Visions and Images: Elliott Erwitt, 1981
An in-depth TV interview with Elliott Erwitt from the Duke University archive.
About Elliott Erwitt
Elliott Erwitt was born in Paris as Elio Romano Erwitz and grew up in Milan. His family emigrated to the United States. He studied photography and film at Los Angeles City College and at the New School for Social Research in New York. During his service in the U.S. Army, he was stationed in Germany and France.
At Robert Capa's invitation, Erwitt joined Magnum, where he later served as president for three years. As a freelancer, he worked for magazines such as Collier's, Look, Life, and Holiday. His well-known photographs include one of Nixon and Khrushchev in Moscow. He also made films, including eighteen comedy films for HBO. The ICP honored him with the Infinity Award for his life's work.
In his spontaneous black-and-white photographs, Erwitt captured the irony and absurdity of everyday situations. Magnum describes his outlook as gently ironic, with a humanist sensibility. He described photography as "a concern with humanity and the human comedy." Dogs also feature prominently in his work: he made five photo books about them, including Son of a Bitch and Dog Dogs. Erwitt died in New York at the age of 95.
