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The Recoletos Hall at the Mapfre Foundation presents an exhibition focusing on the career of the New York photographer Louis Stettner from 1 June to 27 August. It is an exhibition that offers an exhaustive review of his career spanning almost eighty works through more than 180 works.

With a career spanning over almost eighty years, the work of Louis Stettner (New York, 1922 – Paris, 2016) incorporates the tradition of American street photography and French humanist photography, in a very personal style. He trained at the New York Photo League School before moving to Paris in 1947, where he established a close relationship with Brassaï, who became his friend and mentor.

The poetry of Walt Whitman and the social concerns of Marxism were a source of inspiration for his images.  Therefore, his photos of New York or Paris reflect the vital celebration and exaltation of the modern city which is so characteristic of the author of Leaves of Grass, whilst his images of workers performing their trades explicitly dignify the proletariat.

Image Credit:

Louis Stettner. Brooklyn Promenade, Brooklyn, 1954. Courtesy of the Louis Stettner Archive, Paris © Louis Stettner