was invited to join Magnum Photos as a member by its founder Robert Capa. In 1968 he became President of the prestigious agency for 3 terms. To date he continues to be an active member and one of the leading figures in the competitive field of photography.

Erwitt’s book, journalistic essays, illustrations, and advertisements have been featured in publications around the world for over forty years. While continuing his work as a stills photographer Erwitt began making films in the 70s. His documentaries include //Beauty Knows No Pain// (1971), //Red White and Blue Grass// (1973) sponsored with a grant from the American Film Institute and //The Glass Makers of Herat// (1977), In the 80s Erwitt produced seventeen comedy and satire television programs for Home Box Office. From the 90s to the present he continues to lead a remarkably varied professional like encompassing many disparate aspects of photography. While actively working for magazine, industrial and advertising clients Erwitt devotes all of his spare time toward creating books and exhibitions of his work destined for galleries and museums. To date he is the author of over 20 photography book and is preparing a new one titled, “This and That” for fall 2007.

A listing of one man shows at significant public venues include the MoMA in New York, The Chicago Art Institute, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the MoMA in Paris, the Kunsthaus in Zurich, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid and others.

Elliot Erwitt likes children and dogs.”