The Magnum Square Print Sale is back, this time exploring the “Obsessions” of esteemed Magnum photographers.
If you’ve missed the previous legs of the much awaited Magnum Square Print Sale, we’re glad to report that it’s now back. This time, Magnum greats such as Eliott Erwitt Bruce Gilden, David Alan Harvey, Steve McCurry, Martin Parr, Philippe Halsman, Thomas Hoepker, and Alessandra Sanguinetti.
Above: Gawker. Tunbridge, Vermont, USA. 1974. © Susan Meiselas / Magnum Photos
Beginning today, June 10th, the latest run of the Magnum Square Print Sale gives us the chance to score some museum quality 6×6 prints from the world’s most esteemed photographers. Works of over 100 artists are featured in this collection, all in an exploration of the theme “Obsessions.” Those who want to score these prints for a special price of $100 have to be fast, as the sale will only run for 5 days.
Here’s a preview of the masterpieces we can find in the latest Magnum Square Print Sale:
“A winter day: cold, wet, gray. Berlin. My first visit to Germany and the wall was coming down. As individuals we get obsessed by all kinds of things. As do cultures. Some obsessed over getting a wall up for many reasons, others obsessed over taking it down for many reasons.
In the midst of being a photojournalist in Berlin on a magazine assignment, I preferred, as I usually do, to look to the sidelines, away from the action, into the more subtle emotions that often surround earth-shaking events. So I left the capital and wandered into the middle-class suburbia of Hanover, not looking for anything in particular. There was an odd melancholy to be sure. The wall was down, over, done. Obsession realized. Joy. I photographed this joy. Yet this is the photograph I have kept and printed as my personal memory of that event. I do not know why.” – David Alan Harvey
“I chose this image because I notice a couple of my obsessions in it. The first, most obviously, is my obsession with photographing my family. I’m told that the color red often appears in my photographs. Perhaps that qualifies as obsession. And, I really love The Red Balloon, by Albert Lamorisse… but I wouldn’t call it an obsession.” – Christopher Anderson
“I am obsessed with dogs—because they remind me of people but with more hair.” – Elliott Erwitt
“This man and his cigar caught my eye on the streets of New York. My obsession with cigars stemmed from my father, a mafia type, who wore hats, had pinky rings, and smoked cigars.” – Bruce Gilden
“Salvador Dali, the subject most frequently photographed by Halsman, had an obsession with mathematics and mysticism, and the interconnection of the two. Always dissecting reality with his ‘paranoiac-critical’ method, he discovered the same sacred geometric spiral was apparent in a rhino’s horn as in Vermeer’s painting, ‘The Lacemaker.’ In 1956, Dali was invited on CBS’ Morning Show to present his findings, and Halsman, who collaborated with Dali over the course of 37 years, was backstage to document the unfolding event.
There were many props on hand to illustrate Dali’s theories, including the rhino pictured, 20 cauliflowers nailed to boards in Fibonacci spirals, and enlargements of microscopic photos of nature illustrating the same spiral. In the case of this one photograph, both artists had found obsessions to direct their creative energies into: Dali’s unfolding spiral research, and Halsman’s favorite spiral-mustached muse.”
– Philippe Halsman Estate
“Encouraged by youth photo-awards from ‘Photokina,’ influenced by Otto Steinert’s ‘Subjective Photography,’ impressed by a visit to an Edward Steichen exhibition, to which Fritz Gruber took me on a first trip to New York, inspired by first publications in Twen, which had just been founded by Willy Fleckhaus, I began to doubt more and more the meaning of my studies in art history. In museums and on trips to Italy, I realized that I was more interested in the people standing before the art, than the masterpieces they were looking at. When the Münchner Illustrierte offered me a photographer contract in 1960, I finally had my job.” – Thomas Hoepker
“I photographed this young woman at horse festival in Tagong, Tibet. Her sense of style was highlighted by the emerald green shirt, which contrasted with the rich blues and reds of her necklaces and rouge. The red background completed the composition.” – Steve McCurry
“I am obsessed with photographing race meetings. From shooting the Derby when I was still at school to the Grand National in this photo taken last year, it has been a subject I keep returning to. This long term study has also taken me ‘round the world, from the Melbourne Cup, to a small hill station meeting in Sri Lanka, but most of all, I love shooting the British race meetings such as this one at Aintree.”
– Martin Parr
“While I was working on On the Sixth Day, exploring the life and death of farm animals, I came across a man who lived with his horse. It would come and go as it pleased, so sometimes he’d put sugar on the table to lure it back in for the night. I’ve been drawn to photographing animals, especially farm animals, since I was a kid, and always while doing so I’d be filled with a nostalgic, wistful feeling. I never understood the root of that feeling until I read John Berger’s amazing essay, Why Look at Animals?
‘With their parallel lives, animals offer man a companionship which is different from any offered by human exchange. Different because it is a companionship offered to the loneliness of man as a species.’ John Berger” – Alessandra Sanguinetti
“Obsessions” Magnum’s Square Print Sale runs from 9 AM EST Monday, 10th June until midnight EST Friday 14th June 2019. Signed and estate stamped, museum quality, 6×6” prints from over 100 artists will exceptionally be available for $100, for 5 days only, from The Magnum Shop.
