[Leica] Magnum at the Barbican

[Gwpics@aol.com]

I had the great pleasure yesterday of spending a couple of hours looking at 
the new Magnum exhibition at the Barbican centre in London with Neil Miller, 
a fellow LUGer from Phoenix, Arizona.   He was over here on holiday with his 
wife, who he had lost for the morning.   Two friends, including an American 
photographer, now resident in London, Richard Bram (who uses M4's and 6's) 
joined us, so it was a good party.

What an interesting show the Magnum show is!   Occupying two floors of one of 
London's major exhibition centres, it took some considerable time to view.   
And all the great Magnum people were represented.   This is a must for anyone 
travelling to London in the winter/spring.   

And there were a number of major surprises, the first of which was that none 
of the prints were behind glass, and with all the monochrome being printed on 
matt paper, the prints looked flat at first, but with exquisite detail.   
Surprisingly, the colour was either high gloss (as in Ilfachrome prints) or 
inkjet prints.   The inkjets stood out because of their compressed tonal 
range which gave them a 'poster print' quality which really suited much of 
the work.

The most welcome surprise was the new work by H.C-B, showing very recent 
environmental portraits as in Tete a Tete, and taken as recently as 1997 - 
1999.   At 90 this maestro has certainly not lost his eye!   In my opinion, 
he was a fresh as ever.



Gerry 
Gerry Walden (UK)