Magnum Landscape

Description

For 50 years Magnum photographers, through commissions and their personal work, have produced images that comment on the state of the world. In photographing the landscape they are not just spectators but participants, aware that the land itself has been shaped by man, and that the notion of landscape itself depends on a human viewpoint. As each photographer records, interprets and finds a unique personal style, the variations on a there are endless - landscapes of war, of agriculture, of industry, of cities and motorways, of desolation, of celebration and tranquillity . The photographs gathered in this book invite the viewer to rediscover the landscape and think more profoundly about the planet earth. The work of celebrated photographers such as Abbas, Eve Arnold, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliot Erwitt, Joseph Koudelka and Robert Capa is included.

Ian Jeffrey is a photography writer, lecturer and curator. His other books include The Photography Book also published by Phaidon, Portraits of Artists (2000) and Revisions: An Alternative History of Photography (1999).

"A collection of cracking landscapes from members of the world renowned picture agency."-Practical Photography "An inspiring and diverse collection."-Amateur Photographer "One of the most successful photography books of this year. To shamelessly pilfer the joke of the great Dorothy Parker: me Leica."-Wallpaper* "Haunting images from around the world. I'll guarantee it will change the way you look through your viewfinder when you get out the Instamatic."-BBC Homes & Antiques "Informal and interesting."-What's on in Birmingham "The book illustrates the power of the still photograph to put an alternative slant on reality... Magnum Landscape inspires the viewer to consider our relationship with the earth and its role as a changing backdrop to human affairs."-Landscape Design "The 184 pages here present a range of styles and formats... But despite the apparent heterogeneity of the collected images, there emerges in the pages... a certain unity, an approach to documenting the physical world that is uniquely Magnum's. This approach is rooted in the belief that the very idea of landscape depends on people's participation in it... But... these photographers avoid the cliche of people's role as destroyer and turn their attention instead to those scenes where human entry into the landscape seems almost tentative, human control tenuous or at risk: Burri's image of a sand-covered road in Abu Dhabi, for example, or Larry Towell's cover photograph of Mexican Mennonite women caught in a dust storm. It is images such as these that we find Magnum Landscape's particular power... Readers of this book will certainly come away with... an appreciation of the work of some of Magnum's lesser-known members... The photographs in this book are strong enough to speak for themselves. They comprise, without question, a powerful collective vision of the world. For that reason, Magnum Landscape is a necessary volume, one which illustrates that Magnum photographers have produced some of the very best work in a crowded, too-often tired genre."-The Photo Review "The Magnum book stretches the definition of landscape..."-The Picture Professional "If you want to see how some of the finest photographers in the world approach landscape, pick up this book... These images... offer a real who's who of photographers..."-Colorado Springs Gazette "Bestseller in an attractive matt, small, landscape format."-The Art Newspaper