Magnum Photos x Aperture launch ‘On the Horizon’ Square Print Sale

21 October 2021

This week saw the launch of the On the Horizon October Square Print Sale, which has been put together by Magnum Photos and Aperture. The flash-style sale is on now and will finish on Sunday October 24, 2021.

© Eve Arnold, Marilyn Monroe on the Nevada desert going over her lines for a difficult scene she is about to play with Clarke Gable in the film ‘The Misfits’. Nevada. USA. 1960.
“My most poignant memory of Marilyn is of how distressed, troubled and still radiant she looked when I arrived in Nevada to work on ‘The Misfits’. She asked immediately how she looked, and she wanted and needed reassurance. It was four years since we had worked together, and she looked into my eyes for a long moment to make sure she could still trust me. Then she drew her breath, sighed and said, ‘I’m thirty-four years old. I’ve been dancing for six months [on Let’s Make Love]. I’ve had no rest, I’m exhausted. Where do I go from here?’ She was not asking me –—she was asking herself. This was less than a year before she died. — © Eve Arnold, Marilyn Monroe on the Nevada desert going over her lines for a difficult scene she is about to play with Clarke Gable in the film ‘The Misfits’. Nevada. USA. 1960.

“My most poignant memory of Marilyn is of how distressed, troubled and still radiant she looked when I arrived in Nevada to work on ‘The Misfits’. She asked immediately how she looked, and she wanted and needed reassurance. It was four years since we had worked together, and she looked into my eyes for a long moment to make sure she could still trust me. Then she drew her breath, sighed and said, ‘I’m thirty-four years old. I’ve been dancing for six months [on Let’s Make Love]. I’ve had no rest, I’m exhausted. Where do I go from here?’ She was not asking me –—she was asking herself. This was less than a year before she died.

The very limited-time-only sale features over 90 photographic prints from scores of photographers and artists from around the world. Each museum-quality print is available for purchase for just $100.

© Ian Berry - Woman crossing the rope bridge over 24-meter chasm to Carrick Island. Carrick-a-Rede, Antrim, Northern Ireland. 2004
“This precarious rope bridge between islands in Northern Ireland was too narrow for people to cross, so I waited as the bridge swayed in a howling gale for this young lady to arrive — much windswept.” — © Ian Berry - Woman crossing the rope bridge over 24-meter chasm to Carrick Island. Carrick-a-Rede, Antrim, Northern Ireland. 2004

“This precarious rope bridge between islands in Northern Ireland was too narrow for people to cross, so I waited as the bridge swayed in a howling gale for this young lady to arrive — much windswept.”

Magnum Photos is the now iconic photography agency that began as a humble artist’s cooperative in Paris in the mid twentieth century. Aperture, Magnum’s partner in this October Square Print Sale, is a not-for-profit foundation based in New York.

Aperture emerged in 1952 as a “common ground for the advancement of photography” by acting as a publisher and hub for the photography community in the USA and around the world. The foundation still works with this mission at the core of its operations today.

© René Burri, "Humanity: terrific!", Du (2011) - Brasilia, Brazil. 1960.

"...I experienced a world in which utopia and destruction ran almost parallel — and I always believed in utopia.“

Each print in the sale measures 6x6”, with the image appearing slightly smaller than the full print size due to the white border around the edges of the image.

© Christopher Anderson, Fashion model Gigi Hadid. Brooklyn, NY. USA. 2014.

"This is a horizon that I miss very much. It is the view from my neighbor’s apartment in Brooklyn. This view was part of my visual landscape as I started my adulthood as well as a family. But the view no longer exists. High rises now block it out, and many of the artists—including my family—who lived in our beloved building have been forced out by real estate developers who want to turn our Loft-Law studios into luxury condos. Progress…"

Each print that is available for purchase is either signed or estate-stamped, and they have each been editioned by time as opposed to quantity, because these prints will not be available for purchase outside of this one-week-only sale period.

© Jonas Bendiksen, From The Book of Veles, (2021) "Don’t photograph sunsets!’

I’ve heard this rule countless times from colleagues and mentors. In my project The Book of Veles I set out to break just about every rule I have ever followed as a documentary photographer, sunsets being the least of them. Here, I populated a whole city with digital avatars, who obeyed my every command — even to throw themselves off a building to almost certain death on skateboards. In return, these same synthetic people scared the hell out of me, because I will never look at pictures the same way again."

On the Horizon, which is the theme of the sale, was proposed by Aperture’s newly-appointed director Sarah Meister. Organisers Magnum and Aperture wanted the print sale to represent a collection of images that “explore the edges of photographic practice, push the boundaries of what we know and see, and embrace the unknown.”

© Peter Van Agtmael, Following an inflammatory speech by President Trump, protestors objecting to the certification of Joe Biden by Congress storm the Capitol. Washington D.C., USA. January 6, 2021.
“Photography is a permanent process of anticipating what's on the horizon. Where to go, and when to arrive? When I arrive, when to move and when to stay still? In which direction to look, and how closely? And, of course, when to push the magic button and desperately hope that the ensuing photograph will mean something.
Four years of looking on the horizon of Trumpism made January 6 inevitable. That's why I was there. But it was even worse than I thought it would be, and my view of the next horizon is not nearly as clear as I'd hope.” — © Peter Van Agtmael, Following an inflammatory speech by President Trump, protestors objecting to the certification of Joe Biden by Congress storm the Capitol. Washington D.C., USA. January 6, 2021.

“Photography is a permanent process of anticipating what's on the horizon. Where to go, and when to arrive? When I arrive, when to move and when to stay still? In which direction to look, and how closely? And, of course, when to push the magic button and desperately hope that the ensuing photograph will mean something. Four years of looking on the horizon of Trumpism made January 6 inevitable. That's why I was there. But it was even worse than I thought it would be, and my view of the next horizon is not nearly as clear as I'd hope.”

Speaking on the nature of the collection on sale, Meister shared, “The multitude of perspectives gathered here reflect the vitality and breadth of the medium. All of these intimately-scaled prints are compelling visual statements that merit close contemplation: whether purchased for oneself or as a gift, these memorable images encourage attentive connection with the world around us.”

To have a look at the prints on sale, you can visit the website here.