Considered by experts one of the world’s best sports photographers, Brazilian Alberto Ferreira won several major awards during the 30 years he worked at Jornal do Brasil (25 years as the photography department editor). One of his most famous photographs, which earned him the Esso Prize of photography in 1963, records the exact moment when Pelé, during the match against Czechoslovakia, felt the contusion that put him away for sure from Chile’s World Cup in 1962.
He was present in the main photographic coverage events during the time he worked and thus, through his lens and his unique eye, documented important moments in the history of both Brazil and the world. He built the largest and most complete authorial collection on the construction and inauguration of Brasilia. From 1958 until his inauguration on April 21st, 1960, Alberto Ferreira went several times to the city accompanying the Countess Pereira Carneiro, owner of the Jornal do Brazil at the time.
Today, his work belongs to the Maison Européenne de la Photographie Collection and is considered by it as one of the 28 greatest photographers of the century, alongside names such as Robert Doisneau, Edouard Boubat, Pierre Verger, Henri Cartier-Bresson, among others.