Written by Amy Stoltenberg
Photos courtesy of the Telfair Museums
Helen Levitt
(American, b. 1913)
New York (Children with Broken Mirror), c. 1940
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, 2002.3.1
“When I would go over to Helen’s house, she would offer me a glass of sherry, a peanut butter sandwich, and some chocolate,” said Jeff L. Rosenheim of the late photographer Helen Levitt on Thursday night at the Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center for the Arts. Rosenheim, the curator in charge of the department of photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, celebrated the new Helen Levitt: In the Street exhibit with a lecture that surveyed the life and work of the artist from a personal point of view that stemmed from his relationship with Levitt herself.
Helen Levitt was a street photographer in New York City from the mid 1930s through 2000 whose work documented the scenes of life as they played out on the city street. A true pioneer in the art of photography, Levitt earned her first solo show in the MOMA in 1943, when she was only 29 years old.
“Levitt and her camera captured life at a certain moment in American History,” said Rosenheim. “Her pictures show epiphanies that define our everyday experiences. She found those moments that came to her alone, and captured them to help us find our own moments.”
Helen Levitt
(American, 1913-2009)
New York, c. 1940
Vintage gelatin silver print
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, 1998.6
© Estate of Helen Levitt
Rosenheim recalled how Levitt believed in the poetry of the street and in the pleasure that it held for whoever looked at it through lyrical eyes. Her work shows that, given the opportunity, the people of our culture will provide an artist with everything they need to create a body of artwork.
As an avid fan of dance, Levitt translated her understanding of the art form into her photography.
“Helen understood that the body was a poetic expression of what is inside, reflected on the outside. She harvested dance, life and gesture from the street,” said Rosenheim.
Instead of imagining an aesthetic to impose on the photographs, Levitt let the aesthetic of reality take over. Being a white woman, and one of the only street photographers of that time, Levitt was an unintimidating presence among those she photographed, which enabled her to capture people in their natural, unperturbed element.
“The communities she photographed were very strategically chosen. Levitt wanted to show the common language of innocence and the magisterial qualities of children,” said Rosenheim, “She wanted to show how families lived, both in privately and publicly in the street in a very special way.”
Many of Levitt’s images are of kids playing hide-and-seek or games that wrestle with the concept of concealment. Through her work, Levitt sought to further understand the complex and veiled world that we live in.
Helen Levitt
(American, b. 1913)
New York (Children with Masks), c. 1940
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, 1996.5
The images in the Helen Levitt: In the Street exhibition capture the humorous, heart-wrenching, thought-provoking nuances that together tell the unfiltered stories of the New York City streets in the 1900s.
Rosenheim closed his talk by reminding the audience that no amount of lecturing could compare to looking at the photos themselves.
“We are here in this darkened room to talk about the pictures that are hanging upstairs,” said Rosenheim, “But as a curator, I believe in objects and the experience that you have with those objects. So, let’s go look at some pictures.”
The exhibit, which will be at the Jepson center until September 2014, features 30 photographs and one short film, and was curated by Courtney McNeil.
Editor’s note: Photo credit was changed from “Telfair Academy” to “Telfair Museums.” Upon first reference, “the Jepson Center” was changed to “Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center for the Arts.” Courtney MacNeil’s name was corrected.
