A Master Turns 90 — and His Photos Will Make You Smile: How a Man Who Loves Dogs and Cuba Became an Art Star

Sometimes you just want to end your workweek with a smile on your face. That was my plan recently when I decided to pop in to preview the Elliot Erwitt exhibition at PDNB (Photographs Do Not Bend) Gallery. Erwitt’s photographs are not cotton-candy fluff by any stretch of the imagination, however they always seem to put me in a good mood.

You could say that photography is the art medium that is the gateway drug to an art-collecting addiction. It’s a wonderfully accessible medium and generally at a price-point that is easy for most to fathom. (Who starts out collecting seven-figure Jeff Koons?) I had a nice chat with Missy Finger, PDNB Gallery Director, about that idea on my visit.

Finger shared that she does “not feel that photography as a medium remains the ‘bastard child’ in the art world.” With that formerly used moniker, many de-valued the worth of an art form that most could replicate by simply purchasing a camera. No need for classical training with paint brushes and acrylics. Finger remarked, “even though everyone has a camera in their phone, I think the validity of photography as art is more and more recognized.” The numbers support these observations as prices are climbing into the eight-figures with auctions and the secondary market.

Finger points to the many museums in our region for helping raise local awareness of photography. Finger credits Michael Auping, former chief curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and Jack Lane, former director of the Dallas Museum of Art, for focusing on the medium in a profound way by exhibiting and acquiring works by David Levinthal, Craigie Horsfield, Sally Mann, and Carrie Mae Weems in the late 1990s and 2000s.

The PDNB Gallery exhibition celebrates Erwitt’s 90th birthday, featuring iconic works from the 1950s to the present time, and some most recently from Cuba where the photographer first visited almost 50 years ago.

Erwitt started to make a living in photography in southern California at the age of 15, with a darkroom job, printing movie star’s photographs. Artists that inspired him included Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugène Atget and Amedeo Modigliani. When he moved to New York, the renowned photographer and Museum of Modern Art curator, Edward Steichen, gave him advice and helped him get his first commercial job.

After serving in the military, Erwitt became a member of Magnum Photo Agency in 1953. Before his service, he had met Robert Capa in New York, and while stationed in France, he met up with him again to show him his photographs. After admiring Cartier-Bresson’s work for so long, Erwitt was now a member of the agency that he and Capa formed.

Erwitt’s Dogs

The PDNB Gallery show includes memorable images of dogs, one of his most treasured subjects. When I chatted with the artist he shared that one of his reasons for dogs was that “you don’t need to ask their permission and they won’t get annoyed.” In addition to these four-legged portraits, the exhibition also includes important images of political figures such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Richard Nixon, and Nikita Khrushchev.

I’ve always loved and admired Erwitt’s work since it’s nostalgic at times but never gets cloyingly melancholy. His lens glides easily between charming humorous subject matter and other work with more depth – like the powerful Nixon and Khrushchev shot. Even when capturing a mundane interior of a room with a television set Erwitt’s adroitness with confining the space in a cinematic manner is powerfully subtle.

Erwitt’s photographs are in museum collections around the world including many in North Texas. If you feel like ending your week with a smile, stop by the PDNB Gallery to behold an assortment of images captured through a master’s lens. Given that photography is such an accessible price-point, perhaps one will end up in your collection.

Elliot Erwitt is on view through November 10, 2018. PDNB Gallery is open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 am to 5 pm and by appointment. 154 Glass Street, Ste. 104, Dallas, 214.969.1852 info@pdnbgallery.com