This year will be a big one for Magnum, as the iconic photo agency celebrates its 75th anniversary. To help mark the occasion, Magnum is staging three Square Print Sales in 2022 – and the first, ’Precedents’ is open now.
For anyone unfamiliar, Magnum Square Print Sales are red letter days in the photo calendar – for a limited time, you can buy a print from some of the agency’s highest-profile photographers.
This means that a work from the likes of Eve Arnold, Stuart Franklin, David Hurn, Peter Marlow, Hannah Price – and many more – can be yours for just $100/£100/ €110.
These sales run for just one week, so you’ll need to act quickly to own a museum-quality print.
Magnum Square Prints are printed on 6 x 6in (15.24 x 15.24cm) archival paper; the image size is 5.5in (14cm) on the longest side. The images will not be cropped but will have white borders.
‘Precedents’ is open now until Sunday 20 March at 00.00 PST (03.00 EST/07.00 GMT Monday 21 March).
• Read more: Best cameras for street photography
Magnum Photos was founded in Paris in 1947 and holds regular Square Print Sales every year. The images in each sale are always different, and are not available outside the sale window.
“For ’Precedents’, participating photographers and estates have searched their personal archives in search of images that signal the start of something new,” says Magnum.
“The beginning can be literal – an origin – or the moment that everything changed.
“The chosen images might bring the early career of the photographer to light, or it could be a photo that commenced a project, prompted an obsession, or started a journey.”
Click here to browse the full selection of the prints available in the ‘Precedents’ sale.
Own a limited edition Magnum Square Print for $100
Featuring work by over 70 Magnum photographers, the photos on sale in ’Precedents’ span six decades and, together, create a compelling survey of the agency, history, and photojournalism.
The sale sees images from famous events in history such as Stuart Franklin’s photo of a defiant young protester at Tiananmen Square in 1989 appear alongside Peter Marlow’s image of seemingly carefree children eating ice cream while surrounding a soldier in Londonderry/ Derry in 1979.
Elsewhere, we see famous faces such as The Beatles captured by David Hurn as they dash along a train platform while filming ’A Hard Day’s Night’ and Marlene Dietrich photographed mid-song by Eve Arnold at the Columbia Records studio in 1952.
Other photographers introduce less familiar landscapes and places.
Alec Soth’s image of a cemetery looming above a gas station in Wisconsin and Hannah Price’s photo of huge presidential busts provide a perspective of the quotidian or the uncanny.
The sale is on for only six days – so be quick!
This is just a flavor of the prints on offer in the ‘Precedents’ Square Print sale. To browse the full selection, and make a purchase, go to: www.magnumphotos.com/shop
Magnum Square Prints are printed on 6 x 6in (15.24 x 15.24cm) archival paper; image size is 5.5in (14cm) on the longest side. The images will not be cropped but will have white borders instead.
The ‘Precedents’ Square Print Sale is open now until Sunday 20 March at 00.00 PST (03.00 EST/07.00 GMT Monday 21 March).
Read more
The best lens for street photography
The ultimate guide to street photography
