Alfred Eisenstaedt
Alfred Eisenstaedt was a prominent photojournalist born on December 6, 1898, in Germany, whose career spanned several decades and was marked by his ability to capture spontaneous moments and the human experience. He began his photography journey at a young age with a gift of a camera from his uncle and later turned it into a passion after serving in World War I. After fleeing the political turmoil in Europe in the mid-1930s, Eisenstaedt settled in New York City, where he became a significant contributor to major publications, including Life magazine. His photographs often highlighted pivotal moments in history, with one of his most famous images depicting the joyous celebration in Times Square on V.J. Day in 1945.
Eisenstaedt's approach to photography was characterized by his use of natural light and minimal equipment, allowing him to unobtrusively capture the essence of his subjects. He believed in revealing the emotional depth of the moment, making his images resonate on a human level. Throughout his career, he documented various aspects of American life, from the mundane to the extraordinary, often focusing on the common man alongside notable figures. Eisenstaedt's legacy endures through his compelling images that continue to evoke a sense of shared humanity and historical significance. He passed away in 1995, leaving behind a rich body of work that remains influential in the field of photojournalism.
Alfred Eisenstaedt
- Born: December 6, 1898
- Birthplace: Dirschau, West Prussia, Germany (now Tczew, Poland)
- Died: August 24, 1995
- Place of death: Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts
Polish-born photographer and journalist
Often called the father of photojournalism, Eisenstaedt was a prolific and gifted photographer who captured the storytelling moment in his photos. As a principal photographer for Life magazine, he shot the photography for ninety-two Life covers in his fifty-year career.
Areas of achievement: Photography; journalism
Early Life
Alfred Eisenstaedt (I-zuhn-shtat) was born on December 6, 1898, to Joseph Eisenstaedt, a successful retailer, and Regina Schoen. When Alfred Eisenstaedt was eight years old, his family moved to Berlin. Eisenstaedt and his two brothers attended school in Germany and, like those in most affluent Jewish families, considered themselves German (until Adolf Hitler assumed power). At age fourteen, Eisenstaedt received as a gift from his uncle his first camera, an Eastman Kodak No. 3 folding camera, and he avidly took up photography as a hobby. His university studies were halted at age seventeen during World War I.
Eisenstaedt served in the German army until April, 1918, when he was discharged because of shrapnel wounds in both legs. These injuries required him to use crutches and a cane for a full year as he recovered. During this time, he returned to his family home in Berlin and took a job as a button and belt salesman. Finding the job dull, he once again took up photography as a hobby. It soon became a passion, and he learned about developing film and enlarging photos. In the mid-1920’s he became intrigued with the work of Erich Salomon, who used a new type of camera to snap spontaneous shots of European dignitaries. In the early 1930’s, Eisenstaedt was able to collaborate with Salomon on several assignments, an experience that greatly influenced Eisenstaedt’s photography.
Life’s Work
In 1929, Eisenstaedt sold his first photograph to a German magazine. While on vacation, he had taken a photo of a woman playing tennis because he was intrigued by the way her shadow stretched across the lawn. Soon after this sale, he began freelancing for the Berlin office of Pacific and Atlantic Photo (which later became part of the Associated Press).
Eisenstaedt’s first assignment as a professional freelancer for Pacific and Atlantic was the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 3, 1929. Eisenstaedt took a photo of prize laureate Thomas Mann. This launched his role as a documentary photographer who favored natural lighting; during the next six years he became known for capturing the significant moments and figures in history, including the rise of Hitler and a series on Ethiopia before the invasion by Italy’s leader Benito Mussolini. By the mid-1930’s he had purchased a Leica thirty-five-millimeter camera, which allowed him to take photos without the subject’s awareness. One such photo captured Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda, in an unguarded moment while awaiting the start of a League of Nations session in September, 1933.
In 1935, Eisenstaedt fled the political situation in Europe and immigrated to the United States. He settled in New York City and immediately began freelancing for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Town and Country. By April, 1936, Life magazine publisher Henry Luce invited Eisenstaedt to become one of four photographers for the new magazine. (The others were Margaret Bourke-White, Thomas McAvoy, and Peter Stackpole.) Since he was not yet a citizen, he spent the war years covering assignments on the home front. He took well to the task of uplifting the American spirit with photos showing Americans going to school, to college, and to war or partaking in pastimes such as skiing, tennis, and filmgoing. Even after being naturalized in 1942, Eisenstaedt preferred assignments covering America and Americans over foreign assignments.
His most famous photograph captures well the American spirit he favored. Taken on August 14, 1945, “V.J. Day at Times Square, New York City” depicts the exuberant celebration of the U.S. victory over Japan as a sailor kisses a young nurse in full embrace. He later described that he had seen a white blur at the edge of his camera’s viewfinder as he snapped photos of the festivities, and he immediately zeroed in on it to capture this photo. It reveals much about the spirit of the moment, yet it exposes little of the photographer behind the lens. This is exactly what made Eisenstaedt a notable photojournalist: the moment itself is the essential element in his photographs.
At age fifty, Eisenstaedt married Alma Kathy Kaye, a young South African. The couple had no children. His wife died in 1972, which was also the year Life ceased publication for six years. During this time, his sister-in-law, Lucy Kaye, helped Eisenstaedt report daily to the Time-Life building, which was only a few blocks from his home. He worked on several books, compiling and commenting on his photographs, and he took occasional assignments for Time magazine. His chief focus at this time was on portraits of authors, film stars, and political and other notable figures. In addition, he captured the pleasure and the pain of less-notable people. He worked until his death, caused by a heart attack, while on Martha’s Vineyard, a favorite vacation spot, in 1995.
Significance
Eisenstaedt perfected techniques to capture the spontaneous moment, the humanity beneath the news story, and his photographs have proved to be some of the most enduring in modern journalism. He kept his equipment to a minimum by using natural lighting whenever possible, and he carried one small camera (usually a thirty-five-millimeter Leica), which allowed him to move unobtrusively as he captured the faces of people in the crowd. He often described viewing the world as if he were looking through a camera lens, from wide angle to telephoto, and clicking the image as instinctively as blinking his eyes. From the awed faces of children at a puppet show and the poignant farewells of American soldiers and their sweethearts, to diplomats, world leaders, and the rich and famous, Eisenstaedt recorded his observations with the skill of a poet, describing the essence of the moment in a photograph. Each image displays something more than the subject. It sensitively reveals the significance of the particular moment or event, about the people or the life depicted.
Bibliography
Eisenstaedt, Alfred. Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt: A Self-Portrait. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. More than one hundred photographs, covering sixty years, offer a window into history. Eisenstaedt tells the story behind each photograph.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Eisenstaedt’s Guide to Photography. New York: Penguin Group, 1981. This primer on photography reveals clues to the man behind the camera. While Eisenstaedt shares how he made each photo, the reader learns about how to take a strong photo and about the art of “vision” in photography.
Foote, Timothy. “Travels with Alfred: On Assignment with One of the World’s Great Photographers.” American Scholar 74, no. 14 (Autumn, 2005): 114-118. Compares two assignments the pair covered together and discusses how the author came to understand Eisenstaedt’s quiet, observant style of work.
Loengard, John. Life Photographers: What They Saw. Edited by Amelia Weiss. Boston: Little, Brown, 1998. Interviews forty-four members of the Life magazine staff, including Eisenstaedt, who helped make the publication a breakthrough success. They reveal adventures and mishaps in covering assignments that resulted in art.