In 1981, the photographer Jonathan Becker had a solo show at Rentschler Gallery, in Chelsea, where he presented images he’d captured at Elaine’s, the literary hotspot hangout that adorned the Upper East Side for almost five decades. Becker had spent a year in Paris working with Brassaï, and had developed an irreverent, spontaneous style. The Chelsea exhibition attracted attention, and in 1983 Becker was hired to photograph portraits for the Condé Nast magazine Vanity Fair, relaunched that year. Going forward, he would shoot, well, everyone—from Martha Graham to Robert Mapplethorpe, Grace Jones to George Plimpton, Julian Schnabel to HRH The Prince of Wales. The photographs in “Lost Time” span the entirety of Becker’s brilliant career. —Elena Clavarino