The Magnum Photos Agency, created in Paris and New York in 1947, is celebrating this year its seventieth anniversary. Clara Bouveresse’s book, Histoire de l’agence Magnum: L’Art d’être photographe, published by Flammarion, retraces the evolution of this famous cooperative. We present an exclusive selection of excerpts that show us the inner workings of the agency.
Magnum has also announced a novel partnership with outside investors, thereby breaking with the founding principle of a cooperative controlled solely by photographers. The opening pages of the book explore the spirit of independence which set the tone in the early days of the cooperative. The author Clara Bouveresse writes:
“In 1947, just as Magnum was created, its founding members were already seasoned photographers. Hungarian-born Robert Capa was the author of iconic images of the Spanish Civil War and the Normandy landings. The Pole David Seymour also photographed the Spanish War for the French communist magazine, Regards. The American William Vandivert and the English George Rodger covered the allied offensive for Life. The Frenchman Henri Cartier-Bresson also worked for the press, but his New York exhibitions had also earned him an artistic reputation. They were all aged between thirty and forty; they knew that photos sold well and that they could have a second life: be reprinted to commemorate an event or to illustrate a book.
In classic agencies, photographers would rarely benefit from the afterlife of their images. Once a shot was sold to a magazine or a newspaper, the creator would lose the right to the picture. Most of the time, the photographer wouldn’t even get the negatives back. Maria Eisner attempted, at Alliance Photo, to establish an indexing system facilitating long-term conservation of images; Robert Capa, however, wanted to go much further with Magnum: from now on, photographers would own their images, defend their copyright, and benefit from the fruits of their labor, even years after a photograph was taken.
Magnum was going to be an agency like no other: a cooperative. Its members would be defined as ‘photographer-owner-director-vice-presidents, co-directors,’ ‘co-partners-co-workers.’ Inspired by the Marxist tradition, these workers–photographers became emancipated and empowered. They defended their independence, their freedom, and their profession.”
Histoire de l’agence Magnum: L’art d’être photographe
Published by Flammarion
35€
