Thesis & Background
Stickball, New York City 1950 ©Arthur Leipzig
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918, Arthur Leipzig grew up to originally work as a glass wholesaler (Leipzig). His career path was changed however when he incurred a serious injury to his right hand. As a result of this incident, Leipzig decided to join the Photo League in 1942. He utilized what he learned from the Photo League to land a job with Newspaper PM, where he worked for the next four years. In 1946, he left Newspaper PM and took a brief stint with International News Photos, which eventually led to him becoming a freelance photojournalist (Leipzig). The next step in Leipzig’s career was teaching at Long Island University, which he did for 28 years. In recognition of his work in photography, Leipzig has been awarded the Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art Photography, the National Urban League Photography Award, and several more awards.
Arthur Leipzig’s Growing Up in New York vividly illustrates the experiences of New Yorkers as they enter different stages in their lives. Initially analyzing the innocent play of youth, this photo book continues on to capture the romance, nightlife, and work that the city is comprised of. Additionally, it exposes political and social issues, albeit never really focusing on the disparity between the wealthy and the poor. Furthermore, Arthur Leipzig’s own experience with growing up in New York influenced his collection, for he focused on what he was able to see in the city as an insider. In addition, his Jewish background gave him the ability to truly understand the struggle and discrimination which some of the New Yorkers in his photos were subject to.
Much of Leipzig’s masterpiece is honest and taken from hip level. There exists very little if any manipulation as he depicts the natural movements of the city, unhampered by staging or intrusion. Even though many of Leipzig’s images are casual or routine, they depict emotion, energy, and faith. Not all of his pictures were of happiness, since a portion of his work displayed the poverty, racism, corruption, and violence of the city; however, through this, Arthur Leipzig showed that no matter how bad things could get, New Yorkers still were hopeful that things would get better. They may not have all believed in the same values or religion, but they all believed in hope (Leipzig). Leipzig captured this beauty in his wide range of photographs.
Ideal Laundry, 1946 ©Arthur Leipzig
Subway (Wall Street), 1949 ©Arthur Leipzig
Cory,
As you think more about your thesis, consider the elements of daily life that Leipzig characterizes through his photographs. Many are routine. Yet he manages to make the routine beautiful. What is he doing that accomplishes that? How is he seeing the world around him in Brooklyn? You use some key terms: romance, innocent play of youth, and seeing the city as an insider. Now try to translate those terms into visual language.
I enjoyed your discussion of the different aspects of life captured in Leipzig’s photography. You mentioned many very interesting ideas. Perhaps you could go back and expand on and further explore some of these ideas, rather than having them all grouped as one paragraph.
Cory,
Please be sure to check your posts for spelling and grammar. You misspell Leipzig’s name in the first sentence.
I think you really understood where your photographer was coming from and where you want to go with it. I think that you can add to this page by connecting the pictures at the bottom of the page to what you are saying. How do these pictures capture the social and political issues? The New York life? etc. I am excited to see how the finished portfolio turns out.
Cory, I think you did a great job of understanding your photographers methodology and the subjects that he photographed but I feel that you could expand much more on your ideas. You bring up a lot of interesting points, but I feel that you could connect them more and make them more understandable to the reader. You also should touch on the Jewishness of his photography and if there is a Jewish perspective seen in his photographs.
Cory,
You have received some excellent suggestions from Jonah and Haleigh.I would second them and urge you to add a bit more to this opening thesis and background.
I like the video clip about NYC although it would have been better had you found a trailer that included more images and a little less talking.
I think that Haleigh’s observation about the Jewishness of Leipzig’s photography could be connected to the Jewishness of NYC. He was taking photos during the years when Jews were the largest single ethnic group in the city, almost 30% of the total population.
Your first paragraph needs work. One doesn’t grow up originally to work. Please rewrite that sentence and consider a better opening sentence. The proper name is the New York Photo League. Once you introduce it (and you should briefly describe what it was), you can then call it the Photo League. The newspaper (lower case) was PM. Hence, you can say that he left PM, you don’t need to call it Newspaper.
I would urge you to comment on the photos you have chosen for this page and why they are meaningful to you and representative of Leipzig’s work.