In 1973 photographer David Levinthal and cartoonist Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury) began collaborating on a project while studying together at Yale School of Art and Architecture. Levinthal took grainy sepia photos of World War II era Nazi toy soldiers and equipment in battle. The result was Hitler Moves East. For Levinthal, the work launched his distinctive approach to object-driven narrative photography .









The photos are so believable that when published in 1977 bookstores placed the book in history sections. Levinthal actually prefers that the viewer to “peer into the photograph and perceive the artificiality at work there, but in so doing to catch something of the truth which is leaking from these creations,” notes the catalog. “Truth and artifice are not diametrically opposed, but complexly related and interwoven.”





For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility , one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

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