Elliott Erwitt

Elliott Erwitt was born on July 26, 1928 in Paris.

After spending his childhood in Milan until 1938, his family moved back to Paris and then definitively to the United States, first in New York, then in 1941 in Los Angeles.
He studied photography at Los Angeles City College from 1942 to 1944, and film at the New School for Social Research from 1948 to 1950.
His passion for photography manifested itself already in adolescence, when he lived in Hollywood. While studying at the High School began to work in a professional darkroom. It was 1944.
In 1948 he went to live in New York, and there he has Edward Steichen , Robert Capa , and Roy Stryker .
After spending 1949 traveling to France and Italy, Erwitt returned to New York and has worked as a professional photographer.
From 1950 to 1952 Erwitt worked as a professional freelance photographer, producing both news and advertising services, for various companies, including Air France and KLM .
Enlisted in the US Army in 1951, he took pictures while stationed in Germany and France.
In 1953, Robert Capa wanted it in the Magnum Photos . Elliott will remain a member of this prestigious group and has served as president numerous times since then.
Elliott is rightfully one of the leading personalities in the world of information, his photographic services, his illustrations, and his images created for the world of communication have left their mark on newspapers around the world in the last 50 years.
Elliott, while continuing to be a photographer first and foremost, began making films in 1970.
Starting from the seventies he has been interested in television for some time, shooting commercials and numerous documentaries, among which we mention: Beauty Knows No Pain (1971), Red White and Bluegrass (1973) made with the assistance of American Film Institute, and Glass Makers of Herat (1977) which earned him numerous awards.
Erwitt made 17 comedies and satirical films for Home Box Office.
In 1974 he published the photographic book Son of a Bitch , in which numerous shots of dogs taken in funny poses or situations are collected. Thanks to this kind of photo, Erwitt's work went around the world.
In 1997 Erwitt met Biba Giacchetti and since then an extraordinary collaboration has been activated in the communication sector in Italy and when Biba Giacchetti and Giuseppe Ceroni founded Sudest 57 in 2002 Elliott Erwitt was among the first photographers to be part of the new team, to be its constant inspiration, teacher, supporter and great friend.
Over time Elliott Erwitt has created projects with Biba Giacchetti for Lavazza , Marazzi , Unilever , Artemide , Chimento , and many others.
His personal exhibitions are held continuously throughout the world, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York , to the Smithsonian , from the Art Institute of Chicago to the Museum of Modern Art in Paris , from the Kunsthaus in Zurich, to the Photokina in Cologne. .
Many exhibitions from the Personal Exposures book have been exhibited from the United States to Europe to Japan.
Other outstanding exhibits such as To The Dogs , On The Beach , Museum Watching Personal Best are circulating in all countries of the world.
Currently Elliott is busy codifying his immense archive as he continues his editorial and advertising work and this inevitably leads him to travel the world.
He lives between New York and East Hampton.