Magnum Photos

Magnum Photos
legal form	cooperative
founding	1947
Seat	New York , Paris , London , Tokyo
Branch	Picture agency , photojournalism
Website	magnumphotos.com

Magnum Photos is an independent photo and photography agency . It was founded on April 27, 1947 in New York by the four photographers Robert Capa , Henri Cartier-Bresson , David "Chim" Seymour and George Rodger . The other original shareholders included Maria Eisner and Rita Vandivert . According to legend, a magnum bottle of champagne played a role in the naming , which is said to have been drunk on the occasion of the establishment. The trigger for founding the agency was the desire to be able to better secure the rights to one's own images against the large magazines and agencies.

History and Development

The prestige of war photographers acquired at the time of the establishment contributed to the fact that Magnum could be realized. On the one hand, there was an abundance of new photo-illustrated books in the 1930s (e.g. Life , Time ) that had a great need for new pictures and reported with preference from the crisis areas, on the other hand, large parts of the world were photographically undeveloped, so that as a reportage photographer , as George Rodger once put it, "... you could take pictures of everything and everyone, and the magazines tore over it ..." . In addition, technical developments such as smaller, more manageable cameras - especially the legendary Leica - and more sensitive film material made the photographers more flexible.

The agency was founded with the aim of being independently organized and independent in a cooperative of humanistically like-minded photographers.

Above all, independence meant not being subject to the arbitrariness of the photo editors and the constraints of the layout. So no photographer should z. B. have to report in a hurry about the Suez crisis if he would rather spend months with sheep farmers in New Zealand .

By humanism , they understood that the photographer's sense of responsibility and respect for the world and its people can result in images that have a world-improving, educational influence. In addition, they formulated requirements for dealing with the images they sold, which established what is known to us today as copyright law : the name of the photographer had to be given for each publication, images were not allowed to be cropped and the rights to the image and the negatives remained with the photographer , which improved the marketing opportunities, as images could be sold multiple times.

"A journalist is nothing if he does not own the rights to his negatives." Robert Capa

"We do not want to be made into the domestics of the press and choose our topics ourselves, which at that time amounted to a revolution." Henri Cartier-Bresson.

The original group of seven photographers, consisting of Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, David Seymour, Bill Vandivert, Ernst Haas and Werner Bischof, first set up an office in New York, which was followed a few years later in Paris. Ten more photographers were added within a few days. The agency members “divided” the world among themselves: Capa and Seymour were responsible for Europe, Rodger for Africa and Cartier-Bresson, whose wife Ratna Mohini came from Java , for Asia. Fixed rules for accepting new members did not yet exist. A mere nod from Capa or Cartier-Bresson was enough at this point in time, in contrast to the present, where a two-thirds majority is required to become a full member. Otherwise, the different types of memberships and the conditions are rather confusing to outsiders. “It is true that women repeatedly apply, but for some inexplicable reason it has never been possible to achieve a balanced gender ratio,” wrote Brigitte Lardinois in her epilogue to Magnum Magnum.

To achieve their goals, each founding member brought in $ 400 to finance their first trips and projects. Robert Capa assumed the first presidency until his tragic death in Indochina in 1954 (he stepped on a mine during a photo report). As president, Capa always remained an equal among equals, because Magnum was organized democratically from the start . In 1956 David "Chim" Seymour died in Egypt while being reported by a gunshot.

40% of the revenue from images sold stays with Magnum . The use of the income is voted on jointly.

Current situation

The agency has not been able to finance itself from selling the pictures to magazines for a long time; now the sale of books, postcards and vintage prints is one of the main pillars.

For this reason, a cultural department was set up in 1988 to organize book and exhibition projects around the world.

Magnum currently has around 50 members and 16 correspondents with offices in Paris , London , New York and Tokyo . Despite the omnipresent presence of television teams and cameras that can immediately report on trouble spots and the most remote areas of our world, Magnum has retained a high status in reporting. The problem is rather the declining possibilities of the publication of photo reports.

Magnum photographers, such as Paul Fusco , do not have the reputation of briefly “capturing” a few sensational pictures and then disappearing again; it is not uncommon for them to persistently seek the trust of their "objects" for a long time.

In 2010 Magnum sold its archive with around 185,000 photographs to MS Capital LP, in which Michael Dell is also involved. The holdings are to be cataloged and made available to the public. The economic situation was decisive for the sale.

Quotes

“We were founded as an association of photojournalists who observe reality. We have never had a fashion photographer with us. We actually didn't have any advertising photographers, we grew up through the time of photojournalism, through the time of the big magazines like Life , Look or Stern . "

- Thomas Höpker , President of MAGNUM Photos 2003–2007

“Magnum is an elitist shop. But that also has its advantages. We really have a reputation for only having the best. The other question is whether it always works, but strangely enough this selection process works and in the end we really only have people who have proven themselves. "

- Thomas Höpker

List of members

Surname	nationality	status	Active years	comment
Abbas	Iran	Deceased	1981-2018
Christopher Anderson	United States	Active (Associate Member)	2005–
Eve Arnold	United States	Deceased	1951-2012	First female member
Olivia Arthur	United Kingdom	Active (nominated)	2008–
Micha Bar-Am	Israel	Active (correspondent)	1968–
Bruno Barbey	Morocco	Active (full member)	1964–
Jonas Bendiksen	Norway	Active (full member)	2004–
Ian Berry	United Kingdom	active	1962–
Werner Bishop	Switzerland	Deceased	1949-1954
Brian Brake	New Zealand	Eliminated	-1967	Deceased
René Burri	Switzerland	Deceased	1955-2014
Cornell Capa	United States	Deceased	1954-2008	Brother of Robert Capa
Robert Capa	United States	Deceased	1947-1954	Founding member
Henri Cartier-Bresson	France	Deceased	1947-2004	Founding member
Chien-Chi Chang	Taiwan	Active (full member)	1995–
Antoine D'Agata	France	Active (full member)	2004–
Bruce Davidson	United States	Active (full member)	1959–
Carl De Keyzer	Belgium	Active (full member)	1994–
Luc Delahaye	France	Eliminated	1994-2004
Raymond Depardon	France	Active (full member)	1978–
Bieke Depoorter	Belgium	Active (Associate Member)	2014–
Thomas Dworzak	Germany	Active (full member)	2004–
Nikos Economopoulos	Greece	Active (full member)	1990–
Elliott Erwitt	United States	Active (full member)	1953–
Martine Franck	Belgium	Active (full member)	1980–
Stuart Franklin	United Kingdom	Active (full member)	1985–
Leonard Freed	United States	Deceased	1956-2006
Paul Fusco	United States	Active (full member)	1974–
Cristina García Rodero	Spain	Active (Associate Member)	2005–
Jean Gaumy	France	Active (full member)	1977–
Bruce guilds	United States	Active (full member)	2000–
Burt Glinn	United States	Deceased	1951-2008
Maya Goded	Mexico	Active (nominated)	2002–
Jim Goldberg	United States	Active (full member)	2002–
Philip Jones Griffiths	United Kingdom	Deceased	1967-2008	President 1980–1985
Harry Gruyaert	Belgium	Active (full member)	1981–
Ara Guler	Turkey	Deceased	1928-2018
Ernst Haas	Austria	Deceased	1947-1986	1958 Vice President 1958, 1960 President, 1966 Partner
Philippe Halsman	United States	Deceased	1951-1979
Charles Harbutt	United States	Eliminated	-1981
Erich Hartmann	United States	Deceased	1951-1999
David Alan Harvey	United States	Active (full member)	1993–
Thomas Hoepker	Germany	Active (full member)	1989–	President 2003-2007
David Hurn	United Kingdom	Active (full member)	1967–
Richard Calvar	United States	Active (full member)	1975–
Josef Koudelka	Czech Republic	Active (full member)	1971–
Kent Klich	Sweden	Eliminated	1998-2002
Hiroji Kubota	Japan	Active (full member)	1986–
Sergio Larrain	Chile	Deceased	1959-2012	Former full member
Guy Le Querrec	France	Active (full member)	1976–
Erich Lessing	Austria	Deceased	1950-2018	Former full member
Herbert List	Germany	Deceased	1951-1975
Alex Majoli	Italy	Active (full member)	1996–
Constantine Manos	United States	Active (full member)	1965–
Peter Marlow	United Kingdom	Active (full member)	1982–
Steve McCurry	United States	Active (full member)	1986–
Susan Meiselas	United States	Active (full member)	1976–
Wayne F. Miller	United States	Active (employee)	1958–
Inge Morath	Austria	Deceased	1957-2002
John G. Morris				first picture editor
James Nachtwey	United States	Eliminated	1986-2001
Trent Parke	Australia	Active (full member)	2002–
Martin Parr	United Kingdom	Active (full member)	1988–
Paolo Pellegrin	Italy	Active (full member)	2001–
Gilles Peress	France	Active (employee)	1972–
Gueorgui Pinkhassov	Russia	Active (full member)	1988–
Mark Power	United Kingdom	Active (full member)	2002–
Raghu Rai	India	Active (correspondent)	1977–
Eli Reed	United States	Active (full member)	1983–
Marc Riboud	France	Deceased	1952-2016
Miguel Rio Branco	Brazil	Active (correspondent)	1978–
George Rodger	United Kingdom	Deceased	1947-1995	Founding member
Sebastião Salgado	Brazil	Eliminated	1979-1994
Alessandra Sanguinetti	United States	Active (nominated)	2007–
Lise Sarfati	France	Active (full member)	1997–
Ferdinando Scianna	Italy	Active (full member)	1982–
Ernst Scheidegger	Switzerland	Eliminated	1952-1954	correspondent
David Seymour	United States	Deceased	1947-1956	Founding member
Marilyn Silverstone	United Kingdom	Deceased	1964-1999	former full member
W. Eugene Smith	United States	Deceased	1955-1958
Jacob Aue Sobol	Denmark	Active (nominated)	2007–
Alec Soth	United States	Active (full member)	2004–
Chris Steele-Perkins	United States	Active (full member)	1979–
Dennis Stock	United States	Deceased	1951-2010
Mikhael Subotzky	South Africa	Active (full member)	2011–
Nicolas Tikhomiroff	Russia	active	1959–
Larry Towell	Canada	Active (full member)	1988–
Ilkka Uimonen	Finland	Eliminated	2002-2009
Peter van Agtmael	United States	Active (nominated)	2008–
John Vink	Belgium	Active (full member)	1993–
Alex Webb	United States	Active (full member)	1976–
Simon Wheatley	Singapore	Active (nominated)	2005–
Donovan Wylie	United Kingdom	Active (full member)	1992–
Patrick Zachmann	France	Active (full member)	1985–

Awards (selection)

• James Nachtwey (USA) won the World Press Photo Award in 1992 and 1994
• Larry Towell (Canada) won the World Press Photo Award in 1993

Publications

• Matthias Christen, Anton Holzer: The Magnum Myth. The story of a legendary photo agency , in: Anton Holzer (Ed.): Zeitschrift Fotogeschichte , Issue 142, 2016, Jonas Verlag
• Kirsten Lubben (Ed.): Magnum Contact Sheets . Schirmer / Mosel, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8296-0550-2
• Marie-Christine Biebuyck (Ed.): Magic of Images. The Magnum Archive, Prestel, Munich 2010 ISBN 978-3-7913-4436-2
• Peter Coeln, Achim Heine, Andrea Holzherr (eds.): Magnum's First . Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2008, ISBN 978-3-7757-2215-5
• Magnum Magnum . With a foreword by Stuart Franklin and an afterword by Brigitte Lardinois. Schirmer Mosel, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8296-0323-2 . (Photo book with short biographies and one text each by a colleague)
• Magnum football . Phaidon, Berlin 2006, ISBN 0-7148-5797-1
• Magnum Landscape . Phaidon, Berlin 2005, ISBN 0-7148-4522-1
• Chris Boot: Magnum Stories . Phaidon, Berlin 2004, ISBN 0-7148-4245-1
• Michael Ignatieff (Ed.): Magnum ° . Phaidon, Berlin 2000, ISBN 0-7148-9077-4
• Alain Bergala (Ed.): Magnum Cinema . Phaidon, Berlin 1998, ISBN 0-7148-3772-5
• William Manchester, Jean Lacouture, Fred Ritchin: Time Blend. Five decades of MAGNUM photography . Schirmer Mosel, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-88814-347-0

Individual evidence

1. ^ On and In New York: Fine Prints from the Magnum Archive . Retrieved October 16, 2018.
2. ↑ Werner Loewe: Negative on Forward ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Magnum is selling its story , accessed June 10, 2012
4. ↑ Berliner Zeitung : Edler Bund der loner , accessed on June 10, 2012
5. ^ Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook
6. ↑ ^{a b} “The Magnum Photo Agency takes the world's most famous photos” ( Memento from January 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), ttt - title, theses, temperaments
7. ↑ World Press Photo of the Year: 1992
8. ↑ World Press Photo of the Year: 1994
9. ↑ World Press Photo of the Year: 1993

Web links

• Magnum Photos
• 60 years of the Magnum photo agency. You should get an idea. Süddeutsche Zeitung of February 16, 2007 and an interview with Höpker: "We are a strange bunch"
• April 27, 1947: Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa found the “Magnum” photo agency. SWR2- Zeitwort from April 27, 2007, downloadable RTF file
• Magic of the moment. on one day / Spiegel Online ( Memento from November 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Photo exhibition in the NRW Forum - comparison of historical photos with current photos by Magnum photographers
• Magnum Photography - The World in the Seeker Time Online from May 7, 2014