ALFRED EISENSTAEDT
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
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INTRODUCTION
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WORKS
Selection
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
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INTRODUCTION
Born in 1898 in West Prussia, Alfred Eisenstaedt, at the age of 7, moved to a flourishing Berlin. After his Baccalaureate and his occupation as haberdasher it took him until his mid 20’s to turn to photography. Then, however, all at once the political atmosphere began to shift blow upon blow. As a photojournalist he worked for the Associated Press and reported on the critical meetings of leading politicians up until the meeting between Mussolini and Hitler.
After his emigration to NYC in 1935, his success launched forward uninterrupted. As an employee of the then newly released Life Magazine, modeled after other European magazines, he collected a good 2000 reports on politicians, the cultural movers and shakers and scientists of his time.
His direct and pronounced perceptions on stars, heroes, victims criminals, as well as his enormous presence in photo media, brought him scores of appraisals. In about 1955, Leica established a chrome-plated Leica M3 (with a rapid shutter), the M3E-1, in his honor. In 1958, Popular Photography chose him as one of the ten biggest photographers in the world. In 1997, two years after his death in 1997, Life created the “Eisensaedt Award of Magazine Photography,” in order to recognize his merits to the magazine and his joint responsibility for his legendary reputation in his leading position for future generations.
