photoxels
Leica Gallery Wetzlar
At the Leica Headquarters
Presents
Various Artists – Magic Moments
60 Years Leica M
17/10/2014 – 04/01/2015
and
Claire Yaffa
100 photographers – 100 portraits
17/10/2014 – 04/01/2015
Leica Gallery Wetzlar
FREE Admissions
Leica Camera AG
Am Leitz-Park 5
35578 Wetzlar, Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 6441 – 2080-0
Fax: +49 (0) 6441 – 2080-333
E-Mail: info@leica-camera.com
Opening hours:
Monday – Friday 10.00 am – 08.00 pm
Saturday/Sunday 10.00 am – 06.00 pm
This year, Leica Camera AG, Wetzlar, is celebrating the following two special anniversaries via two new exhibitions which continue until 4 January 2015:
- 100 years of Leica photography, and
- the 60th birthday of the legendary Leica M rangefinder system.
Magic Moments – 60 Jahre Leica M (‘60 years of the Leica M’) is a selection of top-class photos from the last six decades captured by various Leica photographers.
- Leica Camera AG will also be showing unusual and fascinating pieces from various chapters in the 60-year history of the Leica M in the world of Leica experience.
- Alongside rare prototypes and experimental models, visitors will also be able to see the first version of the Leica M3 from 1954 and the Leica M Edition 60 anniversary edition that was presented at this year’s photokina.
- Also on view are cameras that were presented to famous public figures, such as Emil Schulthess, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II.
Numerous iconic images that are today engraved in our collective consciousness were captured with Leica M-Cameras. Historic moments that changed the way we see the world, side by side with the unspectacular, random encounters of everyday life, portraits of prominent contemporaries and nameless strangers.
The Magic Moments exhibition covers all these aspects in all their facets. With equal prominence, the exhibition shows anonymous travellers, children playing and brief encounters together with Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles. Simultaneously, it also reveals the unique visual language of each of the photographers represented. For instance, viewers can discover not only precisely composed images, but also subtly mysterious and enigmatic perspectives. The choice of images for this 60th anniversary presents unforgettable moments in legendary black-and-white and colour photographs and is a kaleidoscope of prestigious images packed with diversity and surprise – just like life itself.
Claire Yaffa: 100 Fotografen – 100 Porträts (‘100 photographers – 100 portraits’) is the second exhibition in which the American photographer Claire Yaffa “reveals the personalities behind the camera in a series of tenderly composed black-and-white portraits.”
Portraiture is the supreme discipline in the world of photography. The special dialogue between photographer and subject can be one of the most intimate moments in interpersonal communication. It demands not only masterly skills to achieve the perfect portrait, but also profound empathy and a delicate touch – behind and in front of the camera. It is conspicuous that only very few photographers like to be captured in portraits. They much prefer to see the scene through a viewfinder than to stand as a subject for the camera’s lens. This makes the gallery of images of her colleagues which Claire Yaffa has compiled over the years all the more exciting – even Henri Cartier-Bresson made an exception for the photographer and let himself be captured on film for her project. 100 Fotografen – 100 Porträts is a who’s who of masters of photography and stands for the passionate interest of Claire Yaffa and her particularly sensitive intuition for capturing the ideal moment.
Claire Yaffa began to concern herself with photography in the mid 1960s. Her work is centred on portraiture. Amongst other things, she has published photographic essays and projects on underprivileged children, the homeless and survivors of the Holocaust, and her work has been shown in prominent galleries around the world.
