David Lawrence Levinthal (born March 8, 1949) is an American photographer who lives and works in New York City. He uses small toys and props with lighting to construct miniature environments for subject matters varying from war scenes, to voyeurism, to racial and political references, to American pop culture.

Levinthal's major series include Hitler Moves East (1972–1975), Modern Romance (1983–1985), Wild West (1986–1989), Desire (1991–1992), Blackface (1995–1998), Barbie (1997–1998), Baseball (1998–2004), History (2010–2018), and Vietnam (2018-2022).

Levinthal was born in 1949 in San Francisco, California. He received a Master of Science in Management Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management (1981), an MFA in Photography from Yale University (1973), and a BA in Studio Art from Stanford University (1970). He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1995 and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990–1991.

He has had retrospective exhibitions of his work at the International Center of Photography, George Eastman Museum, and Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Levinthal utilizes primarily large-format Polaroid photography. His works touch upon aspects of American culture, from Barbie to baseball to X-rated dolls. Levinthal's major series include Hitler Moves East (1972–1975), Modern Romance (1983–1985), Wild West (1986–1989), Desire (1991–1992), Blackface (1995–1998), Barbie (1997–1998), Baseball (1998–2004), History (2010–2018), and Vietnam (2018-2022).

His series, Blackface, consists of close-ups of black memorabilia, household objects infused with African-American stereotypes, causing controversy that forced the Institute of Contemporary Art of Philadelphia to cancel the exhibition while still in its early planning stages.

Toys are intriguing, and I want to see what I can do with them. On a deeper level, they represent one way that society socializes its young.

— Levinthal