LONDON.- This landmark book presents an unparalleled wealth of unpublished material, revealing the story behind many iconic and historical images of modern times taken by the world’s most celebrated photographers.The book shows their creative process and also acts, in the words of Martin Parr, as an ‘epitaph to the contact sheet’ as it marks the end of the film era and the move to digital photography.
The images featured – both celebrated icons of photography and lesser-known surprises – encompass over seventy years of history: from the Normandy landings by Robert Capa, the Paris riots of 1968 by Bruno Barbey and war in Chechnya byThomas Dworzak, to René Burri’s filmic sequence of close-ups of Che Guevara, classic New Yorkers by Bruce Gilden, and Eve Arnold’s iconic portrait of the charismatic and image-savvy Malcolm X. Further insight into each contact sheet is provided by texts written by the photographers themselves or by experts chosen by members’ estates.
Often compared to an artist’s sketchbook, the contact sheet, a direct print of a roll or sequence of negatives, is the photographer’s first look at what he or she captured on film, and provides a uniquely intimate glimpse into their working process. It gives a behind-the-scenes sense of walking alongside the photographer and seeing through their eyes.
Magnum Contact Sheets includes 139 contact sheets together with the accompanying final image, representing 69 photographers, as well as zoom-in details, selected photographs, press cards, notebooks and spreads from contemporary publications, including Life magazine and Picture Post.
Many acknowledged greats of photography are included in Magnum Contact Sheets: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliott Erwitt and Inge Morath, as well as Magnum’s latest generation, such as Jonas Bendiksen,Alessandra Sanguinetti and Alec Soth.
Kristen Lubben is Associate Curator of the International Center of Photography, NewYork.Among her previous books are Susan Meiselas: In History and Amelia Earhart: Image and Icon, both published by Steidl.
