Spanning six decades, from the 1930s to the 1980s, Street View reflects the development of street photography as a record of city life and shifting social and economic conditions. Drawn from the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, this exhibition highlights the work of seven photographers whose seminal visions helped to describe the 20th-century urban landscape.

Harry Callahan (1912–1999) was a self-taught photographer. He approached image-making in photography in new and diverse ways. As well as a highly formal approach, he used extreme contrasts, multiple exposures, time exposures and super impositions. Underlying many of his works is a strong commitment to the architectonics of urban and natural spaces. Callahan could also work expertly with emptiness and barely defined spaces, ones that hover at, as he stated, “the edge of nothing-ness—the point where you can’t go any farther.”1

Leon Levinstein (1908–1988) had a reputation for being a loner. He spoke very little about his photography, and his personal and professional relationships were often strained.However, his work was supported by key figures of the time, such as Edward Steichen. Levinstein’s photographs are marked by a strong presence of form and deep sympathy for his subject. As Lisette Model once wrote: “He creates shapes that have meaning and makes his statement through plastic means and always in relation to life.”2

Weegee (Arthur Fellig) (1899–1968) is famous for his tabloid photographs of crime, disasters, and destitution. His pseudonym, “Weegee,” probably refers to the Ouija board, and was derived from his uncanny ability to arrive at the scene of a crime before the police. Weegee used a large-format camera with a flash, a combination that allowed for high detail, instantaneousness, and theatricality. He often developed his film in the trunk of his car to get photographs to the press quickly. His book Naked City (1945) was an instant success. He moved to Hollywood, photographing film stars and the nightlife of the rich and famous, and published Naked Hollywood in 1953.

Lisette Model (1901–1983) started photographing in 1933 and moved to New York in 1937. Model worked for Harper’s Bazaar, Look and Vogue. She carefully framed her subjects and then manipulated the image in the darkroom, burning, dodging, and cropping to create expressionistic effects. She understood the image as a subjective expression, stating that “Photography starts with the projection of the photographer, his understanding of life and himself into the picture.”3 Model was also an influential teacher. Some of her most famous students include Diane Arbus, Larry Fink,Rosalind Solomon and Bruce Weber.

Helen Levitt (1913–2009) drew inspiration throughout her career from the streets of East Harlem, the East Village, and the Lower East Side. She first learned photography while working for a commercial photographer in the Bronx and bought a second-hand Leica after meeting Henri Cartier-Bresson. A favourite subject was children and their playful, often rambunctious activities—from games to street chalk drawings. Levitt also worked on films and supported herself as a film editor. She is celebrated as a pioneer for her work in colour transparencies (slides), which began in 1959.

Bruce Gilden (b. 1946) prowls the streets of major urban centres, thrusting his camera in front of people. His method is harsh and aggressive. Unlike many photographers, he does not use a long lens. He positions the camera so close to his subjects that most think he is photographing something behind them. Because of this proximity, as well as being constantly on the move, Gilden shoots at disconcerting angles.He also uses a flash, which captures people unaware and allows for a more instantaneous shot. Gilden strives for raw-ness, summarized in his quip that “If you can smell the street by looking at the photograph, then it’s a street photograph.”4

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) is one of the giant figures of 20th-century photography. In 1947 he and others formed the photography agency Magnum Photos. Cartier-Bresson is celebrated for his idea of the “decisive moment,” or the capacity “to recognize—simultaneously and within a fraction of a second—both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning.”5 Cartier-Bresson understood photography as a rigorous discipline requiring “concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry.” But to give meaning to the world, “one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder.”6

From scenes of gritty human drama to formal compositions of urban architecture, these photographs evocatively frame public space and its inhabitants. Each photographer’s contribution to the canon of street photography is indisputable, as is the iron going influence on the work of contemporary image-makers.

Curated by Andrea Kunard and Bonnie Rubenstein