Magnum

'Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually.' -Henri Cartier-Bresson

Magnum meeting, Paris, 1957

There's an amazing exhibition about Magnum Photos and the 'New Role of Photography' at the C/O in Berlin. Magnum is a photography cooperative, owned by its photographer-members, that 'chronicle the world and interpret its peoples, events, issues, and personalities'. Magnum was started by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David "Chim" Seymour, George Rodger and William Vandivert in 1947.

The exhibition mainly focusses on the amazing photographs of its founding members, but it also displays other and more recent Magnum members. What struck me was that there was not a single woman photographer within this exhibition. As you can see in the photograph above, in 1957 there were four women in Magnum and there continues to be female Magnum members to this day. Where were they?

Eve Arnold

Olivia Arthur

Martine Franck

Christina Garcia Rodero

Inge Morath

Alessandra Sanguinetti

Lise Sarfati

Marilyn Silverstone

My next few posts will highlight the work of these women.

[I should say that at the Berlinische Galerie there was a fantastic exhibition of women photographers of the Weimar Republic, with Marianne Breslauer as the main draw.]