Eyes Wide Open!

A note in a workshop log proves that at the latest in March 1914, Oskar Barnack put the finishing touches on the first working model of a compact camera for 35 mm standard cinema film. He had not merely invented a new camera – the Leica (= Leitz/camera), not introduced until 1925 due to the war, in fact ushered in a paradigm shift in photography. The Leica made it easier for amateurs, newcomers, and emancipated women to take pictures, but, more than that, it also enabled a whole new way of seeing things – a faster, more dynamic view of the world from new angles. Just in time to mark a milestone birthday of the legendary compact camera, and for the first time in this thematic breadth, this volume with about 1.200 images offers a wide artistic and cultural history of the Leica from the 1920s to the present day.
Essays by international authors examine topics including the technical genesis of the Leica, its influence on photojournalism, and its significance for a wide variety of avant-garde currents in art photography. Heretofore unpublished documents from the archives of the Leica Camera AG round off this multifaceted 100-year cultural chronicle.