CAMERA – Italian Center for Photography continues its 2025 exhibition calendar with a landmark retrospective dedicated to one of the most iconic photographers of the 20th century: Alfred Eisenstaedt. From June 13 to September 21, the Turin-based institution will host the first major Italian exhibition devoted to Eisenstaedt in over four decades, offering a fresh perspective on his enduring legacy and influence.
Best known for his legendary photograph V-J Day in Times Square—a defining image of the American visual memory—Eisenstaedt was a pioneering photojournalist and one of the original staff photographers of Life magazine. His work chronicled the tumultuous events and cultural currents of the 20th century with a blend of curiosity, sensitivity, and an often playful sense of observation.
Curated by Monica Poggi, the exhibition marks both the thirtieth anniversary of Eisenstaedt’s death and the eightieth anniversary of his most iconic image. Featuring a curated selection of 150 photographs, many of which have never before been shown publicly, the show begins with Eisenstaedt’s early work in 1930s Germany. Among these are haunting images of rising Nazi power, including his famously chilling portrait of Joseph Goebbels, who glares at the photographer with undisguised hostility.
The retrospective traces the full arc of Eisenstaedt’s long and prolific career—from his documentation of the United States during its postwar economic boom, to his reportage in post-atomic Japan, to his reflective late works from the 1980s. It is a sweeping visual journey through a century of upheaval, hope, and transformation, seen through the lens of a master storyteller.
While deeply rooted in the tradition of American documentary photography, Eisenstaedt’s work is also characterized by poetic flourishes and ironic undertones. Some of his compositions echo the sensibilities of 19th-century painting, while others veer toward the surreal, evoking the dreamlike logic of European avant-garde movements.

About the Author

Born in 1898 in Dirschau, then part of West Prussia (present-day Poland), Eisenstaedt developed an early passion for photography when he received an Eastman Kodak No. 3 camera as a teenager—a gift from an uncle that sparked a lifelong fascination with visual storytelling. During the late 1920s, he began his professional career as a freelance photographer for the Associated Press, and by 1929, his images were being published in the widely circulated Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung.
Fleeing the Nazi regime and its racial laws in 1935, Eisenstaedt emigrated to the United States, where he would soon become one of the key figures behind the launch of Life magazine in 1936. Over the next five decades, his photographs would appear in over 90 Life covers and hundreds of photo-essays, capturing celebrities, world leaders, everyday life, and historic moments with elegance and immediacy.
Eisenstaedt passed away in 1995 at the age of 97, at his beloved summer retreat on Martha’s Vineyard, leaving behind an extraordinary visual archive that continues to resonate across generations.

Alfred Eisenstaedt
13 June – 21 September 2025
Camera – Turin – Italy

More info:
https://camera.to/en