100 Years of Leica: A Century in Review (1925 – 2025)
100 Years of Leica: A Century in Review (1925 – 2025) is an international celebration featuring exhibitions, events, and a special film premiere that commemorate the centennial of Leica’s very first camera.
In 2025, Leica marks 100 years since the debut of the legendary Leica I—a groundbreaking innovation born from Oskar Barnack’s creative insight and Ernst Leitz II’s bold entrepreneurial spirit—which transformed photography by introducing the first compact, lightweight camera with a 24×36 mm format on 35mm film.
This decisive leap of faith in 1925, encapsulated in Ernst Leitz II’s declaration, “I have decided: we will take the risk,” enabled Barnack, a precision mechanical engineer, to overcome delays caused by World War I and ultimately revolutionize photography by integrating it into everyday life, paving the way for street photography, photojournalism, and reportage, and inspiring legends such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliott Erwitt, Steve McCurry, Matt Stuart, and Joel Meyerowitz.
The global celebrations will take place in cities from Dubai and New York to Tokyo and Shanghai, inviting photographers, creatives, designers, and enthusiasts to embark on a journey through Leica’s storied history and evolution.
At Leica Headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany, Leitz Park will serve as the hub for the celebration with major exhibitions including Street Magic from February 21 to June 1, 2025, which showcases street photography masterpieces from the Leica collection, and a comprehensive Sebastião Salgado retrospective from June 26 to September 21, 2025, along with a three-day event in June that gathers the photography community for workshops, discussions, meetups, and collectible camera auctions, culminating in the world premiere of the film A Century of Vision – A Camera Changes Photography by Reiner Holzemer.
The international program also features the “In Conversation – Bridging Past and Present” series, with 12 exhibitions in 12 countries hosted at 12 of the 29 Leica Galleries worldwide, each pairing exemplary works from Leica’s rich history with contemporary creative voices, including a detailed exhibition calendar featuring venues in Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Madrid, Munich, New York, Milan, Taipei, Melbourne, Paris, Tokyo, London, and Vienna. Additionally, the Wetzlar Leitz Park exhibitions offer visitors an exclusive look at the masterpieces of street photography and a curated selection of Sebastião Salgado’s most significant projects, highlighting his role as both a visionary documentarian and a socially engaged activist.
Leica Camera, a global leader in high-quality photographic systems and sports optics renowned for its exceptional quality, German craftsmanship, and innovative industrial design, continues to advance photography through its diverse cultural initiatives, including the Leica Galerie, Leica Akademie, Leica Hall of Fame Award, and the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award, operating from its headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany, and supported by a worldwide network of national distributors and Leica Store retail outlets.
More info:
