EISENSTAEDT, ALFRED

born Dec. 6, 1898, Dirschau, West Prussia [now Tczew, Pol.] died Aug. 23, 1995, Oak Bluffs, Mass., U.S. pioneering German photojournalist whose widely printed pictures vividly chronicled the period beginning with the early 1930s. Eisenstaedt served in the German army in World War I from 1916 to 1918, sustaining injuries in both legs. After becoming an enthusiastic amateur photographer, he decided in 1929 to turn professional, thus becoming a part of the active photojournalism field that was developing in Germany during the 1920s and early '30s. In this period he was particularly influenced by Erich Salomon, a pioneer in candid photography. In the early 1930s he developed skill in the use of the 35-mm Leica camera, and his work began to appear in many European picture magazines. He covered the rise of Adolf Hitler and in 1935 made a notable series on Ethiopia, just before the Italian invasion. Also in 1935 he left Germany for the United States, and in April 1936 he became one of the first four photographers hired by the new picture magazine Life. One of his pictures appeared on the cover of the second issue, and they continued to appear in following issues. He became the leading Life photographer, eventually with some 2,500 picture stories and 90 cover photos to his credit. Eisenstaedt made outstanding portraits of kings, dictators, and motion-picture stars, but he also sensitively photographed ordinary people in workaday situations. Characterizing his work, Eisenstaedt once said that all a photojournalist has to do is to find and catch the storytelling moment. He described his life and work in The Eye of Eisenstaedt (1969). Other anthologies of his photographs include Witness to Our Time (1966), People (1973), and Eisenstaedt: Germany (1981).