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Personal Perspectives. 50 Photographs for 50 Years of Leica Galleries
Personal Perspectives. 50 Photographs for 50 Years of Leica Galleries
June 25, 2026
Alex Webb
Cotton Candy, Oaxaca, Mexico 1990
Webb has always been fascinated by life on the vibrant streets of Mexico. He initially captured it in stern, black and white images. In 1978 he began working with intensive light and colour combinations, often capturing puzzling or mysterious moods. Cotton Candy, from the La Calle series was taken in Oaxaca in 1990.
Born in 1952, the American photographer works for renowned magazines and has published many photo books. He has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1976.
With the opening of the first Leica Gallery in Wetzlar fifty years ago, the company set down the foundations for an innovative expression of its cultural commitment, which continues to this day with 27 galleries now operating successfully around the world. The initiative that began in 1976 in the former Leica administration building, has today become a growing, international network.
To mark this jubilee year, all current gallerists were invited to name preferred motifs from their respective exhibition programmes. The Personal Perspectives presentation was drawn from this bundle of favourites. The diversity of the displays at the Leica Galleries over the decades has led to a multi-faceted exhibition ranging all the way from great Leica classics to outstanding contemporary photography. Many photo-journalistic positions are represented alongside free, artistic works – from portraiture to reportage and, of course, street photography, which is intrinsically associated to Leica photography. Viewers will be able to revisit the works of numerous Leica Oskar Barnack Award and Leica Hall of Fame Award winners, while discovering newer photographic approaches engaged in surprising dialogues with iconic legends. In this manner, the jubilee exhibition presents history and stories – always from a personal perspective and based on well-founded expertise. At the same time, it underlines the impressive and exemplary significance of Leica Galleries: they see themselves as places of encounter, reflection and interaction between picture-takers and an international public. They offer spaces for visual narratives dealing with historical, political and social issues, and encourage discussion and reflection: Leica Galleries have been standing for photographic excellence and diversity for half a century.
We present some of the Leica photographs on display.
Ulrich RüterTo mark this jubilee year, all current gallerists were invited to name preferred motifs from their respective exhibition programmes. The Personal Perspectives presentation was drawn from this bundle of favourites. The diversity of the displays at the Leica Galleries over the decades has led to a multi-faceted exhibition ranging all the way from great Leica classics to outstanding contemporary photography. Many photo-journalistic positions are represented alongside free, artistic works – from portraiture to reportage and, of course, street photography, which is intrinsically associated to Leica photography. Viewers will be able to revisit the works of numerous Leica Oskar Barnack Award and Leica Hall of Fame Award winners, while discovering newer photographic approaches engaged in surprising dialogues with iconic legends. In this manner, the jubilee exhibition presents history and stories – always from a personal perspective and based on well-founded expertise. At the same time, it underlines the impressive and exemplary significance of Leica Galleries: they see themselves as places of encounter, reflection and interaction between picture-takers and an international public. They offer spaces for visual narratives dealing with historical, political and social issues, and encourage discussion and reflection: Leica Galleries have been standing for photographic excellence and diversity for half a century.
We present some of the Leica photographs on display.
Alex Webb
Cotton Candy, Oaxaca, Mexico 1990
Webb has always been fascinated by life on the vibrant streets of Mexico. He initially captured it in stern, black and white images. In 1978 he began working with intensive light and colour combinations, often capturing puzzling or mysterious moods. Cotton Candy, from the La Calle series was taken in Oaxaca in 1990.
Born in 1952, the American photographer works for renowned magazines and has published many photo books. He has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1976.
Steve McCurry
Girl with Green Shawl, Pakistan 2002
The photographer has been travelling throughout war-torn Afghanistan since 1979. The intense portrait of a girl wearing a red scarf taken in 1984, was to make him famous worldwide. The portrait shown here, which McCurry took in 2002, is a variation on the theme, and shows a girl who had fled to Peshawar, Pakistan.
The American photographer was born in 1950 and is considered one of the most influential figures in photojournalism. In 2011, he was the first inductee in the newly-established Leica Hall of Fame.
Fulvio Bugani
Folklórico Cuba, Havana, Cuba 2019
This picture of Cuban dance ensemble Raíces Profundas was taken in 2019, in a dilapidated theatre in Havana. For the photographer, “it captures a fleeting, almost sacred moment, full of energy and intensity, in which spirit and movement become one.” The image belongs to the series, Folklórico: A Portrait of the Heartbeat of Havana.
Born in 1974, the Italian photographer has worked in Cuba repeatedly for more than 20 years. He teaches at Leica Akademies around the world.
Henrike Stahl
L’arc sera parmi les nuages, (The arch will be among the clouds), 2023
The motif is part of the elaborate and experimental L’arc sera parmi les nuages series, which Stahl created in 2023 during a Leica and Château Palmer Instants residency programme. The photographer took an associative approach to processing biblical themes and contemporary motifs with materials found on hand.
Born in Gießen, Germany in 1980, Stahl has been working in the portrait and fashion genres since 2001, without putting any limitations to her creativity. She lives in Germany and France.
Ragnar Axelsson
Hjelmer Hammeken, Greenland 1995
In temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius, hunter Hjelmer Hammeken waits patiently with his pack of sled dogs for seals to emerge through a hole in the ice. In his series, the Icelandic photographer focuses on the power of the elements and the raw beauty of the ice landscapes, which are in danger of disappearing.
Born in 1958, Ragnar Axelsson – RAX for short – has been documenting the Arctic regions of Iceland, Greenland, Siberia and the Faroe Islands for over four decades.
Rania Matar
Barbie Girl, Beirut, Lebanon 2006
The motif is taken from Ordinary Lives, Matar’s first monograph released in 2009. It was taken after the Israeli bombing of Beirut. The girl is “like a phoenix rising out of the ashes” Matar muses. The composition conveys terror and destruction, but also hope. In 2024 she photographed the former child once again, amid the chaos of a new war.
Born in Lebanon in 1964, the American photographer focuses on long-term project dealing mostly with experiences of women. She was a Leica Oskar Barnack Award finalist in 2023.
Jürgen Schadeberg
Nelson Mandela in his former cell on Robben Island, South Africa 1994
The photographer is considered one of the most important chroniclers of Apartheid in South Africa. For decades he followed Nelson Mandela’s fight for freedom. This famous motif of the politician – who had been imprisoned for 27 years – was taken in 1994 in his former cell on Robben Island.
Schadeberg (1931–2020) was born in Berlin and moved to South Africa in 1950. From 1964 to 1985, he worked in Europe and the USA, before returning to South Africa where he stayed until 2007. He was honoured with the Leica Hall of Fame Award in 2018.
Thomas Hoepker
Woman in the Snow, Hamburg, Germany 1954
An award-winner at Photokina 1959, the Woman in the Snow motif is one of Hoepker’s earliest photographs. It was taken in Hamburg in winter, with his grandfather’s plate camera. Many of his later motifs have long been considered iconic images that evoke cultural and historical memories.
The photojournalist (1936–2024) was the first German member of Magnum Photos. He received the Leica Hall of Fame Award in 2014.