© 1979, Arthur Leipzig
Currently not on view
Hebrew Class, Benker, in Ethiopia,
1979
Arthur Leipzig, American, 1918–2014
2011-167
More Context
Didactics
Leipzig was a staff photographer at the leftist <em>PM</em> newspaper in the 1940s, before he launched a career as a freelance photojournalist. His photographs aimed to capture decisive moments and to serve as humanist documents, whether the artist was on assignment to cover coal miners in Virginia, his fellow New Yorkers, or a community of African Jews in Ethiopia. In <em>Hebrew Class</em>, Leipzig creates a visual stacking of students, those in the foreground in sharp focus and those in the background gently out of focus. This density of children and the range of their expressions, from attentive to distracted, combine to offer a universalizing portrait of learning.
Information
Title
Hebrew Class, Benker, in Ethiopia
Dates
1979
Maker
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 41.9 x 28.2 cm. (16 1/2 x 11 1/8 in.)
sheet: 42.9 x 35.7 cm. (16 7/8 x 14 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Michael Rips, Class of 1976
Object Number
2011-167
Place Depicted
Africa, Ethiopia
Signatures
Signed on mat in graphite, lower right
Culture
Period
Techniques
Subject
