© Helen Levitt
The Associated Press
March 31, 2009
New York --
"Helen Levitt was a giant of 20th-century photography, whose scenes of New York street life provided a window into a vanished era. She was best known for scenes of children in the 1930s and 1940s. Peter Galassi, chief curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, said Ms. Levitt's photos "were as good as anybody ever made at capturing the life spirit of kids on the street. They've now become historical documents because there was this kind of openness and freedom and safety on the streets that hasn't existed for a long time." Ms. Levitt was born on Aug. 31, 1913, in Brooklyn. After dropping out of high school she taught herself photography while working for a commercial photographer. As she began to hone her craft, she struck up acquaintances with celebrated photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans. Fortune magazine was the first to publish Ms. Levitt's work, in its July, 1939, issue on New York City. The next year one of her photographs was included in the inaugural exhibition of MoMA's photography department. In 1943 she had her first solo show at MoMA. She worked as a film editor to support herself in the 1950s, returning to still photography in 1959. She was one of the first photographers to work in colour. Thomas Roma, a close friend and the director of photography at Columbia University's School of the Arts, called her "unquestionably among the greatest photographers that ever lived. She never had a moment where she wasn't completely engaged." Ms. Levitt died Sunday in her sleep in her Manhattan apartment. She was 95. She leaves her brother, Bill Levitt, and several nieces and nephews."
