Today I’ll be reviewing A Year in Photography Magnum Archive. If you don’t know Magnum is an agency that’s had some of the best photographers in the world work for them. Founded by Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour, and shortly afterwards Henri Cartier-Bresson. They’ve been in business for over half a century so a retrospective of their archive will have plenty of famous moments and hidden gems. I use the word retrospective but that isn’t the right way to put it. The book isn’t trying to be an examination of everything that the agency is about or has done. Rather it’s an elegant work made for the enjoyment of very fine images.
The book has one image for each day, with 365 photographs each Magnum photographer is covered approx. two or three times and sometimes only once. It’s a great book to use as a yearly calendar. I’ve enjoyed to flipping to a random page and being surprised at whatever you get. as well as going through the book page by page and seeing a narrative emerge. This is part of what makes A Year in Photography so great. The layout and order of the images work so well together without relying on them to have a a strong impact.
I’d say the narrative goal of the book is to express a humanistic story about life through documentary style images. I think it’s fair to say that there was a certain anti-American-imperialism (or rather anti subjugation) sentiment in a lot of the images. For example a photograph of a man with a crowd talking among themselves in the background, has a stern on his face and a butterfly on his shoulder (maybe saying something about having different feelings than the rest of the crowd? Followed by a Japanese puppet show with dark and ominous puppeteers manipulating the movements of the dolls (perhaps saying Japan is a modern American puppet state?). Proceeded by two woman sitting on a bus with graffiti on the windows behind them (showing a love and admiration for the lower class?). Then there’s a short blind woman being led by a much larger man with his head cut off (Signifying that the average person is being blindly led by forces out of their perception and control?)¹. To put the images in words drastically takes away from the instant realization of the photographs. I’m in no way saying that this is how the photos should be read or even that this was the intention of the maker. Rather I’m giving a small example of how it’s fun as hell try and find connections between the images.
Although each photo should also be thought of as more than just a small part in a larger narrative. They’re also documents of living breathing people with their own thoughts, dreams, desires, and struggles. The Magnum photographers all do an incredible job of retaining each subjects humanity. None of the people shown here feel plastic or trope-like. Even when the images border on using stereotypes to tell their story such as George Rodger’s photograph of Hasseau Chieftains demonstrating their horsemanship, (Feb 22), or Gueorgui Pinkhassov’s photo of a family in traditional dress wear in Mongolia (Apr 13). The images look like what you think these people would look like, but they still feel authentic. I feel like I’m actually there standing next to the photographer looking at real life and not a stage. They’re simple images that use well understood cultural symbols to point towards a complex truth, not a basic watered down narrative.
Another aspect that I love about this book is that it can be experienced both fast and slow. I’ve had a great time trying to count how metal objects are in Gueorgui Pinkhassov’s image for Aug 7, and I’ve gone through the book rapid fire to experience it like a movie. Both ways are great.
I think this would be a great first photo book for anyone looking to be a photojournalist. Either this or Looking at Photographs by John Szarkowski would be a perfect starter into the history of photography. Where Looking at Photographs has great essays attached to each image, A Year in Photography is great because there’s no words to distract from the photos. No matter what level or skill of a photographer you are this book would be a great addition to any collection.
- The images in the book start on April 18th and are in order, Nikos Economopoulous Political meeting. Yozgat, Turkey. 1990. Hiroji Kubota Bunraku puppetry performance. Seiwa, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan. 2003. Bruce Davidson Subway. New York City, USA. 1980. and Bruce Gilden Blind woman guided through 57th Street. New York City, USA. 1992.