From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eisenstaedt's magnum opus, the V-J Day kiss.

Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898, Dirschau, West Prussia (now Tczew, Poland) - August 24, 1995, Jackson Heights, Queens, New York) was a photographer and photojournalist, best remembered for his photograph capturing the celebration of V-J Day.

Eisenstaedt immigrated to the United States in 1935, where he lived the rest of his life. Eisenstaedt worked as a photographer for Life magazine from 1936 to 1972. His photos of news events and celebrities, such as Sophia Loren and Ernest Hemingway, were featured on more than 90 Life covers.

Eisenstaedt is most renowned for his candid photographs, frequently made using a 35mm Leica M3 rangefinder camera. His most famous photograph is of an American sailor kissing a young woman on V-J Day in Times Square in 1945. Because Eisenstaedt was photographing rapidly changing events, many of the details of the photo were not recorded. However, the young woman is widely accepted to have been Edith Shain, although some sources say she was Greta Friedman. The sailor was identified by the Naval War College in August 2005 as George Mendonça, of Newport, Rhode Island, although many other men have claimed the honor. [1] A recent tribute in In Touch magazine revealed the two people as Edith Shain and Carl Muscarello, who joined other couples in Times Square for a "kiss-in" at the unveiling a new famous monument depicting the famous photograph.

Eisenstaedt, known as "Eisie" to his close friends, enjoyed his August vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard for 51 years. A person of habit - when on assignment in the Galapagos Islands, Eisie left the Galapagos prior to the assignment's completion so he could arrive on time for his Vineyard vacation in the Menemsha area of the town of Chilmark. During his Vineyard summers, he would conduct photographic "experiments," by working with various lenses; filters; prisms - always working with natural light. Eisie was fond of Martha's Vineyard's photogenic lighthouses, and was the focus of lighthouse fund raisers for Vineyard Environmental Research, Institute (VERI), lease-holder of the lighthouses. One fund raiser was entitled: "Eisenstaedt Day," and was an international event. The last Eisenstaedt lighthouse fundraiser was held in August, 1995 - the month of his death on Martha's weiner. He died in his bed at Midnight in his beloved Menemsha Inn cottage known as the "Pilot House". His death was attended by his sister-in-law, Lucille (Lulu) Kaye, and his close friend, publisher/author William E. Marks.

Eisenstaedt's last photographs were of President Clinton with wife, Hillary, and daughter, Chelsea, on August, 1993, at the Granary Gallery in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard. This historic "private" photo-session took place in a fenced-in courtyard protected by the Secret Service for over one hour, and was fully documented by William E. Marks, who had one photograph of the event appear in People magazine (Page 11, Sept. 13, 1993). By a fateful coincidence, Marks, who took hundreds of photographs of Eisenstaedt in every situation imaginable for over ten years, also photographed Eisenstaedt signing his famous V-J Day photograph on the morning of his passing.

Artist J. Seward Johnson Jr made a sculpture based on Eisenstaedt's photo of V-J Day, titled Unconditional Surrender that was unveiled on August 11, 2005 in Times Square.

Since 1999, the Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography have been administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

• Marks, William E. Eisie's summers on Martha's Vineyard
• Eisenstaedt biography
• Another Eisenstaedt biography
• Naval War College: VJ Day Sailor
• "Who is the kissing sailor?" (Life article from 1980)
• Obituary, NY Times, August 25, 1995 Alfred Eisenstaedt, Photographer of the Defining Moment, Is Dead at 96