Hyperallergic's Summer Books Roundup: Levitt, Church, and More
Hyperallergic's July 2 newsletter features a critic's reflection on a comprehensive book about photographer Helen Levitt, edited by Joshua Chuang, which includes rarely seen images and scholarly essays covering her six-decade career. Born in Bensonhurst in 1913, Levitt lived her entire life in New York City except for a five-month trip to Mexico, and was friends with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans, collaborating with James Agee. The book highlights her early Leica expeditions, 1941 Mexico trip, color photography experiments, New York subway series, and final 1980s photographs. Additionally, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Benjamin Moser reviews Victoria Johnson's biography of Hudson River painter Frederic Edwin Church, noting how Church conveyed national anxieties about slavery, war, and disunion through landscapes. The newsletter also promotes articles on album art and design by Divya Mehra, William Kentridge's studio, and Susan Gubar's 'Grand Finales: The Creative Longevity of Women Artists'.
Key facts
- Helen Levitt was born in Bensonhurst in 1913 and died at age 95 in Greenwich Village.
- Levitt lived in New York City her entire life except for a five-month trip to Mexico.
- She was friends with photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans.
- Levitt collaborated with writer James Agee.
- The book 'Helen Levitt' is edited by Joshua Chuang.
- Benjamin Moser reviewed Victoria Johnson's biography of Frederic Edwin Church.
- Church's landscapes conveyed anxieties about slavery, war, and disunion.
- Susan Gubar's 'Grand Finales' profiles women artists who found freedom in old age.
Entities
Artists
- Helen Levitt
- Henri Cartier-Bresson
- Walker Evans
- James Agee
- Frederic Edwin Church
- William Kentridge
- Raymond Pettibon
- Divya Mehra
- Benjamin Moser
- Victoria Johnson
- Susan Gubar
- Sophia Stewart
- Natalie Weis
Institutions
- Hyperallergic
Locations
- New York City
- Bensonhurst
- Greenwich Village
- Mexico
- Flatbush