Until Sunday 4 October, Helen Levitt. City at Play is on view at the Kunsthal. Featuring more than 220 photographs, a film and colour slides, the exhibition brings together over fifty years of work by one of the most important street photographers of the twentieth century.
Levitt (1913–2009) photographed everyday life in New York with a keen eye for the unexpected: children at play, chance encounters and small moments on the street. Her images are unposed, witty and tender, with a strong focus on the ordinary.
The exhibition has received widespread critical acclaim. NRC awarded the exhibition five stars and wrote: ‘New York street life [...] has rarely been captured as beautifully as it was by her.’ Museumtijdschrift describes Levitt as ‘the modest queen of urban theatre’, with ‘a fantastic eye for the spontaneous everyday, the subtle interactions between people, young and old’.
De Groene Amsterdammer also praises Levitt’s way of observing the city and its inhabitants. The exhibition offers a remarkable view of New York from the 1930s through to the 1990s – and of people, play and the everyday that is never entirely ordinary.
This is your last chance to discover Levitt’s unique view of New York. Helen Levitt. City at Play is on view in HAL 1 until 4 October.