Elliot Erwitt. Photographs

Over 70 photographs chosen by the curator and by Erwitt himself use his ironic touch to recount the history and daily life of the 20th century

The exhibition hosts his famous portraits of Che Guevara smiling, of Jack Kerouac and Marlene Dietrich, along with photographs that have made history such as Jackie Kennedy at husband’s funeral after his brutal assassination, or the argument between the two Presidents Nixon and Kruschev, in which Nixon’s pointing finger makes him look almost threatening, thus altering the observer’s perception of him.

Nel percorso espositivo anche le foto dei suoi amati cani, metafora del genere umano a cui Erwitt ha dedicato numerosi libri, e un portfolio di immagini dedicate all’amore, fra queste il bacio di due innamorati riflessi nello specchietto dell’auto al tramonto, rimasta a lungo nel suo archivio e riscoperta in tempi recenti. Ci sono poi foto private, come quella alla sua primogenita Ellen, ancora neonata osservata nel letto dalla madre, e gli autoritratti di Erwitt segno distintivo della sua grande autoironia.

The exhibition also hosts photographs of Erwitt’s beloved dogs, a metaphor of mankind to which he has devoted numerous books, and a portfolio of images devoted to love, including two lovers kissing reflected in the wing mirror of a car at sunset, an image that remained hidden in his personal archive before being rediscovered only recently. And then there are his private photos, for instance the photograph of his firstborn daughter Ellen as a newborn baby on her mother’s bed, and his self-portraits, a distinctive mark of his unparalleled ability to poke fun at himself.