The Decisive Network

Magnum Photos and the Postwar Image Market

Nadya Bair

$82.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

University of California Press
07 July 2020

The Arts: General & Reference; History of Art & Design Styles; Photography & photographs; Photographic reportage; Media studies

Since its founding in 1947, the legendary Magnum Photos agency has been telling its own story about photographers who were witnesses to history and artists on the hunt for decisive moments. Based on unprecedented archival research, The Decisive Network unravels Magnum’s mythologies to offer a new history of what it meant to shoot, edit, and sell news images after World War II.

Nadya Bair shows that between the 1940s and 1960s, Magnum expanded the human-interest story to global dimensions while bringing the aesthetic of news pictures into new markets. Working with a vast range of editorial and corporate clients, Magnum made photojournalism integral to postwar visual culture. But its photographers could not have done this alone. By unpacking the collaborative nature of photojournalism, this book shows how picture editors, sales agents, spouses, and publishers helped Magnum photographers succeed in their assignments and achieve fame. Bair concludes in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when changing market conditions led Magnum to consolidate its brand. In that moment, Magnum’s photojournalists became artists and their assignments oeuvres. Bridging art history, media studies, cultural history, and the history of communication, The Decisive Network transforms our understanding of the photographic profession and the global circulation of images in the predigital world.

By: Nadya Bair
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 254mm, Width: 178mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 1.043kg
ISBN: 9780520300354
ISBN 10: 0520300351
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 07 July 2020
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction 1. Photo Agencies and the Magnum Model 2. Human-Interest Stories from the Postwar World 3. Freelancing for Life 4. Traveling for Holiday 5. Shooting for Corporations 6. Magnum Systems, Magnum Mythologies Conclusion: The Magnum Archive Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

Nadya Bair is a Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Art.

Reviews for The Decisive Network: Magnum Photos and the Postwar Image Market

In this impressively researched study of the early decades of Magnum, Nadya Bair uncovers the complex interactions of artistic ambition and business acumen that somehow produced a kind of order out of chaos. . . . An important contribution to the growing reassessment of photographic history. * Inside Story * Ms. Bair's book excels at revealing Magnum's secret history as a supplier for companies eager to appropriate Magnum's empathetic point of view. * Wall Street Journal *