1928-

Born in Paris in 1928, Elliott Erwitt spent his childhood in Milan.  His family immigrated to New York in 1939, before moving to Los Angeles in 1941.  His interest in photography began while he was a teenager living in Hollywood.  While attending Hollywood High School, he began working in a commercial darkroom.

In 1948 Erwitt moved to New York, where he met Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker.  After traveling in France and Italy in 1949, Erwitt returned to New York and began working as a professional photographer.  Drafted into the army in 1951, he continued to take photographs while stationed in Germany and France. Erwitt was invited to join Magnum Photos in 1953 by Robert Capa.  A member of the prestigious agency ever since, Erwitt has served several terms as its president.  One of the leading figures in the competitive field of magazine photography, Erwitt’s journalistic essays, illustrations, and advertisements have been featured in publications around the world for more than forty years.

Erwitt has had one-man exhibitions in numerous museums and galleries around the world including New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, Paris' Museum of Modern Art,  Zurich's Kunsthaus and Cologne's Photokina.  Erwitt travels extensively, but is presently based in New York City.