EYES WIDE OPEN! 100 YEARS OF LEICA PHOTOGRAPHY

Posted on 2017-05-08

The exhibition EYES WIDE OPEN! 100 years of Leica photography opens on 11 May on the second floor of Espacio Fundación Telefónica, and is curated by Hans-Michael Koetzle. It aims to show for the first time, what the change that the invention and marketing of the Leica camera signified for photography. How this small, reliable and versatile camera, equipped with a high resolution lens, designed specifically for it by Max Berek, marked a paradigm change in the history of photography.

The exhibition is made up of more than 400 photographs, along with documentary material including newspapers, magazines, books, advertising, catalogues and camera prototypes. They tell the story of a century of 35 mm film photography from its origins up to the present day.

The exhibition is structured in several sections, such as ‘Leica and the “Neues Sehen” (New Vision)‘, where the idea is developed that the lightweight, always available Leica was fundamental in the creation of a new visual language; ‘Photojournalism‘, the new camera could quickly take one photo after another, which encouraged the recently emerged type of news article; ‘Subjective photography‘, now any experienced amateur could also create artistic photographs; ‘Humanist photography‘, the urban universe as the stage, everyday life as a theatrical performance; ‘New colour photography‘, in the forties, the Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen had captured the world of everyday life with a Leica ; ‘fashion photography and the Leica camera‘, the essential features of the Leica M favoured aesthetics acquired by fashion photographers, course grain, natural light and the drive to get out of the traditional studio; or ‘Signature photography‘ with different types of creators who used different resources.

Opposite – F.C. Gundlach, Fashion Editorial for Nino, Hamburg Harbour, 1958

Exhibition runs through to October 10th, 2017

Espacio Fundación Telefónica
Calle de Fuencarral
3, 28004 Madrid
Spain

espacio.fundaciontelefonica.com