Artist Research

Artist Research

• Elliot Erwitt

He was born in Paris in 1928 and stayed in many countries, such as Milan, United State, New York and so on. He is an American advertising and documentary photographer known for his black and white candid shots within everyday settings. While researching on this photographer, I saw many interesting black-and-white pictures which took by him and his simple photography. There are many photographs which children and dogs are appeared, which means he loved them.

when I saw his works, it was interesting to find hidden meaning in the pictures. There are also images which have funny story and meaning that people can understand easily, which is the reason I chose this artist for my research. Sometimes, it is so difficult to understand thought of artists when I see their works. However, Elliot Erwitt included meaning that people can guess joyfully. In his photographs, there are usually one or two figures. Although it looks quite simple, I feel it is full images because I can make various meanings by supposing his thought. There are some photographs that fascinated me.

For example, when I saw the first picture below, I just thought it expressed wind and then I tried to think deeper by making the story. there are two people and some chairs. In the second image, people disappeared and I can see the wind flow by changed shape of the chairs. Finally, I thought it meant freedom and their comfortable mind by expressing the wind flow.

beach chairs - Elliott Erwitt, 1975

The next photograph is funny and easy to understand the situation, which is why it is my favorite image among his works. There are a person who looks like a owner of the dog and a dog near the water. Although it has just three images, I can infer interesting story. A man is throwing a branch to the water, however, he disappeared with the branch into the water and the dog is looking that way. Actually, I do not know if he fall into the water, I just guessed the situation.

Sequentially yours-Film's not dead - Elliott Erwitt

I thought the last image was a composed image at the first, however, it is not a manipulated photography. I usually saw candid and natural pictures while looking for his works and there are also two dogs in this image below.

New York - Elliott Erwitt, 2000

I think there is not a special feature in his photos, however, I feel comfortable when I see his photographs motionlessly. I think the features that it is black and white photography and composition makes the images more ordinary and monotonously. He also put the subtle emotion into his photography, such as eyes of someone, expression, perturbation and so on. I like these factors that I can know when I observe it carefully, which make me be addicted to his photos. 

➥ Reference

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Erwitt
- http://www.elliotterwitt.com/lang/en/index.html