Levi Cruz’s luminous and elegant silver prints on view at the Center celebrate his vision and recognize his important artistic achievements in the medium. Spanning the artist’s creative career, this retrospective illuminates his dedication to his art and his passion for light, form, and the radiance of the figure within the Woodstock landscape.    

“Levi was the first photographer I posed nude for and I find myself measuring my experience with other artists with my time with him” says model Mimi Paturel who worked with Cruz throughout the summer of 2001. “Working with Levi was a collaborative process. We often spent time going over his images, discussing what worked and what didn’t. Levi never gave a lot of instruction, instead he would rely on my natural movements; he would simply tell me to think of expression when we worked together. Now, when I’m modeling for other artists, that’s what guides me”.

“Levi had a number of influences (he admired the work of Helmut Newton among others), but he was interested in creating something new, something that was unique to the collaboration between him and the person he was photographing – that was in part why he moved from the city - he wanted to get away from commercial influences – he was in love with this area and the beauty the landscape had to offer. We would wander through the woods for hours and sometimes he would only make a few images” says JoJo Ans, a photographer and model who worked with Cruz from 1992 – 2000.  

“Levi loved the surprises that we would come upon during our walks - the exaggerated form of a fallen tree trunk, the way sunlight would fill a pocket of space amongst the trees, deep in the woods. He looked at the women he photographed as muses; and when the right combination of the individual and the landscape occurred, well it was more instinctual then premeditated, he was interested in the beauty of what came naturally - that was what he wanted to capture on film.” 

Born in Manila, Philippines in 1951, Levi Cruz inherited his father’s love for photography and devoted his professional and creative career to photography. Moving to the US in 1974, Cruz became a professional photographer in Los Angeles, CA, where he focused on the fashion industry. Levi moved on to NYC when he married his wife, Chris Hale in 1988. They purchased a home in Woodstock, NY in 1989, where his interest in fine art photography was cultivated. He attended Workshops at the Center for Photography at Woodstock with major photographers Lucien Clergue, Elizabeth Opalenik, Robert Farber, and many others while refining and defining his own style. Over the years Levi showed his work at various venues including the Center for Photography, the Hawthorn Gallery, and a joint exhibit with fellow photographer and artist, Harriet Tannin, at the Woodstock Artists’ Association, Bustles to Boxers in 1998. Photographs from this project were included in a documentary by the A&E TV network. Levi Cruz died of a sudden illness in December 2001.       

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