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Helen Levitt

Pairs and Apples

June 14 – August 3, 2017

Helen Levitt Spider Girl 1980

NYC, 1980
12¼ x 18"
chromogenic print

Helen Levitt NYC bubbles

NYC, circa 1945
7 ½ x 11 ½”
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, 1940

NYC, 1940
17 ¼ x 12”
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, 1971

NYC, 1971
13 ¼ x 9¼"
chromogenic print

Helen Levitt NYC, 1939

NYC, 1939
11 ¾ x 9 ¼”
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1939

NYC, circa 1939
5 ½ x 8 ½ "
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1972

NYC, circa 1972
10¾ x 16¼"
chromogenic print

Helen Levitt NYC, East River, circa 1945

NYC, East River, circa 1945
3¼ x 3 ¾”
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC. 1940

NYC, circa 1940
4 ½ x 3 ”
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC 1945

NYC, circa 1945
8 ¾ x 6”
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt grafitti NYC 1939

NYC, circa 1939
45¾ x 31"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt Egg Graffiti NYC 1939

NYC, circa 1939
42 x 32¼"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1940

NYC, circa 1940
11 x 7¼"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC 1940

NYC, circa 1940
9½ x 6½"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC 1938 kids with car

NYC, 1939
9¼ x 6"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, 1939

NYC, 1939
5 ¾ x 7"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, 1940

NYC, 1940
8¼ x 12"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1945

NYC, circa 1945
17 x 11¼"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1942

NYC, circa 1942
4 x 2¾"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, 1971

NYC, 1971
9 x 14"
dye-transfer print

Helen Levitt NYC, 1939

NYC, 1939
7 ¼ x 10¾"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC

NYC, 1972
9¼ x 14¼"
dye-transfer print

Helen Levitt NYC 1972

NYC 1972
10½ x 15½"
dye-transfer print

Helen Levitt NYC 1972

NYC, 1972
9 x 14¼"
dye-transfer print

Helen Levitt NYC kids in window

NYC, 1959
9 x 13½"
dye-transfer print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1940

NYC, circa 1940
2¼ x 2¾"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1940

NYC, circa 1940
3½ x 2½"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1974

NYC, circa 1974
7¼ x 9½"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt, NYC 1984

NYC, 1984
10¾ x 7½"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1942

NYC, circa 1942
3¼ x 2¼"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1940

NYC, circa 1940
10 ¾ x 7½"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, 1942

NYC, circa 1940
6¼ x 9¼"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt NYC, circa 1940

NYC, circa 1940
2¼ x 3" each
four gelatin silver prints

Helen Levitt New Hampshire

New Hampshire, 1980s
7½ x 10¾"
gelatin silver print

Helen Levitt New Hampshire, 1983

New Hampshire, 1983
7 ¾ x 11½"
gelatin silver print

Press Release

OPEN BY APPOINTMENT FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST
Laurence Miller Gallery presents HELEN LEVITT: PAIRS AND APPLES

The show highlights Levitt’s unique gift for capturing the way people communicate through body language, with special emphasis on one of her perennial interests: pairs of people sharing a moment in the streets and on the stoops of her native New York City. Helen had a singularly lyrical eye and, whether it’s two children dancing in the street or two nuns perched at the bank of the East River, her work never fails to show the playfulness that is at the heart of human interaction.  Not surprisingly, Helen reveals this in animals as well, joyfully sharing two New Hampshire pigs in a barnyard kiss, from 1986.

This 30 print show surveys these themes across her six decade career, featuring both her classic black and white work which began in the late 1930’s,  as well as her pioneering color work from 1959 on through the 1980’s. Among the works selected are a number of unique first prints, including two 4x5” contact prints of a gypsy boy at home, shot in 1939 using her friend Walker Evans’ camera and flash.  The slight turn of the boy’s hand was the key to Helen’s choice to publish this one over the variant.

Part of the pleasure of Helen’s pictures is their glimpse of an old New York, before television and air conditioning, when people were lined up on their stoops like the fruit in a street vendor’s display. Conversely, Helen’s work is forever young because its true subject is the ageless spark between two people (or animals). 

HELEN LEVITT: PAIRS AND APPLES will be our final exhibition at 20 West 57th Street, since the building is scheduled for demolition.  We plan on reopening in Chelsea in September.
 

HOURS:  Tuesday – Friday, 11-5:30    through July 21.