Magnum Photographers example essay topic
The world's most prestigious photographic agency was formed by four photographers - Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David "Chim" Seymour They created Magnum in 1947 to reflect their independent natures as people and photographers, the idiosyncratic mix of reporter and artist that continues to define Magnum, emphasizing not only what is seen but also the way one sees it. Iranian, b. 1944 Born a photographer, Abbas, an Iranian transplanted in Paris, has dedicated his work to the political and social coverage of the developing South. Since 1970, his major work, published in world magazines, includes wars and revolutions in Biafra, Bangladesh, Ulster, Vietnam, the Middle East, Chile, Cuba, South Africa with an essay on apartheid. From 1978 to 80, he photographs the revolution in Iran, then returns in 1997 after a 17 years voluntary exile to document the post-Khomeini era. From 1983 to 1986, he travels in Mexico, photographing the country as if writing a novel.
From 1987 to 1994, from the Xinjiang to Morocco, he photographs the resurgence of Islam, exposing the internal tensions within Muslim societies, torn between a mythical past and a desire for modernisation and democracy. The book draws special attention after the Sept. 11 terror by islamists. From 1995 to 2000, he travels in the lands of Christians. When the year 2000 becomes a landmark in the universal calendar, Christianity is the symbol of the strength of Western civilization. From 2000 to 2002 he works on animist faiths.
Abbas is currently working on the Clash of Religions, defined as culture rather than faith, replacing political ideologies in the strategic struggles of the near future. Abbas is a member of Magnum Photos since 1981. Henri Cartier-Bresson French, b. 1908 Born in Chante loup, Cartier-Bresson started painting in 1923 and began to photograph in 1931, met T'eriade, the editor of Verve magazine and frequented members of the French surrealist movement.
After a trip to the Ivory Coast he discovered the Leica, since then his camera of choice. He pursued his photographic career in Eastern Europe and Mexico, later on making films with Jean Renoir, Jacques Becker and Andr'e Zvoboda and a documentary on Republican Spain (1937). A war prisoner, he escaped in 1940 and made portraits of artists: Matisse, Rouault, Braque, Bonnard. In 1945 he photographed and covered the liberation of Paris with a group of professional journalists before filming the 1946 documentary "Le Retour" (The Return) and spending a year in the US to complete a "posthumous" exhibition initiated by New York's Museum of Modern Art out of a belief that he was dead. In 1947 he founded Magnum Photos with Bill Van divert, Robert Capa, George Rodger and David Seymour "Chim", then spent three years in India, Burma, Pakistan, Indonesia and China (during the last six months of the Kuomintang and the first six months of the People's Republic of China). In 1952 he returned to Europe and in 1954 was the first foreign photographer admitted into the USSR.
He subsequently travelled to China, Cuba in the 1960's, Mexico, Canada, the USA, India and Japan among other countries. In 1968 he began to curtail his photography and follow his passion for drawing and painting. Best known for his concept of the "decisive moment" in photography, Cartier-Bresson is the recipient of an extraordinary number of prizes, awards and honorary doctorates, among which the Overseas Press Club of America Award (1948, 1954, 1960, 1964), The A.S.M.P. Award (1953), the Prix de la Soci " et'e Francaise de Photographie (1959), the Culture Prize, Deutsche Gesellschaft f"ur Photographie (1975)..