Magnum Photos announces 'The Unexpected' Square Print Sale

15 March 2021

Photographic cooperative Magnum Photos has launched its latest Square Print Sale, with more than ninety images by photographers and visual artists available for sale.

The overarching theme of the photographic collection is The Unexpected. The flash-style sale begins a week today and will finish on Sunday March 28, 2021.

© Christopher Anderson. Sète, France. 2011. "If it is expected, what is the point? Without the unforeseen, there is no thrill, no revelation."

Either signed or estate-stamped, each image comes printed on high quality archival paper. Each print in the sale measures 6x6” with the image appearing slightly smaller than the full print size due to the inclusion of a white border.

Since these prints won't be available for purchase outside of this one-week-only sale period, Magnum Photos has decided to edition the prints by time as opposed to quantity.

© Olivia Arthur. Kids at Ski Dubai, Dubai. U.A.E. 2013.
“One of the more surreal experiences I’ve had was a visit to Ski Dubai, a large indoor ski slope with sub-zero temperatures and real snow. You take a lift up to the top of the nearly half-kilometer long slope and halfway down you can stop at a little wooden hut and have a hot drink or snack. Standing outside with my coffee, under a gas-heater, in what is essentially a giant freezer in a desert, I couldn't help thinking about the crazy lengths we go to entertain ourselves.” — © Olivia Arthur. Kids at Ski Dubai, Dubai. U.A.E. 2013. “One of the more surreal experiences I’ve had was a visit to Ski Dubai, a large indoor ski slope with sub-zero temperatures and real snow. You take a lift up to the top of the nearly half-kilometer long slope and halfway down you can stop at a little wooden hut and have a hot drink or snack. Standing outside with my coffee, under a gas-heater, in what is essentially a giant freezer in a desert, I couldn't help thinking about the crazy lengths we go to entertain ourselves.”

A range of photographic genres can be seen in The Unexpected collection, with each image telling a different story through the unique lens of the artist. You can see a selection of the work below, and buy the prints for yourself at Magnum Photos' website.

© Jonas Bendiksen. Shinjuku, Tokyo. 2016.
“I was in Tokyo working on a chapter of an ongoing project, and had finished photographing for the day. Tokyo is a city packed with light, movement, and intensity, so I still had my camera on me and ready, just in case. I was starving and heading to dinner but had to wait at one of these huge zebra crossings in Shinjuku. They’ve been photographed so many times before, so figuring that to make a picture I would be happy with here would require more time and effort than I had blood sugar for, I wasn’t paying much attention. Then this zebra-dressed woman placed herself right in front of me. Click. Thank you. Sometimes you get more luck than you deserve. — © Jonas Bendiksen. Shinjuku, Tokyo. 2016. “I was in Tokyo working on a chapter of an ongoing project, and had finished photographing for the day. Tokyo is a city packed with light, movement, and intensity, so I still had my camera on me and ready, just in case. I was starving and heading to dinner but had to wait at one of these huge zebra crossings in Shinjuku. They’ve been photographed so many times before, so figuring that to make a picture I would be happy with here would require more time and effort than I had blood sugar for, I wasn’t paying much attention. Then this zebra-dressed woman placed herself right in front of me. Click. Thank you. Sometimes you get more luck than you deserve."

© Antoine D'Agata - Virus series. Paris lockdown. France. March 17, 2020.
“2020. Unexpected events and imperatives, related to the urgency of survival, transformed lived experience into the object of invisible fears and revolts. Humans rediscover dissatisfaction, carving out their own destinies to become protagonists of History.” — © Antoine D'Agata - Virus series. Paris lockdown. France. March 17, 2020. “2020. Unexpected events and imperatives, related to the urgency of survival, transformed lived experience into the object of invisible fears and revolts. Humans rediscover dissatisfaction, carving out their own destinies to become protagonists of History.”

© Peter van Agtmael. Illinois, USA. 2017.
“In the winter of 2017, I was in southern Illinois documenting the environmental consequences of coal mining in the region. I rented a helicopter to survey damage that was hidden from view. From above, the world can become simultaneously richer and more intangible, as the eye takes in far more details, sweeping across the scene, than it can easily distill. For me, the camera is not so well suited to the vastness of the landscape, but can render its details in ways that are both abstract and descriptive. After I photographed the surface mining and the polluted runoff, I had a few minutes left. The pilot clearly loved to fly, and through a microphone I guided him to where my instinct took me. I found this bend in a creek surrounded by bare trees.” — © Peter van Agtmael. Illinois, USA. 2017. “In the winter of 2017, I was in southern Illinois documenting the environmental consequences of coal mining in the region. I rented a helicopter to survey damage that was hidden from view. From above, the world can become simultaneously richer and more intangible, as the eye takes in far more details, sweeping across the scene, than it can easily distill. For me, the camera is not so well suited to the vastness of the landscape, but can render its details in ways that are both abstract and descriptive. After I photographed the surface mining and the polluted runoff, I had a few minutes left. The pilot clearly loved to fly, and through a microphone I guided him to where my instinct took me. I found this bend in a creek surrounded by bare trees.”

© Ian Berry. Ras al-Hadd near Sur, Oman. 2004.
“While travelling through Oman, I came across this fort near Sur. Always on the lookout for the unexpected, I spotted these children playing with kites fashioned from plastic shopping bags. As happens maybe once a year, all the elements – kids, kites, bike, goats, even the telegraph wires – slotted together to make the shape and capture a joyous moment.” — © Ian Berry. Ras al-Hadd near Sur, Oman. 2004. “While travelling through Oman, I came across this fort near Sur. Always on the lookout for the unexpected, I spotted these children playing with kites fashioned from plastic shopping bags. As happens maybe once a year, all the elements – kids, kites, bike, goats, even the telegraph wires – slotted together to make the shape and capture a joyous moment.”

© Elliott Erwitt. New York City, New York, USA. 1955.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” — © Elliott Erwitt. New York City, New York, USA. 1955. “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

Magnum’s ‘The Unexpected’ Square Print Sale runs from Monday March 22 to Sunday March 28, 2021. Signed or estate- stamped, museum-quality, 6x6” prints from over ninety visual artists will exceptionally be available for $100, for this small window only from magnumphotos.com/shop.