The photographer's 'decisive moment', as Henri Cartier-Bresson tagged it, often comes in the dark room as much as in the initial flurry of action or on the surreptitious stake out. It is the mark of chinagraph on contact sheet that can make history.
'Magnum Contact Sheets', a new exhibition at Amsterdam's Foam photography museum, examines that critical winnowing. The show includes 60 contact sheets, and a print of the single iconic image they contain, from photographers such as Robert Capa, Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, Martin Parr, Jim Goldberg and Elliott Erwitt (Magnum members all, though some of the images pre-date the agency's founding in 1947).
The show includes iconic images of the Second World War and the Prague Spring; of Che Guevara, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Margaret Thatcher; conflicts in the Balkans and the Middle East; and Brooklynites taking it easy with the Twin Towers disappearing into smoke across the East River, as well as Martin Parr's pasty British seasiders.
The joy, of course, is in tracking the moments before and after the decisive one. The exhibition includes the photographers' notes, explaining their choice (and, of course, inviting you to disagree and to pick another point frozen in time). It is also inevitably a lament for a lost process; the contact sheet has been replaced by Capture One Pro on a pimped-up Mac Book Pro, where the unchosen image leaves no physical trace.
The show includes 60 contact sheets, and a print of the single iconic image they contain. Pictured: Magnum 911, New York, USA, 2001. Photography: Thomas Hoepker. Courtesy Foam Museum and Magnum Photos
The joy, of course, is tracking the moments before and after the decisive one. Pictured: Ernesto Che Guevara, Havana, Cuba, 1963. Contact Sheet C. Photography: Rene Burri / Magnum Photos. Courtesy Foam Museum and Magnum Photos
Ernesto Che Guevara, Havana, Cuba, 1963. Photography: Rene Burri / Magnum Photos. Courtesy Foam Museum and Magnum Photos
The exhibition includes the photographers' notes, explaining their choice (and, of course, inviting you to disagree, to pick another point frozen in time). Prague Invasion, Czechoslovakia, August, 1968. Contact Sheet C. Photography: Josef Koudelka. Courtesy Foam Museum and Magnum Photos
Prague Invasion, Czechoslovakia, August, 1968. Photography: Josef Koudelka. Courtesy Foam Museum and Magnum Photos
Among the contact sheets featured are the works of photographers such as Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, Martin Parr, Jim Goldberg and Elliott Erwitt. Pictured: Tiananman Square, Beijing, China, 1989. Contact Sheet C. Photography: Stuart Franklin. Courtesy Foam Museum and Magnum Photos
Margaret Thatcher, Blackpool, England, 1981. Contact Sheet C. Photography: Peter Parlow. Courtesy Foam Museum and Magnum Photos
Last Resort, Merseyside, England, Summer 1985. Contact Sheet C. Photography: Martin Parr. Courtesy Magnum Photos
Martin Luther King, Baltimore, USA, October 1964. Photography: Leonard Freed. Courtesy Magnum Photos
The show is also inevitably a lament for a lost process; the contact sheet has been replaced by Capture One Pro on a pimped-up Mac Book Pro, where the unchosen image leaves no physical trace. Pictured: Shooting Practice, Tehran, Iran 1986. Contact Sheet C. Photography Jean Gaumy. Courtesy Magnum Photos
INFORMATION
'Magnum Contact Sheets' is on view at Foam until 9 December
ADDRESS
Foam
Keizersgracht 609
1017 DS Amsterdam
-
The ultimate beach accessory? The Fiat Topolino Vilebrequin is a true meeting of mindsFiat has teamed up with swimwear specialists Vilebrequin to create a Collector’s Edition of the pint-sized Topolino EV that pays homage to the glamour of Riviera life
-
Multi-functional furniture, integrated planting and a felt landscape shape this new officeZeller & Moye’s new HQ space for a German IT company has been designed to accommodate every kind of office working situation, from introverted cubicles through to flexible open-plan spaces
-
Step inside a Hollywood Hills home where European design meets Californian easeLA studio Broad Project takes us inside its cinematic renovation of a 1960s Spanish Revival home in the Hollywood Hills
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
Meet the duo using hair and photography as a medium to consider Africa and the African diaspora‘Strands & Structures’ makes its European debut at the Open Space Contemporary Art Museum in Amsterdam, exploring social and environmental issues in Accra, Ghana
-
Miami’s new Museum of Sex is a beacon of open discourseThe Miami outpost of the cult New York destination opened last year, and continues its legacy of presenting and celebrating human sexuality
-
‘The danger of AI’, photography and the future at FoamNew project ‘Photography Through the Lens of AI’ asks the big questions at Foam, Amsterdam
-
Artist Peggy Kuiper’s impactful figurative works explore her memories and emotional landscape with striking visual intensityPeggy Kuiper presents ‘The Conversation That Never Took Place’ at Reflex in Amsterdam, featuring over 25 new works (until 13 July)
-
Meredith Monk’s interdisciplinary art sets all the senses singing in Amsterdam show‘Meredith Monk: Calling’ at Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, is both a series of concerts and a deep-dive into Monk’s eclectic oeuvre
-
Heads up: art exhibitions to see in January 2024Start the year right with the Wallpaper* pick of art exhibitions to see in January 2024
-
Carlijn Jacobs and Sabine Marcelis create a surreal fantasy at Foam, AmsterdamPhotographer Carlijn Jacobs has united with Sabine Marcelis on the design of her first solo exhibition, at Foam, Amsterdam
