Born 1928 in Paris to Russian parents. Relocated to the USA at the age of 11, where he studied photography at Los Angeles City College. In 1949, he began to work seriously as a photographer in New York, where he has been based ever since.

Edward Steichen, at the time (1950) director of the Photography Department of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Robert Capa, who launched the photographic co-operative Magnum Photos; and the US government's FSA project director Roy Stryker were among those who acclaimed Erwitt's work. Recommended by world-renowned photographer Robert Capa, Erwitt joined Magnum Photos in 1953 at the young age of 25, and presided the association for three consecutive terms in 1968.

He has been active in various fields also outside the realm of photography, producing movies in the 1970s, and TV programs in the '80s. His works, ranging from journalistic essays to advertising photographs, are full of wit and human touch, whereas a particularly large number of his masterpieces show dogs and children – Erwitt's favorite photographic subjects.

While Robert Capa and many other original members that made Magnum the most renowned photo agency in the world have already passed away, Erwitt is at present one of the most prominent and important members of Magnum. A very quiet and taciturn character, he is not a man of many words, but driven by his extraordinary passion, he is still very active in the realm of advertising photography today at the age of 85.

Erwitt has always maintained a close connection to Japan, and visited the country for photo shootings as early as in the late 1950s. In the 1970s he shot Yukio Mishima, participated in Amana's "dog and owner photo sessions" in the 2000s, and has so far produced a large number of masterful works including fashion photos with dogs for Vogue Japan.

Large-scale exhibitions of his photographs have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, Smithsonian (Washington DC), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Barbican Art Gallery (London), and other major art museums around the world. More than 30 photo collections of Erwitt's work have been published to date, including " Between the Sexes", "Museum Watching", and more recently, "Personal Best", "Unseen", "New York" and "Dogs" among others. It would not be an overstatement to say that Elliott Erwitt has been a central player in the realm of photography since the 1940s.