The first issue of the magazine Life dates back to November 1936. It carried the slogan, invented by its founder Henry R. Luce, "to see life is to see the world".

In those times, the world was the one of Americans in times of economic depression, Europe in the Nazi period, Spain in times of civil war…

Since then, the world has changed. The magazine has closed down; still, enchanting, evocative, rich images remain to witness life in our times. The collection is enormous, with a great number of portraits ranging from the historic events of the current century to trends, the world of fashion and the different changes undergone by society. All the photographs take a close look at our society. They might look strange, even funny, nevertheless they are always respectful. The subject are not only great historical events, politicians, Hollywood stars. The portraits are also part of big photo reportages on society, which open up new prospects for photography.

The photo exhibition called Life at its best will be hosted in Florence SpazioFoto Credito Artigiano, starting from February 22 (opening at 6 p.m.). Mounted by Contrasto, it shows a few, stunning images, which capture our way of looking at the world over the past years. This collection of about thirty big and middle-sized duotone photographs will include some of the most famous pictures by talented photographers, such as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Andreas Feininger, Margaret Bourke-White, Eugene Smith and Gjon Mili.

A special part of the project consists of photographs by Margaret Bourke-White, the author of the first historic cover for the magazine Life, as well as of some of the most meaningful images from our past, ranging from the picture of Gandhi sitting near the wool-winder in his bedroom to aerial views in American countries, deportees in Buchenwald and the miners in South Africa.

About 20 big photographs by the American artist, including some pictures not included in the exhibition, sponsored by Credito Artigiano, that Florence town council has recently hosted inside Palazzo Vecchio (open until February 17) will be shown at the stands in SpazioFoto.

Now that Life has ceased to exist, its archives remain an incredible source of wondrous images capturing moments from our past.