Magnum

by Michael Ignatieff, Chris Steele-Perkins

A 1947 lunch meeting of four friends proved to be one of the most auspicious dates in the history of photojournalism. It was around a lunch table that day that Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David Seymour--each recently returned from covering World War II and its aftermath--formed the Magnum photo agency. Since then, Magnum photographers, with their singular knack for capturing history in an instant, have been responsible for creating many of the most iconic images of our world, in both war and peace. Magnum Degrees is a selection of agency photos that illustrates the range of subject matter and imagery the photographers have captured over the last half century.

The book, which overflows with photographs and includes only the briefest amount of text, is arranged thematically to effectively highlight the wide scope of images even within a narrow field. In "Middle East," Larry Towell captures boys playing in Gaza, while Micha Bar-Am trains his camera on a Jewish man, wrapped in a prayer shawl, fleeing a smoke bomb in Jerusalem. In "India," in the town of Benares, Ferdinando Scianna snaps photos of an excruciatingly thin man carrying his dead daughter and two nicely dressed young girls frolicking in the water. In "Religion," photographer Abbas trains his lens both on a man reenacting the Crucifixion in the Philippines and a woman being physically moved by the Holy Spirit in a rural Georgia church. As some of the themes--"Refugees," "Child Victims," "In the Camps," "War in Africa"--suggest, many of the images here are powerfully disturbing. Others, particularly those collected under the headings "Trees," "Fishing," and "Architecture," are lyrically beautiful. Still others, like Martin Parr's photographs of tourists on vacation the world over, are witty and comic. Taken together, the thousand or so photos here capture the often surprising, always complex nature of humanity and do justice to the agency founders' original intention to "document the world as it really is." --Jordana Moskowitz

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Art

535 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has held senior academic posts at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Harvard University and the University of Toronto.

Reviews

[Daniel Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent photo collection: moving, disturbing, eye-opening with every turn of the page.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of Magnum photography is the finest work of photojournalism I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Magnum photographers are the very best in the business. Looking forward to viewing their other books.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

holy shit.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible array of excellent photos. Always fascinating to study these artistic shots.

[Bradley Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive book from the greatest photo agency of all time. GORGEOUS!

[Andres Moreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a must have in a bookshelf of a Photographer. A book that leave me speechless.