Photographer Elliott Erwitt began documenting Pittsburgh’s transformation into a modern metropolis in 1950. During the Great Depression, Erwitt shot hundreds of frames on behalf of Roy Stryker, the man who spearheaded the massive documentary photography projects carried out by the US government.
His photographs document community life against the backdrop of urban change, highlighting his quiet observations with a playful wit that has defined his style for the last five decades. Erwitt enlisted in the army after only 4 months and was sent to Germany, leaving his negatives in Stryker’s Pittsburgh Photographic Library.
Here are beautiful black and white photographs Erwitt took of Pittsburgh in 1950.
