Edition 2019

HELEN LEVITT

OBSERVING NEW YORK'S STREETS

In the 1930s, Helen Levitt started photographing street life in underprivileged New York neighborhoods such as East Harlem and the Lower East Side: graffiti, people sitting outside on stoops or children playing are some of her central subjects. Contrary to the intention of traditional photojournalism to document social injustice for political purposes, she considered photography a form of artistic expression allowing her to merge everyday life with a personal aesthetic understanding. In fact, Levitt’s photographic language diversely adopted political as well as artistic debates of her time, she shows New York street scenes as though they were mythical customs or exotic ceremonies with an ethnographic interest. Many of the 130 photographs on display are shown here for the first time, giving us a nuanced glimpse into Levitt’s work, demonstrating her development from street photographer to filmmaker and color photographer.

Exhibition curator: Walter Moser.
Exhibition coproduced by The Albertina Museum, Wien, in collaboration with the Rencontres d’Arles.
Publication: Helen Levitt, Duncan Forbes, Astrid Mahler, Walter Moser, Christina Natlacen, Bert Rebhandl, Kehrer Verlag, 2019.
Bert Rebhandl, Kehrer Verlag, 2019.
Wallpapers by Processus, Paris.
Framing by the Albertina Museum, Vienna.

With support from Florence & Damien Bachelot Collection.

  • Institutional partners

    • République Française
    • Région Provence Alpes Côté d'Azur
    • Département des Bouches du Rhône
    • Arles
    • Le Centre des monuments nationaux est heureux de soutenir les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles en accueillant des expositions dans l’abbaye de Montmajour
  • Main partners

    • Fondation LUMA
    • BMW
    • SNCF
    • Kering
  • Media partners

    • Arte
    • Lci
    • Konbini
    • Le Point
    • Madame Figaro
    • France Culture