Born in 1928 to Russian-Jewish émigrés living in Paris, Erwitt and his family later moved to Los Angeles in 1939, where the young Erwitt attended Hollywood High School. A youthful interest in photography blossomed into a career as a photojournalist, working for such publications as LIFE, Look, and Holiday magazines. Although he chronicled important events of the day, including the so-called “Kitchen Debate” in Moscow between Nixon and Khrushchev and even Truman Capote’s famous Black and White Ball, Erwitt is better known for his black-and-white snapshots of everyday life, images which, in his words, have emotional content and a human quality. Sometimes taken surreptitiously while other times posed, Erwitt’s work often reveals both his sense of humor and his desire to capture the human comedy on film. “Making people laugh is one of the highest achievements you can have,” said Erwitt, who has a knack for finding, and then photographing, life’s absurdities. But through Erwitt’s lens, other emotions receive just as much attention. Take love, for example. His myriad images of couples stealing kisses unawares or simply enjoying time together reflect the bliss of romance.
