Helen Levitt

signed, titled, and dated by the photographer in pencil on the reverse, matted, framed, circa 1940

Collection of the photographer

Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, 1989

Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago, 1989

Acquired by the Quillan Company from the above, 1989

Jill Quasha, The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs (New York, 1991), pl. 17 (this print)

Other prints of this image:

Helen Levitt, A Way of Seeing (Durham, 1989), pl. 45

Sandra S. Phillips and Maria Morris Hambourg, Helen Levitt (The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 24

Peter Galassi, Walker Evans & Company (The Museum of Modern Art, 2000, in conjunction with the exhibition), fig. 23

This photograph is on heavy single-weight paper that has a faint sheen to its surface. When the print is examined closely in raking light, a small one-cm. handling crease can be seen near the top edge of the image, in the doorframe. Some faint and inconsequential rippling of the print can be seen in raking light, as well. There is a crease in the center of the upper margin that does not intrude upon the image.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Gypsy, East Harlem, New York, is one of Helen Levitt's favorites among her own photographs.  In a recent conversation, she recalled the circumstances of its making: how she saw a gypsy woman sitting outside, smoking a cigarette, on a stoop in East Harlem; how she asked the woman if she could go inside and photograph; how the subject of the present image agreed to a second photograph when the flash did not go off at first try.  The photograph was made with a 4 x 5 view camera borrowed from Walker Evans, a departure from Levitt's usual working methods, as was the interior setting.  Most accustomed to working on the street, with a small, handheld Leica, Levitt nonetheless displays here her instinctive talent for photographing people.    

The image of a young gypsy boy was included in Levitt's definitive volume, A Way of Seeing, first published in New York in 1965.  Her friend James Agee, in his introduction, wrote of this photograph, 'Adolescence is a kingdom of fallen and still falling angels, but it is yet a kingdom, with its own kinds of wild animal glamour . . .' (p. xiv).