Italy marks 70 years of Magnum

(ANSA) - Turin, March 2 - Over 200 photographs by the likes of Robert Capa, David Seymour, Elliott Erwitt, Herbert List, Ferdinando Scianna and Martin Parr go on show in Turin on Friday in an exhibiton marking the 70th anniversary of the historic photographic agency Magnum. 'L'Italia di Magnum. Da Henri Cartier-Bresson a Paolo Pellegrin', at Torino Camera - Centro italiano per la fotografia until May 21, tells the story of the people and places of post-war Italy from the agency's foundation in 1947 to the present. The exhibition opens with a homage to Henri Cartier-Bresson and his visit to Italy in the 1930s, followed by a series of photographs by Capa documenting a village in ruins following the Second World War and one by Seymour showing the return of tourists to the Sistine Chapel in 1947. There are also photographs of Cinecittà, the triumph of Cassius Clay in the 1960 Rome Olympics, the funeral of Palmiro Togliatti, construction mogul Silvio Berlusconi shortly before his entry into politics, unrest during the G8 summit in Genoa and the death of Pope John Paul II.
    The exhibition is part of a programme of initiatives across the globe to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the cooperative conceived by Robert Capa during the Spanish Civil War as a means of safeguarding the work of professional photographers, and which was founded on the terrace of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1947. Today Magnum has offices in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo and remains the most authoritative source of images from around the globe. Besides the exhibition in Turin Italy is marking the anniversary with two other exhibitions: 'Life - Magnum. The photojournalism that has made history' (March 4-June 11) curated by Marco Minuz at the Museo del Violino in Cremona; and three shows under the auspices of the first edition of the 'Brescia Photo Festival' (March 7-September 8).