The decisive network: Magnum Photos and the art of collaboration in postwar photojournalism

This dissertation studies the daily operations of the international photo cooperative Magnum in order to explain what happened to the system of photography following the end of World War II. Making use of business correspondence culled from over a dozen archives, it reconstructs the production history of Magnum’s photo essays and maps the networks of collaborators who helped Magnum’s work to accrue financial and cultural value. The project demonstrates that Magnum brought the aesthetic and production mode of photojournalism into multiple markets over the course of the fifties, including humanitarian aid promotion, travel campaigns, corporate publicity, and advertising, and that it made journalistic photography integral to postwar visual culture more broadly. It argues that the photo agency is a privileged site for understanding how multiple factors–including newsworthiness, financial gain, aesthetics, professional partnerships, and self-promotion–shaped photographic production and circulation, especially in postwar America.