Museo Civico Archeologico and Elliott Erwitt. The Art of Seeing
October 1, 2026 – February 28, 2027
An unprecedented journey into the intimate world of one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century
Bologna, July 30, 2026 – Elliott Erwitt. The Art of Seeing, on view from October 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027 at the Museo Civico Archeologico in Bologna, offers a fresh perspective on the work of Elliott Erwitt (Paris, 1928 – New York, 2023), one of the most important photographers of the 20th century. Moving beyond the iconic images that established his international reputation, the exhibition reveals a more intimate and personal portrait of the photographer.
Curated by Biba Giacchetti, produced and organized by Civita Mostre e Musei in collaboration with the Museo Civico Archeologico, part of the Settore Musei Civici of the Comune di Bologna, the exhibition sets out to portray not only the photographer who transformed everyday life into images that have become part of our collective memory, but above all the man behind the lens: the father, husband, friend, traveller, and tireless observer of the human condition.
The exhibition brings together around one hundred photographs spanning Erwitt’s entire career, combining some of his most celebrated works with a significant selection of images from his private collection, many of which have never before been exhibited to the public.
The project aims to offer a new perspective on Erwitt’s work, revealing how even his best-known photographs emerged from fragments of his own biography, only to immediately transcend their personal origins. From Erwitt’s intimate and deeply personal narrative emerges a universal form of photography: although rooted in private experiences, his images capture emotions and feelings shared by all of humanity. It is precisely this ability to speak to everyone that makes them so remarkably timeless.
More than a chronological retrospective, Elliott Erwitt. The Art of Seeing takes the form of a portrait in motion, intertwining private memory with collective history and revealing the complexity of a vision that left a profound mark on 20th-century photography.
The choice of Bologna as the exhibition venue confirms the Museo Civico Archeologico’s commitment to fostering meaningful collaborations and synergies across disciplines, ranging from archaeology to photography, in order to offer the public high-quality exhibitions of broad cultural interest.
The exhibition
The exhibition unfolds across five sections, guiding visitors through the life and work of the photographer. Alongside the images that made Elliott Erwitt famous around the world — photographs that have been part of the collective imagination since the landmark exhibition The Family of Man, curated by Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955 — is an entire section devoted to his most personal work. Here, photography takes the form of a diary, without ever becoming a mere family album: private images reveal emotions, relationships, and gestures in which everyone can recognise something of themselves.
The photographs offer a glimpse into Erwitt’s private life: his wives, his children, his closest friends, his mentor Edward Steichen, portrayed with Erwitt’s first daughter, and Sammy, the faithful dog who accompanied him for many years. Even photographs that have become universally known are restored to their original context. The celebrated portrait of young Ellen observed by her mother, for example, is presented not only as one of the iconic images of 20th-century photography, but also as a moment from Erwitt’s family life that, almost inadvertently, became a universal icon.
Some of the works on display belong to a previously unseen body of work and are being presented to the public for the first time. Each photograph is accompanied by a text reconstructing its human, emotional, and biographical context, offering an interpretation that goes beyond the image itself to reveal the story of the life from which it emerged.
The curatorial project
At the heart of the project is the desire to reveal how Elliott Erwitt’s photography has always been deeply autobiographical. His irony, often interpreted as a distinctive stylistic trait, actually stems from an extraordinary ability to observe life in all its contradictions, moments of tenderness, fragility, and unexpected lightness.
His private photographs enter into dialogue with his major photojournalistic work, the events that shaped the 20th century, and his celebrated portraits of leading figures from international politics, cinema, and culture. The funeral of President John F. Kennedy, encounters with major film stars, street photography, family life, and episodes from everyday life coexist within the same narrative, demonstrating that, for Erwitt, there was never a true separation between history and life.
The entire exhibition is permeated by his unmistakable sense of irony: a way of looking at reality without rhetoric, yet with elegance, compassion, and extraordinary clarity.
Italy in Elliott Erwitt’s Life
A significant chapter of the exhibition is devoted to the relationship between Elliott Erwitt and Italy. Before emigrating to the United States, he spent a formative period of his life in Milan. At the age of ten, as a result of the Fascist racial laws, he was forced to leave Italy with his family. Yet this forced departure never weakened his deep connection with the country. On the contrary, he continued to love Italy and returned throughout his life, maintaining a profound sense of affection and belonging that never faded.
Those years in Milan played a decisive role in shaping his visual imagination and cultural sensibility. For Erwitt, Italy represented far more than a place associated with his childhood: it became an emotional homeland, one that would continually resurface in his memories and in the way he looked at the world. This connection emerges throughout the exhibition, in both the photographs and the accompanying texts, helping to trace a biography that was profoundly European and international.
The Exhibition Texts
The photographs are accompanied by original texts written by the exhibition curator, Biba Giacchetti, who shared more than thirty years of professional collaboration and friendship with Elliott Erwitt. This long-standing personal and professional relationship provided access to previously unseen materials, stories, and first-hand accounts that form one of the most distinctive elements of the exhibition project.
The exhibition therefore offers not only a critical reassessment of Erwitt’s work, but also an account of his life through personal memories, conversations, and first-hand testimonies that reveal often little-known episodes from his life. These accounts provide a new perspective on his work, highlighting the profound relationship between personal experience and artistic creation.
What emerges is a narrative weaving together memory, biography, and photography, allowing visitors to discover not only the great photographer, but also the man behind the images. It is precisely from this intimate and personal dimension that the universal power of his photography emerges: images that, although rooted in private experiences, speak to each of us and convey shared emotions capable of transcending time.
Biography
Elliott Erwitt, born Elio Romano Erwitz, was born in Paris in 1928 to a family of Russian émigrés. He spent his early years in Milan, Italy. At the age of ten, as a result of the Fascist racial laws, he was forced to leave Italy with his family, moving first to France and then, in 1939, to the United States: initially to New York and, two years later, to Los Angeles. His connection with Italy, however, never faded: Erwitt continued to love the country and returned there throughout his life.
While attending Hollywood High School, Erwitt worked in a photography lab producing “signed” prints for fans of Hollywood stars. His major breakthrough came during trips to New York in search of work, where he met figures such as Edward Steichen, Robert Capa, and Roy Stryker. Impressed by his photographs, they became important mentors in his early career.
In 1949, he returned to Europe, travelling and photographing people and everyday life in Italy and France. These years marked the beginning of his career as a professional photographer.
Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951, he continued to work for various publications while also carrying out photographic assignments for the Army, during postings in New Jersey, Germany, and France. In 1953, after completing his military service, Elliott Erwitt was invited by Robert Capa, one of its founding members, to join Magnum Photos. He remained a member throughout his career and became the agency’s president in 1968, serving three terms.
Today, Erwitt is recognised as one of the greatest photographers of all time. For more than forty years, his books, photo essays, illustrations, and advertising campaigns appeared in publications around the world.
While continuing his work as a photographer, Erwitt began making films in the 1970s. His documentaries include Beauty Knows No Pain (1971), Red, White and Blue Grass (1973), and The Glass Maker of Herat (1977), which received recognition from the American Film Institute. In the 1980s, Erwitt produced seventeen satirical comedies for television for Home Box Office. From the 1990s onwards, he continued an intense professional career, exploring a wide range of photographic genres and subjects.
Over the course of his career, Erwitt published more than 45 photography books, including The Private Experience (1974), Son of Bitch (1974), Museum Watching (1998), Personal Best (2006), Elliott Erwitt’s Kolor (2013), and Found, Not Lost (2021).
Elliott Erwitt died in New York on November 29, 2023, at the age of ninety-five. His work continues to stand as one of the most significant achievements of contemporary humanist photography.
Informations
The Art of Seeing
October 1, 2026
Museo Civico Archeologico
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