Helen Levitt – City at Play

Helen Levitt (1913–2009) is one of the defining voices of American photography in the 20th century. Born in Brooklyn, she found her main motif in the streets of New York. In the 1930s she began observing urban life in Harlem and on the Lower East Side, witnessing all its spontaneity, poetry and inconsistencies. Children and the drawings they left chalked on walls and pavements became a recurring theme for her.

A member of the Photo League, Levitt worked with Walker Evans and was influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson. She is regarded as one of the early pioneers of colour photography. Her work as a filmmaker and editor – for Luis Buñuel among others – instilled in her a keen sense of rhythm and narrative. 

More than 200 photographs spanning half a century, the documentary short film In the Street (1948), a projection of colour slides, and around 115 items of ephemera and archival material offer an insight into the breadth of her photographic work. 

The touring exhibition is a collaboration with Fundación Mapfre and was curated by Joshua Chuang. Its international venues include Fundación Mapfre in Barcelona and Madrid, Kunsthal Rotterdam and C/O Berlin.