Forty years after the death of Life magazine photojournalist Eliot Elisofon, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art is celebrating the legacy of the photographer who offered an extensive look at post–World War II Africa over several decades. “If you look at the history of how Africa was represented in photography in the 20th century, you’d would be hard pressed to find someone who was more prolific in shooting photographs of Africa and had more of an impact than Elisofon,” said Amy Staples, the curator of “Africa ReViewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon.”
Elisofon went on 11 trips to the continent, including a tour as a war photographer in which he accompanied Gen. George Patton through North Africa and a four-month trip from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo in 1947 that culminated in a Life cover story. Elisofon’s images are significant for the way they helped change American perceptions of Africa in the 20th century, which had for the most part been informed by inaccurate literary and film representations. “He was looking for authenticity and despised these films like Tarzan and safari films. He really felt they were a disservice,” Staples said. “He wanted to illuminate what he considered to be the richness and the dignity and the beauty of African culture and society.”
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