Eisenstaedt: Remembrances

One of the pioneers of the journalistic photography, began being a simple amateur, until the late twenties, became fanatic of the camera. His first works were still of pictorial feature, but like his contemporary Erich Salomon, he realized a new market for the photography was gaining ground , which was the journalistic reportage about persons, and events. "A photographer must have a short circuit between his brain and the finger that shots" , said at once, "the things sometimes occur expectedly but most of them unexpectedly. One has to be ready to shot at the right moment; otherwise that picture misses itself forever. The life flows fast and continuous, without waiting one has approached his camera or even run the film." It was in 1935 that Eisenstaedt emigrated to USA, where he got a job in LIFE. The huge gallery of photographs is certainly impressive. From Winston Churchill making the famous V of Victory, Goebbels, Jacqueline Kennedy, Hanna Schygulla, Richard Nixon, the Queen Elizabeth II, Nicola Benoit, Nathan Milstein, Arturo Toscanini, Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, Gordon Parks, Hitler, Hemingway, W.H. Auden, Baryshnikov ,Gene Kelly, Lyndon Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alma Mahler, Charles Laughton, among other nor less important personages of the past Century. Also deserve special attention his landscapes, anonymous persons in quotidian labours, famous automobiles, war images during the bloody WW2 that move you, kids in a puppet theatre, scenes from ballets, crew of railroad men, wicker sawyer, a giant oak, Andrew Wyeth's bed or a young friar walking by Vechio Bridge in Florence. With motive of being celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, The Beaux Arts Museum made possible between July 1 and August 31 1987, an unforgettable compilation composed by 118 works, thanks to the good auspices and organisation by the International Centre of Photography, in New York. Because and despite the fact I had heard about him, this exposition opened my eyes before such huge talent and formidable eye-artist. This biography will capture your senses from start to finish. Don't miss it!

Many people consider Mr. Alfred Eisenstaedt the defining photojournalist of the 20th century. His best known work is probably the photograph of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on VJ Day in 1945. In this superb volume, you can test that assessment with your own eyes. The images in this book were culled from over 290,000 frames available to the editor. I found the quality to be remarkably and consistently high. The reproduction quality is more than adequate as well.Mr. Eisenstaedt straddles the 20th century almost perfectly. He was born in West Prussia in 1898 and died in 1995. He started photography as a hobby while a youngster, and only turned it into a livelihood as a 31 year-old man. He served in the German army in World War I and was severely wounded in the legs in Flanders during 1918. While recuperating, he visited art museums to study the compositions the painters used. It was time well spent. Later he would comment, "I seldom think when I take a picture." "But, first, it's most important to decide on the angle at which your photograph is to be taken." After the war, he sold belts and buttons. But he continued to take photographs as a hobby. His big break came when he photographed a women's tennis match in 1927. Discouraged with the results, it was pointed out that the image of the woman serving in one frame would work well if everything else was cropped out. This image is in the book for your reference. This photograph immediately sold, and he was encouraged to come back with more. By 1929 he was doing well enough to start photography full-time. Because of the rise of the Nazis and the popularity of photojournalism in the United States, Mr. Eisenstaedt came to the New York in 1935 where he visited Time. There he learned about plans for a new weekly photography magazine, LIFE, and became one of four staff photographers in 1936 when the magazine started. Over the years more than 80 of his photographs graced its cover. Sophia Loren was his favorite assignment, and Ernest Hemingway was his least (Hemingway tried to throw him off the dock). "I like photographing people only at their best." "This means making them feel relaxed and completely at home with you in the beginning."Unlike most portrait photographers, he was informal. "I always prefer photographing in available light." His approach to equipment was similarly simple. "A Leica, a couple of lenses, a few rolls of film -- that's all he needed." Totally devoted to his art he said, "I will never retire," and he never did. Familiarly known to his friends and colleagues as "Eisie," "'Cold fish' or 'horrible man' were his epithets. 'Unbelievable' was his word for wonder."These details and observations are taken from the excellent introduction by Bryan Holme. I found Mr. Eisenstaedt's work here to be amazingly luminescent. He captures a spiritual glow in his subjects and in nature. Realizing that he was using natural light, the images and detail are very