Helen Levitt
American, born 1918
Untitled, New York City
c. 1942
Silver gelatin print
15.4 x 20.6 cm
Restricted gift of Lucia Woods Lindley and Daniel A. Lindley, Jr., 1987.382
© Helen Levitt

Small hand-held cameras, invented in the 1920s, made it possible to take photographs anywhere. Levitt loved taking pictures of life on New York streets. She liked to capture people just being themselves, not posing for the camera. Do you think these children in their Halloween costumes knew that they were being photographed? What sort of masks are they wearing?

Have you ever worn a mask? When? How does it feel to pretend to be someone or something else? Who did you pretend to be?