For more than three quarters of the century, Leica has been writing contemporary history at the hands of famous photographers and serious amateurs. In 1994 when the Leica Camera Group celebrated 40 years of the Leica M, a number of photographers doing pioneering work since 1954 with the Leica M, were contacted to send in representative works. What resulted is the present travelling exhibition, Magic Moments, that is beyond doubt a nostalgic trip and veritable treat to the serious photographer and amateur alike. This exhibition first showed in 1994 and has travelled through several continents over the past four years.Among the 50 photographs on display are historic and legendary classics; among the photographers participating are venerated giants in the field while some much lesser heard lensmen offering impressions that are unique. To begin with is Alfred Eisenstaedt, considered as the father of photojournalism and who took his first pictures in the 1920s. His well-known geometrically starredEiffel Tower, Paris 1963 is one of the many highlights of Magic Moments. Part of the kaleidoscope is Inge Morath's incisive picture of Marilyn Monroe during the filming of the Misfits, in 1960. Morath began her career as a journalist in 1944 after earning her degrees in Romance Languages and Literature. Later, while with Magnum she met and married the author Arthur Miller.
John Demos, in many respects considered the leading photographer of his country, Greece, captures an intriguing moment with a hooded monk in Tinos, Religious Pilgrimage, 1986. One of the earlier photographs in the exhibition is Horse and cab on Mykonos, 1954 by Walter Benser. Trained as a photo-technical commercial clerk, Benser would be one of the earliest most ardent users of the Leica. As early as 1930, he used 35mm Leica slides for his lectures and in 1954 published instructions books on the practice of colour photography. In 1990, Lindemann published Benser's autobiography My Life With TheLeica.
Fred Maroon's photograph of the Kennedy brothers 1957, William Klien's 1928 New York NY, Will McBride's Bottle Games at the Coastal Resort of Wannsee, Berlin 1959, and Fred Maroon's Capitol, Washington DC 1964, are some of the photographs in this exhibition that are historic in every sense. Striking portraits by Ulrich Mack of Friedenstreich Hundertwasser, David Turnley's of a Xhosa woman in the mountains of the Transkei, Jurgen Winkler's Girl at the Window 1977, David Alan Harvey's Thai Boxing Boy 1992 and of the Dancing Laura by Jeff Dunas are not to be missed.
Ralph Gibson's Untitled 1991, (famous for his abstractionist and strict formalist approach), the famous film star Leni Riefenstahl's Nuba Making Music, 1963, Harry Gruyaert's colourful Manori, India 1985, Paulo Nozolino's Cairo 1992 and the scenic views of Monument Valley, Utah by Ernst Haas and Huang Shan, China by Mare Riboud are somemore magical moments in the history of photography.
At Piramal Gallery, NCPA. Till January 30. Time: 11.00 am to 7.00 pm.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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