he shared his early work with Stieglitz and Paul
Strand, who encouraged him. Essentially a self-
taught photographer, Stettner enrolled in a brief
eight-week course in photo basics at The Photo
League, an association of amateur and profes-
sional photographers committed to making
socially responsible documentary photographs.
His experience at The Photo League and his men-
tor Sid Grossman, another Photo League pho-
tographer, influenced Stettner to focus his
camera with sympathy on everyday people.
Throughout his career, he employed a variety of
cameras and formats to photograph the streets
including an 810 view camera on a tripod, a
2¼-inch Rolleiflex, and a 35-mm Lieca.
At the outbreak of World War II, Stettner
enlisted in the U.S. Army. He asked to be trained
as a combat photographer, and from 1940–41 he
was a military student in engineering at Princeton
University in New Jersey. From 1942–45, he was
assigned to the photography section of the Signal
Corps and was a combat photographer in New
Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan. It was after
the War that Stettner returned to New York eager
to start his photography career, and he became a
member of The Photo League. Also in 1945, Stett-
ner met documentary photographer Lewis Hine,
his mentor Sid Grossman, and tabloid news pho-
tographer Weegee (Arthur Fellig). He formed last-
ing friendships with Weegee and Grossman, and
they remained a lifelong influence on Stettner.
In July of 1946, Stettner traveled to Paris, and he
fell in love with the city, which persuaded him to live
and photograph there until 1952. Stettner forged his
mature artistic vision in Paris and befriended the
leading photographers Brassaı ̈,E ́douard Boubat,
Willy Ronis, Izis, and Robert Doisneau. His friend-
ship with Brassaı ̈, with whom he would regularly
meet to talk about photography at Brassaı ̈’s apart-
ment on the Boulevard St.-Jacques, had the most
impact on Stettner; he considered the great French
master his teacher. While in Paris, Stettner also met
regularly with American photographer Paul Strand
in 1951. Stettner’s early work in Paris was made
with an 810 view camera. He realized that work-
ing with a tripod slowed down his ability to quickly
capture telling vignettes and the poetry of the street,
and he also used a 2¼-inch Rolleiflex or a 35-mm
Leica rangefinder. Strolling the streets and working
in his humanist style that is both documentary and
poetic, Stettner photographed the lyrical vitality of
Paris as can be seen in his photographsAvenue de
Chatillon(now Avenue Jean Moulin), Paris, 1947
andBoulevard de Clichy, Paris, c. 1951. In 1949,
Stettner had his first exhibition in theSalon des
Inde ́pendants at the Bibliothe`que nationale. In
1950, at age 28, he received a top award fromLife
magazine in a young photographers contest. Also
during his time in Paris, Stettner worked as a free-
lance photographer forTime,Fortune,Du,Paris-
Matchand other American and French magazines
to support himself. He also received a commission
from The Photo League in 1947 to organize the first
exhibition of postwar French photographers in
New York; this marked the first time that Brassaı ̈,
Boubat, Ronis, Izis, Daniel Masclet, and Doisneau
were exhibited in America.
In 1952, Stettner returned to New York. He con-
tinued to work a series of freelance advertising and
photojournalist commissions so he could support his
art. His photographs of New York, a central theme of
his work, suggest the community yet anonymity of its
citizens. His iconic photographs such asManhattan
from the Brooklyn Promenade, 1954,Madison Ave-
nue, New York,1954,andElbowying, Out of Town
Newsstand, New York, 1954 evoke the poetry of his
vision. In 1958, Stettner produced one of his most
memorable New York series, photographs taken at
Pennsylvania Station. He exploited the artistic poten-
tial of blur, grain, and high contrast to capture the
beauty of the glistening silver trains, the architecture
of the old Penn Station, and New York’s commuters.
Using the natural framing device of the train’s win-
dows, Stettner photographed the businessmen and
professional women reading their newspapers, play-
ing cards, or napping with their feet up. Soft grain
images such asOdd Man Out, Penn Station, New
York, 1958 andWaitresses, Pullman Car, Penn Sta-
tion, New York, 1958 reveal Stettner at his best.
Between 1952 and1972, Stettner traveled to Paris,
Greece, Holland, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain to
photograph. In 1972, he gave up freelance and adver-
tising work, and, inspired by the work of social doc-
umentary photographers Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine,
he produced series on workers. He photographed in
furniture factories, auto plants, and construction
sites, to honor people at labor. From 1971–1979,
Stettner wrote a monthly column of photography
criticism called ‘‘Speaking Out’’ for Camera 35.
Through the rest of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s,
Stettner continued to photograph in America and
Europe, also working on a series of still lifes, nudes,
and landscapes. In 1986, he photographed in New
York’s Bowery, and in 1989 Stettner photographed
theSeineseries and theManhattan Wallseries.
In 1990, Stettner moved to Saint-Ouen, near
Paris, where he currently lives with his fourth wife,
Janet. He visits New York periodically to photo-
graph. During the 1990s, he produced several
photographic series, among them the He ́ros duSTETTNER, LOUIS