icebear
Veteran
Here an article of the NY Times from yesterday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/arts/design/louis-stettner-dead.html?_r=0
QUOTE[
Louis Stettner, a photographer who explored the streets of the two cities he called his “spiritual mothers,” New York and Paris, recording the daily lives of ordinary people, died on Thursday at his home in Saint-Ouen, France. He was 93.
His death was announced by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Mr. Stettner, a New Yorker, was a product of the Photo League and its emphasis on socially conscious, documentary work, exemplified by members and supporters like Weegee, Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank. “I have never been interested in photographs based solely on aesthetics, divorced from reality,” he wrote in his photo collection “Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets,” published in 1999. “I also doubt very much whether this is possible.”
While living in Paris after World War II, he also found inspiration in a new wave of French photographers, including Robert Doisneau, Brassaï and Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose outlook seemed to dovetail with the league’s. He was particularly taken with Brassaï. “Brassaï showed me that it was possible to find something significant in photographing subjects in everyday life doing ordinary things by interpreting them in your own way and with your own personal vision,” Mr. Stettner told The Financial Times in June.
]UNQUOTE
Louis Stettner doesn't seem to be well known here in the US. Back as a teenager when photography sparked my interest I got a couple of cheap poster size prints of his New York shots that had on my room walls. I will get to my book shelf and revisit some of his work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/arts/design/louis-stettner-dead.html?_r=0
QUOTE[
Louis Stettner, a photographer who explored the streets of the two cities he called his “spiritual mothers,” New York and Paris, recording the daily lives of ordinary people, died on Thursday at his home in Saint-Ouen, France. He was 93.
His death was announced by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Mr. Stettner, a New Yorker, was a product of the Photo League and its emphasis on socially conscious, documentary work, exemplified by members and supporters like Weegee, Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank. “I have never been interested in photographs based solely on aesthetics, divorced from reality,” he wrote in his photo collection “Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets,” published in 1999. “I also doubt very much whether this is possible.”
While living in Paris after World War II, he also found inspiration in a new wave of French photographers, including Robert Doisneau, Brassaï and Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose outlook seemed to dovetail with the league’s. He was particularly taken with Brassaï. “Brassaï showed me that it was possible to find something significant in photographing subjects in everyday life doing ordinary things by interpreting them in your own way and with your own personal vision,” Mr. Stettner told The Financial Times in June.
]UNQUOTE
Louis Stettner doesn't seem to be well known here in the US. Back as a teenager when photography sparked my interest I got a couple of cheap poster size prints of his New York shots that had on my room walls. I will get to my book shelf and revisit some of his work.
ASA 32
Well-known
Deserving of more attention, definitely.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
In the Leica-literature of the 1950's his name is often encountered. I very much enjoyed his work. In later years he seemed to have disappeared.
Erik.
Erik.
Anthony Harvey
Well-known
Thank you very much for this.
I've always loved his photographs. My favourite is of two children in the Rue des Martyrs, Paris, taken in 1951. It's of a boy of about ten pulling a girl of about eight along in Paris street, trying to hurry her up. They could be going home from school. It's so typical of childhood, so carefree, and the girl's face is so expressive. A great picture.
I'm probably not allowed to show it here but those who are interested can google "Louis Stettner Rue des Martyrs 1951" to get straight to it.
I've always loved his photographs. My favourite is of two children in the Rue des Martyrs, Paris, taken in 1951. It's of a boy of about ten pulling a girl of about eight along in Paris street, trying to hurry her up. They could be going home from school. It's so typical of childhood, so carefree, and the girl's face is so expressive. A great picture.
I'm probably not allowed to show it here but those who are interested can google "Louis Stettner Rue des Martyrs 1951" to get straight to it.