Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
American, 1913-2009
Helen Levitt often commented that the reason she expressed herself through photography was that she was inarticulate with the spoken word. One of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century among her peers but least known by the public, from a young age she wanted to create art but knew her talents with a paintbrush or a charcoal pencil were limited. She discovered a way to artistically express herself — through the lens of a camera.
Levitt was born in Brooklyn, New York. At 18, she dropped out of high school to work in a portrait photographer’s darkroom — eventually trying her hand at photography. She trained herself to take better compositions by studying paintings in museums around New York and then using her mother’s friends as practice subjects. In 1936, after discovering the works of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson she purchased her first camera and began to take pictures of neighborhood children making sidewalk chalk drawings.
Levitt took her portfolio to the studio of Walker Evans — another photographer which she admired. Struck by her thoughtful compositions and natural talent, he hired her as his assistant. She began photographing ordinary street life in the lower-class neighborhoods of East Harlem, the Lower East Side and the Garment District in New York City.
In 1939, Levitt’s photographs were published in Fortune magazine. Later that same year, she received a grant from the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Guggenheim Foundation. Seeing a similarity in film noir to what she was trying to capture in black and white photography, she became a film editor. She worked on several films including The Quiet One, an Academy Award nominee.
In 1959 Levitt began to photograph in color but eventually returned to black and white photography in the 1990s. A collection of her photographs of children and their chalk drawings were eventually published, in 1987, in a book called In the Street: Chalk Drawings and Messages. Some of her color photographs were published in Slide Show in 2005.
On 1stDibs find original Helen Levitt black and white photography, portrait photography, color photography and more.
to
2
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
3
1,127
838
689
592
2
Artist: Helen Levitt
New York (consoling woman)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print. Image size 7.25 x 10.75 inches.
Signed on verso
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vision, humor, and inventiveness tr...
Category
1930s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Children with Broken Mirror, New York
By Helen Levitt
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and dated on verso
Image 11" x 8", Paper 14" x 11", Matted 20" x 16"
Category
1940s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Related Items
Untitled Portrait
By Seydou Keïta
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV Plexi ($900 value), free shipping, and a 14-day return policy.
Seydou Keïta
Untitled Portrait, 1952 - 1955 (02158)
23...
Category
1950s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Orpheus #1 - Gelatin Silver Photograph Balanchine Ballet Classical Male Nudes
By George Platt Lynes
Located in Glenford, NY
George Platt Lynes 1948 Photograph #1 of Balanchine Ballet ‘Orpheus’.
George Platt Lynes rare original vintage 1948 gelatin silver photograph (dated by the NY City Public Library) of nude dancers Francisco Moncion and Nicholas Magallanes in George Balanchine's iconic mid-20th Century ballet 'Orpheus'. Stamped on verso in dark blue ink at upper center, "GEORGE PLATT LYNES/145 EAST 52 STREET NEW YORK”. Photo shoot took place in NYC. Costumes and Set by ISAMU NAGUCHI. Photo is 7 5/8 x 9 1/4 inches, soft satin finish in excellent condition.
This photograph is from Francisco Moncion's original collection given to him by George Platt Lyons. It is one of 14 different poses in the 'Orpheus' series. 8 different photographs are remaining for sale and are available on request. All are original Platt Lyons gelatin silver prints original to Moncion's collection and are stamped by the photographer. Photographs from this celebrated series are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Museum of Modern Art (MOMA, NYC), the NYC Public Library, and many university art archives.
George Platt Lynes (1907–1955), was a gregarious American portrait, dance, fashion, and male nude photographer whose career spanned the late 1920s through the early 1950s. From age eighteen, Lynes entered the cosmopolitan world of the American expatriate community in Paris when he became acquainted with the salon of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. He began photographing authors like Stein, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Colette and soon established himself as one of the premier fashion photographers in the Condé Nast stable, documenting the ballet companies of George Balanchine/Lincoln Kirstein, and pursuing a private obsession with seductive images of young male nudes rarely published in his lifetime.
Orpheus represents a major 20th Century artistic collaboration between composer Igor Stravinsky, choreographer George Ballanchine, and artist/designer Isamu Naguchi. Orpheus is a thirty-minute neoclassical ballet composed by Igor Stravinsky in collaboration with choreographer George Balanchine in Hollywood, California in 1947. The work was commissioned by Ballet Society, later renamed New York City Ballet, which Balanchine founded with Lincoln Kirstein. Sets and costumes were created by Isamu Noguchi. Noguchi’s lyre harp from the production became the symbol of the New York City Ballet.
Francisco Moncion (July 6, 1918 – April 1, 1995) was a charter member of the New York City Ballet. Over the course of his forty year career, choreographers George Balanchine, and Jerome Robbins in the New York City Ballet created 22 major roles for Moncion including the Dark Angel...
Category
1940s Modern Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
$1,600
H 9.25 in W 7.63 in D 0.07 in
Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV plexiglas, free shipping and a 14 day return policy.
Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928
15 x 12 inch gelatin silver print
Image Size: 14 x 8.5 inches
Frame size: 22.5 x 17.5 x 2 inches
Edition of 15
Lora Webb Nichols was born in 1883 and grew up in the small mining town of Encampment, Wyoming. At the age of 16 Lora received her first camera and from that moment and for the next few decades she produced work that is both stunning in its singular voice and revealing in the world it opens up for us.
At first Nichols photographed her family, friends, and the landscape around Encampment, but when the town experienced a copper mining boom Nichols expanded her scope to become a photographer for hire shooting portraits and industrial photographs. When the boom collapsed, Nichols took the risk of opening her own business in Encampment - The Rocky Mountain Studio - which opened in 1925. The studio ran for ten years, accumulating 24,000 negatives that illustrate the lives and environment of the people living in and around the town while creating a distinctive and surprising body of work. If one was to attempt an analogy – Nichols’ pictures fit somewhere between Lartigue and Lange - joyful and generous while objectively intimate. In particular what seems to distinguish Nichols’ work is the way she sees the world from a female perspective. As Vince Aletti...
Category
1920s Other Art Style Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1950s Photograph "Beefcake" model LARRY KLEIN #1
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare 1950s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of popular young international physique model LARRY KLEIN. Klein is seen her...
Category
1950s Post-War Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
$1,100
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1950s Photograph of "Beefcake" model Dick Lee
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare early 1950s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of model DICK LEE. Photograph is an excellent example of Jufeff's mast...
Category
1950s Post-War Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
$800
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
Eve Babitz and Marcel Duchamp playing chess during Duchamp
s Pasadena Art Museum
By Julian Wasser
Located in New York, NY
Listing is for an unframed print and includes free shipping to the continental US and 14-day return policy.
Julian Wasser
Eve Babitz and Marcel Duchamp pl...
Category
1960s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1950s Beefcake Photograph of VIC SEIPKE
JIM PARK
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare 1950s Iconic Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of popular physique models VIC SEIPKE and JIM PARK.
Fireman Vic Se...
Category
1950s Post-War Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
$1,100
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1940s Photograph of "Beefcake" model BOB GIBE
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare 1940s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of model BOB GIBE. Photograph is an excellent example of Juleff's masterful ...
Category
1940s Post-War Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
$800
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1940s Photograph of "Beefcake" model MIKE DUBEL #7
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare 1940s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of bodybuilder and Mr. America contender MIKE DUBEL. Dubel competed in the 1...
Category
1940s Post-War Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
$950
H 8 in W 10 in D 0.07 in
Sun Beams into Grand Central Station
Archival Photograph by Getty 16 x 12
Located in San Rafael, CA
An iconic image. Beams of sunlight streaming through the windows at Grand Central Station, New York City, circa 1930. (Photo by Hal Morey/Getty Images)
As an authorized Getty Images...
Category
1930s Contemporary Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$250
H 12 in W 16 in D 0.02 in
Joan Didion, Hollywood, 1968 (Frame 33a.)
By Julian Wasser
Located in New York, NY
This is a limited edition 16 x 20 inch print of Joan Didion by photographer Julian Wasser shot for her iconic interview with TIME in 1968.
Listing includes free shipping to the continental US and a 14-day return policy. Please inquire for framing options or international shipments. We offer framing services through our New York location.
Joan Didion by Julian Wasser
Gelatin Silver Print
Paper Size: 16 x 20 inches
Image Size: 11.5 x 17.5 inches
Edition 9 of 15
Signed and on the back by Julian Wasser and editioned on adhesive certificate
History Behind the Photograph -
Julian Wasser started his career in photography in the Washington DC bureau of the Associated Press where he met and accompanied the famous news photographer Weegee – who would become a lasting influence on him. In the mid-60s Wasser moved to Los Angeles as a contract photographer for TIME, LIFE, and FORTUNE magazines and becoming internationally known as the go to guy for getting candid but memorably composed photographs. (His iconic images of Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston; Marcel Duchamp and Eve Babitz...
Category
1960s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Pacific Diver
Limited Edition Photograph by Getty Images 16 x 16
Located in San Rafael, CA
Circa 1950: Swimmer diving into rough water lashing against rocky cliffs at Acapulco, the Riviera of Mexico. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images)
As ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Previously Available Items
New York (three kids with masks)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
8 1/8 x 11 inch gelatin silver print, printed later. Titled and dated by the artist on verso as "N.Y. circa 1942."
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vis...
Category
1940s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
New York (one boy consoling another)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
7 x 11 inch gelatin silver print - signed, titled, and dated on verso.
Provenance - from the James Agee Family Collection
Helen Levitt was a true master of ...
Category
1940s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
New York City (boys dancing)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
This 14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print was printed in the 1980s, and is signed on verso.
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vision, humor, and inventiven...
Category
1940s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
N.Y.C. (5₵ Soda)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
Helen Levitt made her images of children's chalk drawings early in her career. The prints she produced were traditionally small in scale. In 2000, she and our gallery launched a proj...
Category
1930s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
N.Y.C. (Button to Secret Passage)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
Helen Levitt made her images of children's chalk drawings early in her career. The prints she produced were traditionally small in scale. In 2000, she and our gallery launched a proj...
Category
1930s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Poster Girl, NYC
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vision, humor, and inventiveness transformed the gritty world of New York City’s poorer neighborhoods into captivating,...
Category
1940s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
New York (rolling record)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print, signed by the artist on verso.
10.75 x 7.5 inch image size
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vision, humor, and inven...
Category
1980s Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
New York City (cops and robbers)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vision, humor, and inventiveness transformed the gritty world of New York City’s poorer neighborhoods into captivating,...
Category
1930s American Modern Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
New York City (woman reaching out)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print (image size 5.6 x 8.25 inches)
Signed on verso.
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vision, humor, and inventiveness ...
Category
1930s American Modern Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
New York City (broken mirror)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
20 x 16 inch gelatin silver print, signed on verso.
This is one of only a handful of prints of this iconic image that were printed in this larger size. It was usually printed in a 14...
Category
1940s Modern Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
New York City (3 kids with masks)
By Helen Levitt
Located in New York, NY
11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print, 1939 (printed later)
Signed on verso
Helen Levitt was a true master of the street, one whose poetic vision, humor, and inventiveness transforme...
Category
1930s American Modern Helen Levitt Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Helen Levitt black and white photography for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Helen Levitt black and white photography available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Helen Levitt in silver gelatin print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Helen Levitt black and white photography, so small editions measuring 7 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Weegee, Clarence Sinclair Bull, and Manuel Alvarez Bravo. Helen Levitt black and white photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $5,000 and tops out at $12,500, while the average work can sell for $8,500.