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BOOKSELLER TRADE ANNOTATION
Photos of New York City Subway riders from the late 1930s and late 1970s by the legendary Helen Levitt.
THE ARTIST: Helen Levitt (1913 ' 2009) was particularly noted for her New York City street photograph, her seminal books include A Way of Seeing (Duke University Press, 1965), which includes an essay by James Agee; In the Street: Chalk Drawings and Messages, New York City, 1938-48 (Duke University Press, 1987)
THE BOOK: The first book dedicated to the photographs Helen Levitt made on the New York subway alongside her friend and mentor Walker EVANS in 1938. She revisited Subway portraiture again late in her career in the 1970s. Many of these photographs are published here for the first time
LIMITED STOCK : ONLY 600 Copies, FLAT 40 Discount. Will sell out quickly
Manhattan Transit: The Subway Photographs of Helen Levitt
Edited by Marvin Hoshino, Thomas Zander. Introduction by David Campany.
Humanist snapshots of New York City subway passengers, from famed street photographer Helen Levitt
In 1938 Helen Levitt (1913–2009) accompanied Walker Evans on a project to photograph passengers on the New York subway. Soon she was taking her own pictures. More empathetic and informal than Evans’, Levitt’s finest photographs are the product of her willingness to participate as a fellow citizen, not as a photographer setting herself apart. The disarming ease of Levitt’s pictures quickly accrues into an undeniably singular attitude to both the medium and the world.
Around 1978—a full four decades after her first foray—Levitt returned to the New York subway, by which time public behavior on the subway was visibly less formal. She seems to have picked up exactly where she had left off in 1938, but in general her photography was even less restricted—more in keeping with her looser street photographs. This is the most comprehensive publication of Helen Levitt’s photographs from the New York subway, many of which are published here for the first time.
STATUS: Out of stock
Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 8.25 in. / 84 pgs / 51 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $67.5 ISBN: 9783960981220 PUBLISHER: Walther König, Köln AVAILABLE: 9/26/2017 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: FLAT40 PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: Out of stock TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR
Manhattan Transit: The Subway Photographs of Helen Levitt
Published by Walther König, Köln. Edited by Marvin Hoshino, Thomas Zander. Introduction by David Campany.
Humanist snapshots of New York City subway passengers, from famed street photographer Helen Levitt
In 1938 Helen Levitt (1913–2009) accompanied Walker Evans on a project to photograph passengers on the New York subway. Soon she was taking her own pictures. More empathetic and informal than Evans’, Levitt’s finest photographs are the product of her willingness to participate as a fellow citizen, not as a photographer setting herself apart. The disarming ease of Levitt’s pictures quickly accrues into an undeniably singular attitude to both the medium and the world.
Around 1978—a full four decades after her first foray—Levitt returned to the New York subway, by which time public behavior on the subway was visibly less formal. She seems to have picked up exactly where she had left off in 1938, but in general her photography was even less restricted—more in keeping with her looser street photographs. This is the most comprehensive publication of Helen Levitt’s photographs from the New York subway, many of which are published here for the first time.
