Louis Stettner
1922–2016
Introduction
Louis Stettner (November 7, 1922 – October 13, 2016) was an American photographer of the 20th century whose work included streetscapes, portraits and architectural images of New York and Paris. His work has been highly regarded because of its humanity and capturing the life and reality of the people and streets. Starting in 1947, Stettner photographed the changes in the people, culture, and architecture of both cities. He continued to photograph New York and Paris up until his death.
Louis Stettner’s works are posthumously managed by the Louis Stettner Estate.
Wikidata identifier
Q3263136
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed July 4, 2025.
Introduction
Photographer of city streets, primarily New York and Paris, he was a product of the Photo League and its focus on socially conscious documentary work. Though he took a short course on technique, and was mentored by Sid Grossman, Stettner was mostly self-taught. He curated an exhibition that introduced Brassaï and Doisneau to US audiences in the 1940s. His first solo show was in 1954 at the Limelight Gallery in NYC. He taught at Brooklyn College, Queens College, Cooper Union, and Long Island University. A collection of his work, “Early Joys,” was published in 1987 after a retrospective exhibition in Geneva in 1986. He other retrospectives at the Bonni Benrubi Gallery in Manhattan in 2002, and at the François-Mitterrand Library in Paris in 2012. In 1996, Rizzoli published “Louis Stettner’s New York, 1950s-1990s.”
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, photographer
ULAN identifier
500346951
Names
Louis Stettner, Louis J. Stettner
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed July 4, 2025.
