Louis Stettner (1922)

Louis Stettner's photographs are critically acclaimed for their affecting humanism, strong and simple compositions, and sensitive use of light. Stettner was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his father was a furniture maker. He studied electrical engineering at Princeton University in New Jersey for two years before serving in World War II. By 1949 he was working as a photographer for such publications as Time, Paris-Match, and National Geographic. Stettner had his first of many one-man shows at the Limelight Gallery in New York in 1954. He studied at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques in Paris, from which he received a B.A. in photography and cinematography in 1956.

By 1972, Stettner was teaching at such colleges as The Cooper Union and Long Island University in New York, and at Bennington College in Vermont. Stettner is the subject of a book entitled Louis Stettner's New York, 1950s-1990s, published by Rizzoli in 1996. He has received numerous awards and honors for his photographs, and his work is included in the collections of museums including The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. Stettner currently lives in France.