The Human Body Observed by Magnum

An upcoming exhibition organized by the Sainsbury Centre and Magnum Photos, The Body Observed, will include over 130 works from the 1930s to the present. Looking at how Magnum photographers have turned their lenses to the human body, the exhibition examines issues such as identity, intimacy, sexuality, ritual, voyeurism and performance.

The body has been a constant subject throughout art history. Since the invention of photography, the camera has been used to extol, categorize, scrutinize, and objectify the human form. Ultimately, photography’s particular modes of representation – the mechanical and the aesthetic – established a new visual language.

The Body Observed includes well-known images like Eve Arnold’s portraits of Hollywood icon Joan Crawford, and Philippe Halsman’s “Dalí Atomicus,” a work selected for TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential Images of All Time” in 2016. Photographs from Alec Soth’s series “Niagara” will be on display, as well as photographs from Susan Meiselas’s celebrated “Carnival Strippers” series and Alessandra Sanguinetti’s acclaimed work “The Adventures of Guille and Belinda.”

The show also features work by Olivia Arthur, Werner Bischof, Antoine d’Agata, Bieke Depoorter, Cristina García Rodero, Bruce Gilden, Susan Meiselas and Miguel Rio Branco. Magnum Photos was founded in New York in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and David ‘Chim’ Seymour and is recognized as one of the world’s most elite photo agencies.

The Body Observed: Magnum Photos
Curated by Monserrat Pis Marcos, curator at the Sainsbury Centre, in collaboration with Emily Graham, Cultural Commissions & Partnerships at Magnum Photos.
Sainsbury Centre
University of East Anglia, Norwich, England
March 23 – June 30, 2019