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Heroes to study
I maestri
Twenty photographers worth knowing deeply, with an emphasis on the Italian tradition you are joining. Study one a week, in the spirit of a mentor sharing personal heroes.
Japanese, 1938
Grainy, blurred, high-contrast fragments of the city, shot restlessly and in huge volume.
Italian (Emilian), 1943 to 1992
Quiet, pale color photographs of the ordinary Italian landscape, full of thought and tenderness.
Italian, 1925 to 2000
Absolute blacks and bright whites, graphic to the point of abstraction, deeply lyrical.
Italian, 1930 to 2025
Classical, humane, perfectly composed black-and-white reportage of Italian life.
Italian (Sicilian), 1943
Sicilian light and ritual, the first Italian in Magnum, fluent between reportage and fashion.
Italian (Sicilian), 1935 to 2022
Fearless black-and-white witness to the Mafia years in Palermo, and to the life around the violence.
Italian, 1964
Atmospheric, blurred, high-contrast conflict and reportage, beautiful and harrowing at once.
Italian, 1923 to 2013
Energetic postwar Italian reportage, the great photographer of Epoca magazine.
Italian (Neapolitan), 1934 to 2025
Silent, timeless black-and-white Naples and Mediterranean, classical sculpture made eerie.
Italian (Emilian), 1933
Saturated, geometric color landscapes flattened into pure bands of form.
French, 1908 to 2004
Geometry and timing fused into the single perfect instant, shot on a 50mm Leica.
American, 1926 to 2009
A nanny's secret, prolific street archive of mid-century America, discovered only after her death.
American, 1923 to 2013
Painterly early color, shot through rain, glass, and steam, with the subject half-hidden.
American, 1938
Pioneer of color street photography, master of light and the energetic crowded frame.
Brazilian, 1944 to 2025
Monumental, luminous black-and-white projects on labor, migration, and the planet.
Australian, 1971
Hard, theatrical light slicing through the street, the only Australian Magnum member.
American, 1952
Dense, saturated, multi-layered color frames where every plane holds action.
American, 1928 to 1984
Restless, tilted, high-energy American street, shot in enormous volume.
American, 1934
Complex, witty urban frames full of reflections, signs, shadows, and his own shadow.
American, 1946
Aggressive, flash-in-the-face close-ups of strangers on the street.