Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History: The Story of the Legendary Photo Agency

Miller, Russell

ISBN 10: 0802136532 / ISBN 13: 9780802136534

Published by Grove Press, 1999

About this Item

Seller Inventory # AJ0116

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History: The Story of the Legendary Photo Agency
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802136532
• ISBN 13: 9780802136534
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 18 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

Since Magnum was founded in 1947, its members have been on hand to bear witness on the front line of world history. From Robert Capa's stark photograph of a Loyalist soldier being shot in the head during the Spanish Civil War to Eve Arnold's astonishingly intimate portraits of well-known faces - from Joan Crawford to Malcolm X - Magnum has changed how we perceive our political leaders, social crises, and the communities next door.
Magnum's photographers are some of the most talented, brave, and resourceful in the world: the founders, Robert Capa, David Seymour, George Rodger, and Henri Cartier-Bresson; and recruits, including Eve Arnold, Bruce Davidson, Mary Ellen Mark, Susan Meiselas, Inge Morath, James Nachtwey, Eugene Richards, and Sebastiao Salgado. Magnum follows them on assignment, facing bodyguards and visa troubles and taking to the risk-filled trenches of several wars for the perfect shot. Full of wonderful stories and heroic feats, Magnum is an essential volume for anyone interested in photography or photojournalism.

Review

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," said Robert Capa, the legendary photojournalist who, with Henri Cartier-Bresson and other documentary shooters, founded the Magnum press agency in 1947. Capa got close to the action, of course; he died under fire in Indo-China in 1954, seeking the perfect image of war. Other Magnum photographers died in places like Afghanistan, Israel, and Chechnya, always at the forefront of battle and strife, always with an eye on capturing history as it unfolded. In this well-written study of their work, British journalist Russell Miller shows how their images have changed the ways in which we respond to war, politics, and crises. --Gregory McNamee