David Levinthal

David Levinthal studied at MIT Sloan School of Management and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The recorded working language is English. Work by David Levinthal is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Studio Museum in Harlem. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship.

• Name — David Levinthal • Born — 8 March 1949 • Birthplace — San Francisco, California, U.S. • Field — Photography • Training — Stanford University (BA) Yale University (MFA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS) • Awards — Guggenheim Fellowship (1995), National Endowment for the Arts (1990–1991) • Website — www.davidlevinthal.com

Levinthal was born in 1949 in San Francisco, California. He received a Master of Science in Management Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management (1981), an MFA in Photography from Yale University (1973), and a BA in Studio Art from Stanford University (1970). He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1995 and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990–1991. He has had retrospective exhibitions of his work at the International Center of Photography, George Eastman Museum, and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Levinthal utilizes primarily large-format Polaroid photography. His works touch upon aspects of American culture, from Barbie to baseball to X-rated dolls. Levinthal's major series include Hitler Moves East (1972–1975), Modern Romance (1983–1985), Wild West (1986–1989), Desire (1991–1992), Blackface (1995–1998), Barbie (1997–1998), Baseball (1998–2004), History (2010–2018), and Vietnam (2018-2022). His series, Blackface, consists of close-ups of black memorabilia, household objects infused with African-American stereotypes, causing controversy that forced the Institute of Contemporary Art of Philadelphia to cancel the exhibition while still in its early planning stages.

Levinthal's work is held in the following permanent collections: • Art Institute of Chicago • Centre Pompidou in Paris • National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. • Metropolitan Museum of Art • Minneapolis Institute of Art • Museum of Modern Art • Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City