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Magnum Magnum
 
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Magnum Magnum [Hardcover]

Brigitte Lardinois (Editor)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

List Price: $225.00
Price: $141.75
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Book Description

November 30, 2007
A landmark book celebrating the engaging mix of photographer as both reporter and artist that has defined Magnum for sixty years.

Since its founding in 1947 by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David "Chim" Seymour, Magnum Photos, the legendary co-operative, has powerfully chronicled the peoples, cultures, events, and issues of the time.

Magnum Magnum brings together the best work, celebrating the vision, imagination, and brilliance of Magnum photographers, both the acknowledged greats of photography in the twentieth century—among them Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Eve Arnold, Marc Riboud, and Werner Bischof—and the modern masters and rising stars of our time, such as Martin Parr, Susan Meiselas, Alec Soth, and Donovan Wylie. And it shows the work at a breathtaking scale: the vast page size of Magnum Magnum—12¾ by 15¾—gives the photos an impact never seen before in book form.

Organized by photographer, the book harks back to the agency's early days and the spirit that made it such a unique and creative environment, one in which each of the four founding members picture-edited the others' photographs. Here a current Magnum photographer selects and critiques six key works by each of the sixty-nine featured photographers, with a commentary explaining the rationale behind the choice.

This groundbreaking publication is at once a permanent record of iconic images from the last sixty years and an insight, as seen through the critical eyes and minds of Magnum photographers, into what makes a memorable photograph. This first edition of Magnum Magnum will become one of the great collectibles—an essential book for anyone interested in photography or the world depicted by it. 400+ photographs in color and duotone.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A book both quirky and epochal. -- The Wall Street Journal

A great idea, beautifully realized. -- Chicago Tribune

Visually compelling...a collective testament to the complexity of human experience. -- O, The Oprah Magazine

About the Author

Brigitte Lardinois was for more than ten years Special Projects and Cultural Director at Magnum Photos London, and is currently Senior Research Fellow at London College of Communication, the University of the Arts, London.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 564 pages
  • Publisher: Thames & Hudson (November 30, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0500543429
  • ISBN-13: 978-0500543429
  • Product Dimensions: 18.1 x 13.9 x 2.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,010,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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3 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat Disappointing, December 18, 2007
By 
Daniel O'Donnell (Upper Penninsula of Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Magnum Magnum (Hardcover)
I found the book disappointing. In some aspects, the physical quality of the book is poor: within days after I recieved it in the mail the black print "Magnum" on the cover title was wearing off. The printing of the photography inside, however, is of excellent reproduction quality.

This book falls far short of the earler anthology MAGNUM DEGREES published a few years ago, and Magnum Magnum costs about three or four times the price! Magnum Degrees was / is a far superior introduction to the work of Magnum Photographers and a stronger selection of photographs, I thought.

However, I should note that the photos in this book are nothing to scoff at! Outstanding photography, as one would expect.

But if you want an introduction to Magnum Photos, don't buy this book. Start with their book MAGNUM DEGREES.

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Although a good book, could be better, February 6, 2008
This review is from: Magnum Magnum (Hardcover)
It took me about 2 weeks to go through the book, a few photographers a time. I was quite impressed with the book to about half of the book, after what some doubts started to raise. Yes, as some other reviewers have already pointed out, selection of pictures could be better. Especially in second half of the book I saw more images that I did not enjoy that much (I know that photographers are listed in alphabetical order and that is just a coincidence). Just somehow second half of the book is more boring to me, although there are excellent images present there as well.

I understand that this idea of photographers selecting images of other photographers sounds good but I'm not too impressed by the result, because some selections are rather poor (these minor bad selections spoil overall great impression). In a book of that calible I guess we expect to see best images, not just something different. Good example is also Henri Cartier-Besson's images -- while the selected images are not bad in general, IMO they are quite poor representation of Henri's contribution to photography.

The above of course is only my opinion and my taste may be different to all other people...

Cover of the book is covered with cloth and I'm not sure that is a good thing. The type of the cloth is quite "rough" and I'm sure it will show signs of wear quite soon if you are seeing the book by holding it in hand. There is no dust cover, but the book ships in cardboard box that has carry handle.

Print quality of images is very good. Also paper is superb (semi matte) and does not reflect light at all. Your fingers remain clean even after moving your hand over images continiously, no smearing. Binding is also good, and double-page spreads, contrary to another reviewer, look quite good to me, compared to many other books.

Another reviewer complained about not even print quality of images. This complain is not valid as it is logical that images from Tri-X, Velvia 50 and other types of films look very different. Some photographers make intentionally blurry or dark images, so that is not a printing defect. :)

About price -- I feel cover price of $212 is too high for this book. For $140 as Amazon currently sells it, it is not that bad, but now having seeing the book, I would not pay more than that.

This book is big, I have problem fitting it to my bookshelf. However, big format is good for photos and that is not negative aspect.
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36 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars An oversized disappointment, December 16, 2007
This review is from: Magnum Magnum (Hardcover)
Weighing in at 15 pounds including its cardboard suitcase this heavily over-dimensioned volume disappoints, because it essentially fails to deliver on much of its promise. It started off as a great idea - Magnum photographers would select what they considered to be - in their view - the six best works of one of their colleagues and explain why they selected these particular images for this collection. I ordered the book expecting to see great reproductions of important photographs and to learn fresh insights into what made these images special. It wasn't to be.

First the production issues: much of the text is hard to read because the typeface is too feint. Double page spreads of single images is a bad idea. For a production this lavish and costly, one would have expected either gatefolds or simply whole page reproductions of the image. Spreading an image accross a double page in a book that cannot open flat chops it and destroys its integrity. The printing quality of the colour images is uneven - a number of them look too contrasty, too saturated and too heavy - one gets the impression the press was over-inked. Second, the content issues: I have a very hard time trying to convince myself, based on what I have seen of a number of these photographers' works, that the selections were the best possible - of course a nearly impossible task and subject to much judgment. There are many images in this collection the intrinsic quality of which eludes me. Therefore I was prepared to be educated, but unfortunately, the quality of explanation for the selections is extremely uneven, ranging from summary to non-existent. People looking for enlightenment on what makes a great image will find some of that here, but not nearly as much as there could have been and should have been.

The Magnum Agency is a wonderful institution and deserves a fine publication to commemorate its 60th anniversary. Doubtless many others will see qualities in this book that I find lacking, so I wish them well with it regardless of my misgivings.
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