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The Magnum Photos archive-a collection of more than 200,000 photographs by some of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries' greatest image makers-is the most comprehensive accumulation of prints made by the distinguished photo cooperative. Consistently and with striking artistry, Magnum's photographers have done more than simply document the far reaches of the globe; they have helped shape generations' understanding of the world around them. While many of its photographs have been widely published, until now no one has examined the Magnum archive itself. In Reading Magnum, experts from several fields investigate this visual archive, now residing at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, to discover how a select, influential group of visual authors has used the camera for an ambitious project of cultural interpretation and social commentary.
The chapters in Reading Magnum are devoted to themes generated by a close reading of the archive-war and conflict, portraiture, geography, cultural life, social relations, and globalization. These themes are further developed by evocative portfolios of images, which suggest something of the depth and range of the photo agency, and by tracing the trajectory of several iconic images from annotated press print to distribution to eventual publication. Volume editor Steven Hoelscher provides an overview of the Magnum enterprise, and Alison Nordstroem offers an appreciation of the Magnum archive as a material record of information about the making and disseminating of photographs that is being lost as images on paper are replaced by images on screen. As a whole, the book's unique reading of the Magnum archive reveals patterns of intention, aesthetic vision, and political perspective that become legible only by viewing both the physical objects and the recorded images that constitute this remarkable collection.
Show moreThe Magnum Photos archive-a collection of more than 200,000 photographs by some of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries' greatest image makers-is the most comprehensive accumulation of prints made by the distinguished photo cooperative. Consistently and with striking artistry, Magnum's photographers have done more than simply document the far reaches of the globe; they have helped shape generations' understanding of the world around them. While many of its photographs have been widely published, until now no one has examined the Magnum archive itself. In Reading Magnum, experts from several fields investigate this visual archive, now residing at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, to discover how a select, influential group of visual authors has used the camera for an ambitious project of cultural interpretation and social commentary.
The chapters in Reading Magnum are devoted to themes generated by a close reading of the archive-war and conflict, portraiture, geography, cultural life, social relations, and globalization. These themes are further developed by evocative portfolios of images, which suggest something of the depth and range of the photo agency, and by tracing the trajectory of several iconic images from annotated press print to distribution to eventual publication. Volume editor Steven Hoelscher provides an overview of the Magnum enterprise, and Alison Nordstroem offers an appreciation of the Magnum archive as a material record of information about the making and disseminating of photographs that is being lost as images on paper are replaced by images on screen. As a whole, the book's unique reading of the Magnum archive reveals patterns of intention, aesthetic vision, and political perspective that become legible only by viewing both the physical objects and the recorded images that constitute this remarkable collection.
Show moreSteven Hoelscher is a Professor of American Studies and Geography at the University of Texas at Austin and Academic Curator of Photography at the Harry Ransom Center. His books include Picturing Indians: Photographic Encounters and Tourist Fantasies in H. H. Bennett's Wisconsin Dells and Textures of Place: Exploring Humanist Geographies.
"There are more than 200,000 photographs just from the New York office of Magnum, the legendary photo cooperative (Magnum has four offices around the globe). Drawing from that archive, American Studies scholar Steven Hoelscher and other contributors mine the images (of war, social upheaval, celebrities: you name it) for insight into how photography has influenced our world, and vice-versa. With photos from major photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, Robert Capa, among others." - Kirkus "In Reading Magnum: A Visual Archive of the Modern World - which Photo Magazine recently named Book of the Year, - Hoelscher and a team of seven international scholars offer an in-depth account of the Magnum photographs as they are shuffled around from one publication to another and viewed in a wide range of contexts." - Life and Letters "This book has seven definitive chapters as well as an introduction that offers us an overview of how the archive might be read. Some of the chapters deal with particular genres: portraits, war, celebrity shots; while other cover generic subjects: globalization, everyday life, geography, and a sense of place. They are all lavishly and appropriately illustrated [...] All the chapters are well researched and interestingly written and provide a useful introduction to the superb body of work contained within the archive." - Exposure "Each chapter begins with an authoritative interpretative text, followed by a picture portfolio that often includes data regarding the original assignments or their first appearance in published form [...] it is a meaningful accompaniment to monographs on the individual photographers. Summing Up: Recommended" - Choice
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