Saturday, October 30, 2010

Background of Street Photography

  • Eugene Atget: In the early years of photography street photography proved immensely difficult. The fast pace of modern life was hard to capture with the lack of fast shutter speeds. Instead of capturing the bustling streets of city life, we see ghost towns of buildings and empty streets e.g. the image below taken by Eugene Atget in the 1890s:

The lack of people make the locations seem almost set like. Even his shots including people are artfully staged:


  • Andre Kertesz: Below, we start to see what we know now to be a street photography style - the moving train in the distance, the people on the streets. The photograph is candid and intriguing. Kertesz, a Hungarian born photographer, made some groundbreaking contributions to the form, style, tone and composition of street photography during the very early 20th Century. 
  • Henri Cartier-Bresson: Known as the godfather of candid and street photography, Cartier-Bresson remains one of the most influential photographers of all time. In 1952, Cartier-Bresson published his book The Decisive Moment. 'You must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.'



Sunday, October 24, 2010

My Favourite Photo


This shot of a couple holding hands behind their backs makes you the feel like you are witnessing a private, intimate moment between the two. The vertical and horizontal lines draw your eye to the right of the image and then back up to the centre. I love it because of its simplicity and humanistic meaning of companionship and love. In The Moment of Exposure Bob Shamis notes: "though many of his street portraits bear witness to a deep understanding of isolation and loneliness, his own solitariness did not deter him from portraying scenes of intimacy or the longing for human connection. On the contrary, it seems to have sensitized him to these moments and exchanges."

Biography


Leon Levinstein was born in Buckhannon in West Virginia in 1910. His parents, Simon and Ida Levinstein, originally from Lithuania, were the owners of Levinstein's Department Store. Leon was the second eldest of four children and although he had a number of friends and enjoyed sports, he remained shy and anti-social. During high school and after graduation in 1927, he attended evening classes in drawing at the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore. He then attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh to study graphic design. In 1933, he again enrolled in evening drawing classes at the Maryland Institute of Art while also working as an assistant art director doing layouts for newspaper advertisements. In 1937, he was self employed as a freelance graphic designer and in 1942 he enlisted in the army, primarily stationed in Panama serving as a mechanic with the Air Corps.

After being discharged in 1945, Levinstein moved to New York where he co-founded an advertising agency, Colby Advertising, with his cousin Theodore Schuchat and close friend Bernard Kramer. Working as the art director for the agency, Levinstein was in charge of all the design and layouts. In 1947 he studied as a part-time evening student at the New School taking classes in painting and design with Stuart Davis. He also studied photography under the watchful eye of Alexey Brodovitch. Brodovitch was a major influence on Levinstein and can certainly be referred to as his mentor at the time. In The Moment of Exposure Bob Shamis states: "studying with Brodovitch certainly provided a strong impetus to Levinstein's development as a photographer, and if we look at the graphic and emotionally expressive photographs he produced over the next thirty-five years, the influence of the Brodovitch philosophy is evident."

In 1948, Levinstein took a class with Sid Grossman at the Photo League School in New York. Grossman encouraged personal expression in photography and was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in Levinstein's development as a photographer. Throughout the coming years, Levinstein took part in several group exhibitions and had a solo exhibition as the Limelight Gallery in 1956. He left Colby Advertising in 1953 to work as a self-employed photographer and freelance graphic designer. He did not return to a full time position until 1968 when he took a position as an art director with Brown & Gravenson, a catalogue merchandising firm based in New York.

Levinstein never married. His discomfort in social situations and his tendency to avoid emotional attachments fed into his work: "you have got to be alone and work alone, and it's a lonely occupation, if you want to call it that." (Levinstein, 1988).

During the late 70s and 80s, Levinstein travelled almost constantly to places such as North Africa, India and Europe. An aging man, he became bitter and resentful of his lack of appreciation after almost forty years dedication to photography. On his death bed, he told a friend not to let his son become a photographer. Leon Levinstein died of a stroke in December 1988.
  • Helpful links:
Harper's Bazaar: http://www.harpersbazaar.com/
The New School, New York: http://www.newschool.edu/


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Introduction

Leon Levinstein is remembered for his ability to capture people in a raw and unsentimental fashion. His photography captured a wide range of subjects from high society women and businessmen, to prostitutes and the homeless. Although greatly respected within the world of photography, Levinstein remained under the radar for much of his life. While still exhibiting work and having work published in a variety of publications, he remained what many would come to call him 'the lonely photographer.'

This blog sets out to investigate and explore Leon Levinstein the man, the artist and the photographer. It will include his biography, work, critical reception, audio and visual material and much more!