New York
Helen Levitt
American, 1913–2009
1980
A color photograph in which Helen Levitt freezes a casual urban moment—a suited man pausing in a phone booth to light a cigarette—inviting a close look at ordinary city behavior.
The booth's narrow frame and the man's relaxed, slightly theatrical pose pull you in, while the layered street beyond—signage, cars, and a passing commuter—keeps the scene vibrating between intimacy and the city's bustle.
Taken late in her career, this image shows how Levitt elevated overlooked gestures of everyday life into quietly poetic pictures, helping to expand street photography's interest in color and the ordinary as meaningful subject matter.
Medium
Chromogenic print, printed c. 2005
Dimensions
18 × 11 15/16" (45.7 × 30.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Marvin Hoshino
Accession
1257.2009.x1-x2
Palette
Exhibitions
