The Magnum Digest: February 21, 2020
Paolo Pellegrin photographs the elusive Anselm Kiefer, Masculinities show opens in London, a new short film on Alec Soth, plus more
Paolo Pellegrin’s portrait of Anselm Kiefer for New York Times
A portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer taken by Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin appeared on this week’s cover of The New York Times Magazine. In the story, author Karl Ove Knausgaard recounts an unusual series of encounters with Kiefer, accompanied by Pellegrin’s depictions of the renowned painter and sculptor in his studio. Read the profile here.
Watch the NYT’s Behind the Cover video, in which designers, photo editors and art directors from the magazine speak about the process of creating the cover — here.
Explore Magnum photographers’ long history of documenting visual artists in our series In the Studio, here.
New short film on Alec Soth
As part of their Photographers in Focus series, NOWNESS has released a film in which Alec Soth speaks about his inspirations, career and artistic development. Watch the short here. A write-up summarising the film appears on AnOther – read that feature here.
Find out about Magnum Learn’s online course, Alec Soth: Photographic Storytelling, here.
Susan Meiselas answers five quick questions for Digital Camera World
Speaking to Digital Camera World magazine, Susan Meiselas touched upon subjects including how to go “beyond the fame of the images we make”, and the project and place that have had the most significant impact on her life. Read the feature here.
Ernest Cole’s rediscovered archive
The first installment of an ongoing long-form series exploring the work of Ernest Cole has been published on Johannesburg-based platform New Frame. The series explores the South African photographer’s life, career and the circuitous story of how his photographic archive changed hands over the years. In this installment, the publication met with Cole’s nephew and head of Ernest Cole Foundation, Leslie Matlaisane, as well as Cole’s 84-year sister Catherine Hlatshwayo, who reflects on meeting with her brother during his last days. Read the feature here.
Read more about Cole’s documentation of the daily horrors of apartheid here, on Magnum.
Lindokuhle Sobekwa on the influence of Ernest Cole
Magnum nominee Lindokuhle Sobekwa spoke to Huck magazine about the legacy of Ernest Cole, and the impact that the photographer’s work has had on him. Featured as part of the magazine’s seventh Documentary Photography Special, he says of Cole that “he knew black richness, but he also knew humiliation […] Ernest was the footprint. He told us we were able to tell our own story.” Read the piece here.
Masculinities exhibition on CNN and The Art Newspaper
A major photography exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London opens today. CNN Style interviewed curator Alona Pardo and provided an insight into the artists whose work is exhibited, in their piece which poses the question ‘What makes a man?’. Read the feature here.
Another piece on the show appeared in The Art Newspaper. Pardo speaks to the platform about the ideas informing her curatorial approach: “masculinity is a plural thing; it changes and it varies according to historical periods, geo-political spaces.” The Art Newspaper also described Thomas Dworzak’s Taliban project, which appears in the show. Read it here.
