New Comprehensive Book on Helen Levitt Reveals Rare Images

A new monograph, 'Helen Levitt', edited by Joshua Chuang and published by Thames and Hudson in 2026, offers an extensive survey of the photographer's six-decade career. The book includes rarely seen images and scholarly essays covering her early Leica work, 1941 Mexico trip, color experiments, New York subway series, and final 1980s photographs. Levitt, born in Bensonhurst in 1913, lived her entire life in New York City except for five months in Mexico. She was friends with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans, collaborated with James Agee, but never received the acclaim of her male peers. Known for 1930s children's chalk drawings, the book reveals her broader mastery of movement, body language, and social dynamics on New York streets. Historian Lauren Graves contributes an essay on the chalk drawings, while art historian Freya Field-Donovan writes about Levitt's interest in public space. Artist Joel Sternfeld discusses her pioneering color photography after a Guggenheim fellowship. The book accompanies a traveling exhibition organized by Chuang at Fundación MAPFRE. Levitt died at 95 in her Greenwich Village apartment.