The photographs of Helen Levitt
Written by Philip Battle.
Anybody who has only a modicum of interest in children’s art will quickly realise that they live in the moment. Their art reflects their immediate feelings and emotions on an almost intangible subconscious level that is sometimes difficult to decipher. An adult will always try to work-out the meaning of an abstract form by asking the question “What is it?” to which the child will bring perfect meaning and logic to the most illogical (to us) lines and forms. Looking into a child’s drawing is sometimes like trying to decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphics; you know there is logic and thought behind it but it still sometimes seems alien to the adult mind.
The Chalking Kids of New York: Photo Helen Levitt (1938-1948)
Artists have long realised that ‘primitive’ child art contains a special jewel; A link to our cave dwelling origins long before our sophisticated notions of society, culture or aesthetics. A reason perhaps why artists like Picasso and others have spent their entire lives relearning how to draw ‘child-like’. An adult who can draw like a child but conveys a mature idea is very gifted indeed.
In the street: Photo Helen Levitt (1938-1948)
Children are visionaries, they see beyond themselves and their art becomes timeless.
street-art: Photo Helen Levitt (1938-1948)
I came across Helen Levitt’s photographs in a book called IN THE STREET, first published in 1987 but then reprinted in 2002; a fascinating photo journal of chalk drawings and messages taken in New York City between 1938 and 1948.
The book of black and white photos offered no explanation as to the meaning of the images or why the children had drawn what they had but what it did do is offer an insight into a world long gone. Like Lord of the Flies; these children had created a world of chalking art, all by themselves, with their own unique rules and meanings.
chalking artist: Photo Helen Levitt (1938-1948)
In 1939 James Agee wrote of these chalk drawings: “All over the city on streets and walks and walls the children…..have established ancient, essential and ephemeral forms of art, have set forth in chalk and crayon the names and images of their pride, love, preying, scorn, desire…… The lady in this house is Nuts…..Lois I have gone up the street. Don’t forget to bring your skates….Ruby loves Max but Max HATES Ruby….And drawings all over , of…..ships, homes….western hero’s…..and monsters….which each strong shower effaces.”
street-artists: Photo Helen Levitt (1938-1948)
For over 10 years, Levitt documented the imaginative life of the children; at a time when children still had some visual independence and a keen-eyed interest in laying pictorial claim to the world around them. In today’s world of television and video gaming, that sense of ‘visual independence’ has all but vanished. All our monsters and dreams are laid before us in graphic detail and even in 3D!
These photos offer a look backwards—but are timeless in some respects. Children will never really stop being tempted by their imaginative senses to ‘show and tell’—to let others see what they find themselves.
In the street: Photo Helen Levitt (1938-1948)
The chalking kids of New York rightly deserve their place in the history of pavement art; they created something totally different, without outside influence; a visual language as old as the pyramids and almost as difficult to decipher at times. The ideas, fantasy’s, dreams and passions—which these children once upon a time chose to render through the medium of chalk applied to pavement—a vulnerable but quite immediate and assertive reality.
chalking kid: Photo Helen Levitt (1938-1948)
HELEN LEVITT: grew up in Brooklyn. Dropping out of high school, she taught herself photography while working for a commercial photographer. While teaching some classes in art to children in 1937, Levitt became intrigued with the transitory chalk drawings that were part of the New York children’s street culture of the time. She purchased a Leica camera and began to photograph these works, as well as the children who made them. The resulting photographs were ultimately published in 1987 as In the Street: chalk drawings and messages, New York City 1938–1948.
Helen Levitt: August 31st 1913–March 29th 2009
Helen Levitt’s book: IN THE STREET, published 1987
Photos and reference material taken from IN THE STREET by Helen Levitt. published 1987. ISBN 0-8223-0771-5
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