ELLIOTT ERWITT: PERSONAL BEST

January 11 – February 23, 2007

In conjunction with the publication of Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best (TeNeus, 2006), Edwynn Houk Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of over 30 black and white prints from Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt.  Spanning the artist’s prolific sixty-year career, Personal Best offers a stunning retrospective of the artist’s enduring legacy upon the photographic medium.  “Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best” will be on view at Edwynn Houk Gallery from 11 January through 23 February.  An opening reception for the artist will be held on Thursday 11 January from 6-8 p.m.  

A photographer since 1948 and a member of the prestigious Magnum Photo Agency since 1953, Elliott Erwitt is a keen observer of subjects ranging from major socio-political developments to young lovers in the midst of fledgling romance.  Maintaining his pledge, “to capture things that are,” Erwitt’s photography stands as a monument to the humanist tradition taken up by Magnum and its founder, Henri Cartier-Bresson.  Embodying both a documentarian, and humoristic impulse, Erwitt’s photographs yield a certain wit, charm, and melancholia.  Erwitt states, “Some people say my pictures are sad, some think they’re funny.  Funny and sad, aren’t they really the same thing?” 

Born on July 26, 1928, in Paris, France, Elliott Erwitt spent his childhood in Milan.  His family returned to Paris in 1938 and immigrated to New York the following year.  His interest in photography began as a teenager living in Hollywood, California.  While a student at Hollywood High School, Erwitt began working in a commercial darkroom developing celebrity portraiture.  In 1948, Erwitt moved to New York where he met Magnum photographers: Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker.  As a young member of this elite photographic milieu, Erwitt’s professional career blossomed. 

Elliott Erwitt has participated in a variety of one-person exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world including: The Museum of Modern Art, New York;

The Smithsonian Institution; The Art Institute of Chicago; Zurich's Kunsthaus; and Cologne's Photokina.  Elliott Erwitt has published over 15 books including Personal Exposure (Norton and Company, 1988), Snaps (Phaidon, 2001), and his most recent, Personal Best (TeNeus, 2006).  In tandem with multiple terms as President of the Magnum Photo Agency, Erwitt continues to be one of the leading photographers of his generation.

Edwynn Houk Gallery is located at 745 Fifth Avenue (between 57th and 58th Streets) on the 4th floor. 

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.