Magnum Contact Sheets offers a rare glimpse into photographers' creative methods, as well as charting the rise of photojournalism and the illustrated press over the last century...
Who? A new book of pre-digital photos and contact sheets from members of the Magnum photographers co-op, started by Henri Cartier-Bresson and others after World War II.
What? Contact sheets were once integral to the process of choosing images for print, and have often been compared to an artist's sketchbook. With digital photography now the norm for photojournalism, the contact sheet as work tool is obsolete, though its value as a 20th century artefact remains. In the book's introduction, author Kristen Lubben writes: "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… It records each step along the route to arriving at an image – providing a behind-the-scenes sense of walking alongside the photographer and seeing through their eyes." Later she adds: "The contact sheet... embodies much of the appeal of photography itself: the sense of time unfolding, a durable trace of movement through space, an apparent authentication of photography's claim to transparent representation of reality."
Starting with Cartier-Bresson, Chim and Robert Capa's photographs of Spain in the 1930s, the book spans over 70 years of world events, with more than 139 contact sheets alongside the final images from 69 Magnum photographers. Famous shots including Philippe Halsman's surreal Dali Atomicus (1948), Eve Arnold's close-ups of Joan Crawford applying her makeup (1959), Rene Burri's iconic portraits of Che Guevara (1963) and Thomas Hoepker's much discussed image of four people casually watching the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster from afar. The photos are discussed by the photographers themselves, providing insight into their editing and selection process, as well as into the stories behind the images. An accompanying exhibition is being held at the Magnum Print Room in London, from November 9 to January 27.
Why? The book offers a rare glimpse into photographers' creative methods, as well as charting the rise of photojournalism and the illustrated press over the last century. It is also what British Magnum photographer Martin Parr calls an "epitaph to the contact sheet."
Magnum Contact Sheets is published by Thames & Hudson and now on sale.
Suggested Reading: Who, What Why | Henri-Carter Bresson.
Text by Ananda Pellerin
