It’s Magnum’s 75th birthday and to celebrate, the legendary photographic co-operative are digging through their storied archives for a series of three square print sales – allowing collectors the chance to curate a triptych from their imitable photography line-up.

The first sale titled Precedents will run this month, focusing on pieces that signal the start of a new beginning – be it from the start of a photographer’s career or a moment that prompted an obsession. The second sale titled Magnum 75 runs in June, followed by the final sale in October, Vital Signs. And what’s more, Magnum Photographers will donate 50 percent of all proceeds to the International Red Cross to help fund their humanitarian mission in Ukraine

Spanning six decades and presenting work from over 70 photographers including the likes of Alec Sloth, Eve Arnold and David Hurn, this collection paints a portrait of the world from every angle, capturing some of the most pivotal moments in history: defiant protestors from the Tiananmen Square march of 1989 and Robert Kennedy’s funeral train in 1968, just to name a few. While portraits of political leaders such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela sit alongside Hollywood greats Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. It’s not just the well-known faces that take centre stage, capturing the every day prove just as powerful alongside landscapes from Wisconsin to Mumbai. It’s a celebration of one of the most prevailing photographic institutes of our time and above all, a chance to own your very own piece of history.

Below, we curate our favourites alongside a quote from each photographer describing the story behind the shot.

“In May 1957, upwards of 22,000 people gathered to mark the third anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education legal ruling. Martin Luther King Jr gave a speech, which came to be known as Give Us the Ballot. An excerpt of this reads: ‘Give us the ballot and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights…Give us the ballot and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law…Give us the ballot and we will fill our legislative halls with men of good will.’”

“In Waterloo, every year in June, there is a parade on the commemorative day of the battle where Napoleon was defeated. Like the many carnivals, festivals and processions that take place around the country, the event is also the occasion of spectacular alcoholic excesses. I found there was something quite absurd about these people, dressed in Napoleonic military period costumes, marching through the streets of a modern town. A situation very typical of Belgium, where Surrealism had been a strong artistic movement.”

“I am not an artist, and I never intended to be one. I hope that I have made some good photographs, but what I really hope is that I have done some good photo stories with memorable images that make a point, and perhaps even make a difference.
When you look at my work, you will notice the absence of still lives and landscapes. I am interested in human beings, their lives, their habitats, their behavior, and their relationships, familial and beyond.”

“This image was made on assignment for The New York Times Magazine in the Fall of 2019 – ‘The Voyages Issue’. The presidential busts depicted here were previously located in Presidents Park in Virginia, which closed down. They now live on an industrial farmer’s private property.”

“The First March of Gentlemen is a utopian vision of an engaged civil society that resists state oppression. Two historical layers intersect in this project: the Children’s Strike from the beginning of the 20th century in the small town of Września in western Poland, and the archive of local photographer Ryszard Szczepaniak, who documented the same town in the 1950s. I worked on this project in 2016 and 2017, when the anti-government protest movements in Poland intensified.”

“On a working day in the fields, winnowing and picking chickpeas, the little girl helped her mother. It was more than just working: she was playing and being by her side. I stayed there all afternoon, until it was almost dark, when her father arrived to pick them up and finish the work. They told me that she had been born when they were older, and they had not expected her. Their other daughters had gone to the city in search of a future. But the child’s joy and love for them and the countryside was a source of great happiness that filled their lives.”

“This picture was one of my first commissions. It was taken while photographing Lebanese designer Eric Ritter’s graduate collection.”

“In early summer ‘68, I was asked to come to take photos of Bob at his home in Woodstock, for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. Although he was comfortable with me, he seemed nervous in front of the camera and his uneasiness made it difficult for me. I was never the kind of photographer to talk people into feeling good: I let them be the way they were, and I photographed. Usually it worked out because I flowed with whatever mood they were in, without resistance, until things lightened up.

His young son Jesse was around while we were taking pictures, and at one point, his toy truck got seriously stuck in a doorway. I began to go over to help him but Bob just encouraged him, ‘C’mon, Jesse, you can do it, just keep trying.’ And Jesse, with a big smile of satisfaction, did it. I was very impressed by how Bob instinctually taught him self-reliance. Afterwards, we had a modest lunch outside his house.

Bob was a very special person. He intuitively understood what was going on in a situation. There was a feeling you got when you were with him that was exciting. I believe it was the flow of creative energy surrounding him that sort of spilled over onto you.”

Magnum’s ‘Precedents’ sale runs from March 14th–20th, more info here.