“On Assignment” with Arthur Leipzig
at Hillwood Art Museum on the C.W. Post Campus
November 10 – December 23, 2005
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 10, 5 to 8 p.m.
Lecture by Arthur Leipzig: Thursday, December 1, 7 p.m.

November 1, 2005 – Brookville, NY – Celebrated photographer Arthur Leipzig, known for his inspired portrayals of daily life, will showcase more than five decades of his work with an exhibition of nearly 70 black-and-white photographs called “On Assignment.” A recently published book of the same title, published by Long Island University Press, will be available at the exhibition.

In comments included on the cover of Leipzig’s book, Dr. David J. Steinberg, president of Long Island University, observes that the photographer “has demonstrated that beauty is often found in the mundane reality of daily existence and can be seen in the lives of common folk.”

The collection’s diverse content takes viewers onto a fishing boat in the North Atlantic in mid-winter, into a community of African Jews in Ethiopia and underground, into a coal mine in West Virginia. Leipzig photographed his subjects between the 1940s and 1980s while on assignment for top publications including Fortune, Look, Parade, Natural History and The New York Times.

Born in Brooklyn in 1918, Arthur Leipzig’s photographs have been included in exhibitions such as Edward Steichen’s landmark “Family of Man” at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955 and in the Expo 67 exhibition “Man and His World.”  Leipzig’s photographs are in the permanent collections of some of the world’s leading museums including The Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum and The Jewish Museum in New York, The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and The Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.  In addition to his work as a photo-essayist, Leipzig was encouraged to teach by renowned photographer and curator Edward Steichen. As a result, Leipzig taught for 28 years at Long Island University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. 

Admission to Hillwood Art Museum is free and open to the public. Museum hours for this exhibition are Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursdays until 8:00 and Saturdays 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  Hillwood Art Museum is located on the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, 720 Northern Blvd. (Route 25A), Brookville. The Museum has ample free parking and is handicap accessible. For more information, call (516) 299-4073 or visit www.liu.edu/museum.