There are photographers whose mere sight of their images makes you happy.
Elliott, like Doisneau, is one of these.
I had the privilege of being invited several times to his amazing apartment and studio on Central Park West.
The dinners, often lobster which he loved, were moments of joy punctuated by his inescapable cold humor. My sons Jules and Gédéon were even more passionate about Elliott than I was.
I remember one day when, in front of the building’s doormen’s strike, he and Sting had decided to take care of the elevators. This lasted 48 hours.
His happy new year cards were masterpieces.
We publish some of them.
And if you pass through Lyon before March 17, the retrospective of his works recently presented in Paris is at La Sucrière.
https://www.lasucriere-lyon.com/elliott-erwitt
Elliott is also the photographer chosen for the winter issue of RSF, Reporters sans Frontieres 100 photos for freedom of the press.
https://boutique.rsf.org/
Death of Robert Kirschenbaum (1936-2023)
His name was Robert Kirschenbaum. He was the herald of Magnum and Western photography in Japan.
He was also a close friend of Elliott, Anna Winand, Cornell Capa‘s closest collaborator, sent us this text.
Jean-Jacques Naudet
Two legends (to those of us who have been working in the field for over 50 years) of photography died within a day this past week; one a photographer based in New York City, the other a photographic promoter in Japan.
Elliott Erwitt, a long- time Magnum photographer, got to the heart of things in his photographs; he taught us how to look and see the humor in what we did. We are all the richer for the insights he showed us, and grateful for the laughter he brought into our lives.
Robert Kirschenbaum found himself stationed in Japan after the war in the late 1940s, and decided to stay. He was, among other things, a gourmand. Those of us who were lucky enough to be escorted by him in Tokyo found ourselves enjoying marvelous meals; way before there was a Japanese restaurant every ten blocks or so in New York City. He created a bridge between the photographers of Japan and the world of photography in New York and elsewhere. This was when photography was on the cusp of becoming what it is now: a recognized art form. It was not always so.
Two lights have gone out of our world, but we have their work and the photography they gave us, as gifts to be cherished.
Anna Winand
