David Levinthal

Some information on a popular contemporary photographer...

David Levinthal was born in San Francisco in 1949. Levinthal received his B.A. in Studio Art from Stanford University in 1970. He went on to earn a Masters of Fine Arts in Photography from Yale University in 1973 and in 1981 he received a S.M. of Management Science from MIT. He currently lives and works in New York.

He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions over the years. The most recent solo exhibitions in Texas took place in 2006. Gerald Peters Gallery in Dallas hosted “David Levinthal” and The Menil Collection in Houston hosted “Blackface”. His work has become a part of many public collections both nationally and internationally. Three public collections in Texas include Levinthal’s work: Amon Carter Museum of Fort Worth, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and Museum of Fine Arts of Houston.

Levinthal does not limit himself to creating work only for art’s sake, he also creates commercial pieces. He has photographed for Absolute Vodka, and IBM. He has also collaborated for magazine spreads such as Entertainment Weekly and Wired Magazine.

David Levinthal has had 10 books published, the most recent being Netsuke.

As a child, Levinthal was completely comfortable with the ability to transform his physical environment by any means necessary. This compulsion to alter his environment translates into his method of photographing miniature worlds, which he has created. He creates these worlds by utilizing doll houses and accessories. The figurines he uses are ordered from a company in Germany that specializes in train sets.

Formally, Levinthal’s first concern is the manipulation of space, secondly light. Levinthal treats color as a means to an end. Color only heightens the theatrical sense of drama achieved by the manipulation of light.

Technically, Levinthal uses a 20 x 24 Polaroid camera. I was unable to find any documentation to verify specifically how Levinthal creates his editions. However, a Polaroid camera (complete with an operator) is available for rental. One cost effective method to create editions from a Polaroid would be to create one 20 x 24 Polaroid print, have it scanned and printed as a lambda or light jet print.

Conceptually, Levinthal uses issues that he addresses in his personal life. He is Jewish, so creating a series addressing the Holocaust is one way of exploring his heritage. He has explored cultures different from his own in his series “Blackface” and “Netsuke”. Levinthal addresses American ideals in “Baseball” and “Barbie”. Voyeurism is a conceptual element that consistently reappears. Voyeurism can be found in the series “Modern Romance”, ”American Beauties”, “Desire”, “XXX”, and “Netsuke”. Nostalgia is another popular element in his work. The figurines are in and of themselves a nostalgic component considering the fact the figurines are basically children’s toys. Nostalgic subject matter is found in his series “Wild West”, “Barbie”, and “Baseball”. One might even say “Blackface” and “American Beauties” have a nostalgic ambiance.

Check out his web page: David Levinthal

Labels: Contemporary photographers, David Levinthal

posted by Amy G @ 10:55 PM