Eyes wide open!

Focusing on the Leica collection and the company’s history (and its presence in Portugal), Eyes Wide Open, 100 years of Leica photography offers a significant range of images, from the early 20th century, to the present day. The Leica camera (the name derives from a contraction of the words “Leitz” and “Camera”) is a canonical, fetishistic object embedded in our collective imagination. It has been the mainstay of many of the most significant careers in professional photography – including photojournalism and documentary photography – and the arts in general. This exhibition offers the opportunity to discover many iconic images that constitute a true historic profile of 100 years of western visual culture.

The exhibition, organized by Porto City Council and curated by Hans-Michael Koetzle, highlights key aspects of photographic theory and practice. The issues covered range from technological and aesthetic developments to ethical and deontological concerns, including new forms of creative expressions by artists.

Structured across thirteen sections, including one dedicated to Portugal, the exhibition explores how the 35mm film format has transformed the photographic gaze in the context of the history of art and culture, the impact of smaller-sized cameras on the creative work of amateurs, artists and photojournalists and, above all, how visual language has changed over recent decades and how this has modified our perception of the world.

Photographers: Oskar Barnack, Mehemed Fehmy Agha, Arvid Gutschow, Elisabeth Hase, René-Jacques, Hans Saebens, Alexander Rodtschenko, Anton Stankowski, Paul Wolff, Ellen Auerbach, Ilse Bing, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Heinrich Heidersberger, Peter Humter-Salomon, Lothar Rübelt, Erich Salomon, Alfred Tritschler, Eva Kemlein, Ulrich Mack, Hans Saebens, Christer Strömholm, Walter Vogel, Édouart Boubat, Ara Güler, Franz Hubmann, Herbert List, Sabien Weiss, Ramón Masats, Leopoldo Pomés, Ricard Terré, Werner Bischof, Raymond Depardon, Elliot Erwitt, Thomas Hoepker, Alberto Korda, Robert Lebeck, Inge Morath, Marc Riboud, Sebastião Salgado, Nick Ut, Bruno Barbey, Gianni Berengo Gardin, René Burri, Bruce Davidson, Leonard Freed, Will McBride, Gabriele & Helmut Nothhelfer, Louis Stettner, John Bulmer, William Eggleston, Mitch Epstein, Fred Harzog, Wilmar Koenig, Saul Leiter, Joel Meyerowitz, F. C. Gundlach, Paolo Roversi, Jeanloup Sieff, Mark Coehen, Claude Dityvon, Barbara Klemm, Susan Meiselas, Christian Skrein, Christer Strömholm, Nobuyoshi Araki, Bernd Arnold, Julia Baier, Michel Vanden Eeckhoudt, François Fontaine, Bruce Gilden, Andrea Hoyer, Viktor Kolár, Rudi Meisel, Jeff Mermelstein, Bertrand Mennier, Paulo Nozolino, Kai Wiedenhöfer, Herbie Yamaguchi, Carlos Afonso Dias, Jorge Silva Araújo, Carlos Calvet, Gérard Castello-Lopes, Jorge Guerra and Victor Palla.

Support: Centro Português de Fotografia and Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea – Museu do Chiado.

Photography: All rights reserved