Magnum Magnum: Eve Arnold by Elliott Erwitt

Elliott Erwitt

With the publishing of Magnum's latest book "Magnum Magnum" (see Martin Parr's introduction) we present you three sample chapters of this epic 6,5kg book on the Magnum Blog. In this book each Magnum photographer is represented by six works chosen by, and accompanied by a critical text from, another member. We started with Chien-Chi Chang by Bruce Davidson and continue our presentation today with Eve Arnold by Elliott Erwitt.

© Eve Arnold/Magnum Photos

If you were asked to conjure up a seasoned journalist-photographer who has travelled extensively, worked in the most difficult and remote parts of our globe, managed to penetrate and be accepted in exotic cultures at one time, and then average or even banal, familiar ones right afterward, all the while observing and recording with great heart and sympathy the manifestations of our human condition, you would surely come up with the legendary Eve Arnold ... a very big person in a very compact package.

Eve Arnold is the quintessential journalist. Or better, she is what the quintessential photojournalist should be. That is, a curious, visual person, the inconspicuous fly on the wall observing situations without participating in them or attracting attention, opinionated but not judgmental.

I have known Eve as a suburban wife and doting mother in the Long Island exurbs fifty miles from New York City, where she lived years ago, and as a literary person and author of many fine works, now based in her sublime, book-lined London apartment. But I know her especially as the intrepid, highly energetic photographer and colleague, producing picture story after picture story, and picture book after picture book, and as a pillar of our Magnum Photos cooperative. In all of Eve's work, as with her person, the special ability has been getting close to her subjects - often becoming a trusted friend, regardless of their caste or fame, while always maintaining the dignity that permeates her character.

Eve Arnold's legacy is as varied as it is fascinating. It is hard to fathom how one person's work can be so diverse. It covers the humblest to the most exalted, the meanest to the kindest, and everything in between. The subjects are all there in Eve Arnold's photographs and they are treated with intelligence, consideration and sympathy. Most important is Eve's ability to visually communicate her concerns directly, without fanfare or pretence, in the best humanistic tradition.
Elliott Erwitt

Magnum Magnum is a 564 pages, 13.3 pounds heavy book edited by Brigitte Lardinois. It was published in English by "Thames & Hudson" and "Thames & Hudson USA", in French by "Editions de la Martinière", in Spanish by "Lunwerg", in Korean by "Kachi Publishing", in Japanese by "Seigensha", in German by "Schirmer/Mosel", in Italian by "Contrasto" and in Dutch by "Lannoo".

Links:
» Magnum Magnum: Chien-Chi Chang by Bruce Davidson
» Book Magnum Magnum (From the Magnum Store)
» Album Magnum Magnum
» Article Shooting stars of Magnum light up one another (Guardian Unlimited)

Remembering my friend John Szarkowski

Elliott Erwitt

John Szarkowski, Curator of Photography, died at age 81 on July 7, 2007. Elliott Erwitt remembers his friend.

John Szarkowski was a wickedly intelligent funny person and a great dinner companion. And he was surely the best and clearest thinker on the subject of photography whether one agreed or not with his muses. Quite apart from his writing talents and intellectual pursuits John had a profound knowledge of apples (the sort that grow on trees) and also was an accomplished classical clarinetist.

John's 29 year tenure at the Museum of Modern Art firmly established him as the worlds most important arbiter on photography and by current standards a conservative guru.
Then upon retiring from his commanding position in the art world John had the great courage to go back to his own photography that he had put on hold for so many years but never abandoned where he would be vulnerable and judged by the very people that he had previously judged.

As one of the many photographers who have been encouraged and supported and who have enjoyed his warm friendship I fully expect to meet him in photography heaven one day around a good dinner table with a fine bottle of Bordeaux. In the meantime I shall very much miss him.

» "John Szarkowski, Curator of Photography, Dies at 81" from The New York Times
» "John Szarkowski 1925 - 2007" from 5B4
» "John Szarkowski, Photographer, Curator, and Critic, Dies at 81" from Shane Lavalette