Alfred Eisenstaedt

ALFRED EISENSTAEDT ( Dirschau, West Prussia, 1898- United States, 1995).
"V-J Day in Times Square, New York," 1945.
Gelatin silver print. Printed at time life photo in 1991.
Signed, dated, titled in pencil on reverse and Time Warner copyright limitation in pencil (on reverse).
Provenance: Alona Kagan Gallery NY.
Measurements: 48 x 33 cm; 62 x 51 cm (paper).

A week after Alfred Eisenstaedt captured this moment, Life magazine, in a section called Victory and dedicated to celebrating the end of World War II, published this snapshot along with many others reflecting the happiness of the end of the war. However, this photograph rose above the rest and became an icon. A nurse and a Marine, a defender of the nation and someone dedicated to preserving his life kiss, symbolizing hope for the future.
He began his career in Germany before World War II, but rose to fame as a photographer for Life magazine after moving to the United States. Eisenstaedt was fascinated by photography from his youth and began taking pictures at the age of 11, when he was given his first camera, an Eastman Kodak Folding Camera with roll film. He later served in the German army artillery during World War I and was wounded in 1918. While working as a belt and button salesman in 1920s Weimar Germany, Eisenstaedt began taking freelance photographs for the Berlin office of Pacific and Atlantic Photos in 1928. Eisenstaedt became a full-time photographer in 1929, when he was hired by the Associated Press office in Germany, and within a year was described as an "extraordinary photographer." He also worked for Illustrierte Zeitung, published by Ullstein Verlag, then the world's largest publishing house. Four years later he photographed the famous first meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Italy. He photographed Adolf Hitler at St. Moritz in 1932 and Joseph Goebbels at the League of Nations in Geneva in 1933. Although initially friendly, Goebbels frowned at Eisenstaedt when he took the photograph, after learning that Eisenstaedt was Jewish. In 1935 due to the political situation he moved to New York, where Eisenstaedt became a naturalized citizen and joined fellow Associated Press émigrés Leon Daniel and Celia Kutschuk in their photographic agency PIX Publishing, founded that same year. The following year, 1936, Time founder Henry Luce bought Life magazine, and Eisenstaedt, already known for his photographs in Europe, was invited to join the new magazine as one of the four original photographers, including Margaret Bourke-White and Robert Capa[8]. He remained on staff from 1936 to 1972, noted for his news and celebrity photojournalism.