Audiences in Ljubljana have an opportunity to get an insight into the work of one of the world's most prestigious photography agencies, Magnum Photos. The reconstruction of the agency's very first group exhibition, held in 1955 and believed to be lost for years, will be held as part of the Photonic Moments: Photography Month 2012 festival.
The Magnum's First exhibition brings together 83 original black and white photographs by world renowned photographers, including, among others, the founders of Magnum Photos.
It is a perfect example of the photographic humanism characteristic of the agency: the people depicted were photographed in their everyday environments and without a trace of sensationalism. The featured photographers include Robert Capa, Marc Riboud, Werner Bischof, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ernst Haas, Erich Lessing, Jean Marquis and Inge Morath.
Magnum Photos was founded in 1947 by the famous photojournalists Robert Capa (1913-1954), David Seymour (1911-1956), George Rodger (1908-1995), Henri-Cartier Bresson (1908-2004) and William Vandivert (1912-1989). Marked by the experience of the Second World War, they founded the agency with the aim of promoting press photography as a medium capable of raising people's consciousness, educating, and contributing to a better world.
The agency collaborates with some of the world's best photojournalists and has an enormous photography database of immense historical value.