For a long time I was in the habit of looking through a photobook every evening, so my book collection is alive to me—I know it intimately. I noticed the other day that Amazon is listing a few "new old" copies of one of my favorites, Helen Levitt's Crosstown. Just a great book in every way. It went out of print very quickly. Really worth seeking out.
Whenever someone somewhere gives in to hyperbole and calls Vivian Maier "the greatest American street photographer of the 20th century" or words to that effect, I just smile inside and think, really? Greater than Helen Levitt? No offense to the once-obscure, now-famous nanny or her fabulous tale of discovery, but no way.
Crosstown is a book that repays revisiting.
Reviewing
I'll be posting a couple more nice book reviews today—including one of Harry Gruyaert, by Ken Tanaka—but first, I have a TOP reader coming by for a portfolio review—the second here at Lonesome Hilly Farmland HQ. I'll show you a few of the first reviewee's fine and fascinating pictures soon.
Mike
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Yes, Crosstown is among my favorites, too, Mike. It's one of the relatively few photo books that engages me like a good novel. (Bruce Davidson's books are also in that group.)
But Helen Levitt versus Vivian Maier...hmmm. An interesting thought exercise, to be sure. They have some commonalities as well as critical differences. Honestly I'm not completely confident crowning Levitt the unqualified winner. Different times, different lives, different work. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some clever young curator manages to construct a side-by-side museum show of them one day in the future, rather like the Moriyama/Klein show at the Tate Modern a couple of years ago.
Posted by: Kenneth Tanaka | Wednesday, 14 October 2015 at 10:21 AM
With all respect to Helen Levitt, who is certainly one of the greatest, but really, nobody, but nobody, touches Elliott Erwitt as a street photographer.
Posted by: Dave Jenkins | Wednesday, 14 October 2015 at 11:10 AM
I know there's a lot to cover on TOP but here's a vote for regular photo book reviews.
Posted by: Andrew | Wednesday, 14 October 2015 at 11:57 AM
I have the substantial 1991 SFMMA catalog, "Helen Levitt," as well as "Slide Show, The Color Photographs of Helen Levitt," from powerHouse Books, 2005. As much as I admire "Crosstown" and a couple of her other later books, these two provide a comprehensive cross section of her work that precludes my acquiring other titles.
Slipped between the front pages of "Slide Show" is an invitation for a 1983 reception for her exhibition "Street Portrait" at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where I was able to meet and speak with her. As I recall, she was very gracious, a dignified and (if I may so presume) courageous old lady.
Posted by: Rodger Kingston | Wednesday, 14 October 2015 at 01:11 PM
Ever since I was a kid old enough to turn pages (4 or 5) I "ate" photo books from National Geographic to Life Magazine.
To say they influenced my later adult life would be an understatement.
Fortunately or unfortunately, they influenced my photography and I still "think and see" in terms of Gene Smith, David Duncan and the early street photographers such as HCB.
It is part of my psyche and I cannot escape it.
I seem to think in black and white.
I never really appreciated Helen Levitt as much as I suppose I should have, but she was not on my menu.
Sad.
Only my two pesos.
Posted by: Hugh Smith | Wednesday, 14 October 2015 at 02:07 PM
I always appreciate the books to which you draw our attention. I am fortunate to live in suburban Chicago and, through the miracle of inter-library loan, have been able to get my hands on some out of print gems that I might never have otherwise seen. One of the member libraries has "Crosstown" in its collection along with other Helen Levitt books and I just reserved a few. I sometimes find myself buying books after first seeing them this way and, again, am glad you are pointing us in the direction of such great works.
Posted by: Danfogel | Wednesday, 14 October 2015 at 05:09 PM
Damn the hyperbole and no disrespect to Helen whatsoever, but gotta go with Vivian (and no, it's not just about the story behind her photos- her work more than adequately speaks for itself).
Posted by: Stan B. | Thursday, 15 October 2015 at 03:42 AM
Helen Levitt, Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, Vivian Maier...how on Earth is it possible to choose just one as being the best? And that's just a few American street photographers. Cross the pond and we find Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Willy Ronis, Bret Hardy, Martin Parr, the list goes on and on as you tour the continents of the world.
In street photography, there is no shortage of titans.
Posted by: Alan Carmody | Friday, 16 October 2015 at 06:20 AM
Jack said, "[I]f forced to choose one lens, it would be the 30–90mm S zoom."
Is a zoom "one lens?"
[Sure. It's just not one focal length. --Mike]
Posted by: Stephen Gilbert | Sunday, 18 October 2015 at 02:03 PM