Todd Webb is an iconic 1940s photographer who never sought fame.

Todd Webb's photographs arrived at The Curator Gallery in a box intended for curator Bill Schapiro, a former Life magazine editor. When Schapiro saw the first few images, he mistook them for unfamiliar work by a Life reporter. He had never heard of the man who had taken the hundreds of photographs.

It turned out that the package had been delivered by Betsy Evans, a friend of the late photographer Todd Webb, who left behind an extensive archive. Although the elusive Webb never worked for Life, he lived in the same time and place as many of the magazine’s reporters, and was just as sensitive to the reality around him. He was friends with many famous photographers, but he himself did not shoot for fame: as Schapiro later wrote, “While others became stars, Webb chose a different path for himself.”

Todd Webb wanted to make meaningful, impactful photographs, but at times that desire conflicted with the demands of the editorial and commercial markets. He found work in magazines and was well known in the industry, but his greatest passion was the work he did “for himself.”

Todd Webb was born in 1905 and grew up in Detroit (he would live through most of the 20th century, dying in 2000). Webb worked as a stockbroker in the 1920s, but was hit hard by the Great Depression in 1929. He later worked as a gold prospector and a forester, wrote short stories that were never published, and during World War II, he photographed for the U.S. Navy and served in the South Pacific.

In 1945, Webb arrived in New York and began a career as a professional photographer. He was a friendly, cheerful and eccentric person and was friends with a huge number of people: it is enough to know that all the street vendors with carts remembered his face.

Webb befriended Life contributor Gordon Parks and other celebrated photographers: Walker Evans, Ansel Adams, Berenice Abbott, Alfred Stieglitz—and the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. "But while others became stars, Webb chose a different path," writes Bill Schapiro, curator of The Curator Gallery, which is currently hosting an exhibition of his work.

During his time curating the exhibition “New York 1946–1960 in Todd Webb Photographs,” Schapiro read the photographer’s journal several times. One of his favorite entries is from July 24, 1946: “I have so much to do, but no time to spare. It seems like a great life. I’m broke. But, damn it, you can’t have it all.”

Shapiro wrote: "One of the reasons I like these photographs so much is that they depict a quaint, family-oriented New York that is fading into the past."

Todd's old prints, along with new ones taken by Walker Evans's executor John Hill, are currently on view at The Curator Gallery in London. The exhibition coincides with Webb's major retrospective, City Seen, at the Museum of the City of New York, where his work was shown more than 70 years ago.

Todd Webb left behind a vast archive of street photographs of New York, Paris and other major cities, but he remains unknown to the general public. “This is a man who simply followed his heart,” says Shapiro. “Everyone should know his name.”