How would you start your collection of prints from the Magnum Photos archives? Would you start with a classic from the early days of the agency? a surreal street photo, perhaps, in the manner of Elliott Erwitt, capturing a poetic moment of everyday life? Or are you drawn to the Magnum’s new contemporaries, like Cristina de Middel, the agency’s new president, and her narrative approach to documenting the world? What would hold your gaze for years to come: a scene depicting a historical event that changed the world, or something more humorous or contemplative?
With the launch of Editions in 2020, starting a personal collection of Magnum prints has become a more affordable and accessible option for photography enthusiasts everywhere. Sixteen images were made available as archival-quality, stamped 8×10 prints in a limited edition of 100 each, including turning points in history, such as Stuart Franklin’s “The Tank Man” of the Square Tiananmen in 1989, and movie icons including Audrey Hepburn (photographed by David Seymour in 1956) and Marilyn Monroe (Eve Arnold, 1960).
Spanning the contemporary and classic from the Magnum archives, the collection has come to represent the breadth of vision and practice embodied by Magnum photographers over the past seven decades.
Two years later, Mr.Agnum Editions continues to grow and this summer, 14 new images are added to the collection, available on the Magnum Store from July 5, priced at £400/$400/€440.
Of Bob Henrique photography from the Pilgrimage of Prayer for Freedom in Washington DC (1957) to an image of Cristina de Middel from Brazil during the pandemic (2021), the new collection spans six decades of photography.
Two classics from the archives join the collection; a fourth image by Elliot Erwitt, this time from his travels in the Florida Keys in the late 1960s; and Engineer MorathThe image of a flurry of bicycles on Beijing’s iconic and busy Chan An Avenue one morning in 1978, during her first trip to China with her husband, Arthur Miller.
Meanwhile, images of Nanna Heitmannthe winning project of the World Press Photo, As the frozen earth burnsand yael martinezit is Migrant route project in Honduras and Mexico, capture the pressing issues of contemporary society, addressing the themes of climate change and migration. A picture of Oliver Arthurseries In private/Mumbai also features, capturing members of the LGBTQIA+ community in quiet, intimate moments in India’s largest city.
Iconic images from several great photobooks are also represented, including Susan Meiselas‘ black and white Gawker as featured in Carnival strippersoriginally published in 1974, and Alessandra Sanguinettiit is Enchant the Pig photo book, The sixth daypublished in 1999.
And, in terms of locations, the new collection spans five continents, from Trent Parkeof his modern classic, Dream Lifewhich depicts an atmospheric, hazy Sydney of 2001, to an image of mark powerit is Destroy the lab for the experimentdepicting an abandoned amusement ride at a theme park in Lincolnshire in 2006, or Rafal Milachthe picture of In the car with Rwhich captures a snow-covered block of dwellings in Iceland from the photographer’s trip around Route 1 in 2011.
Finally, prints of Christopher Anderson and Gregory Halpern appear for the first time, with two personal, reflective and colour-rich images, shot in New York and Buffalo respectively – places each has called home in their lifetime.
Shop the full collection of Magnum Editions here.