MediaMentor's Photo Blog: Magnum Photo archive sold to Dell computer boss for display at University of Texas

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Magnum Photo archive sold to Dell computer boss for display at University of Texas

RT @mediamentor: Magnum #Photo archive sold to Dell computer boss for display at University of Texas #Journalism in the Americas
http://ow.ly/14wmw

"... Magnum Photos, a cooperative owned by some of the world's most distinguished photographers, has sold its New York print archive to an investment firm owned by Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computer, who has loaned the images to the University of Texas for public use. See Magnum's announcement and this report by The New York Times.

The collection of nearly 200,000 vintage prints contains images of wars and major world events, social and religious issues, celebrities and family life. It will be preserved, catalogued and made accessible to the public at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, whose photography collection includes the world's first photograph. (See these shots of the archive's arrival.)
The transaction price was not disclosed, but the collection has been insured for more than $100 million, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources.

The sale could help Magnum ensure its future, Chris Lefkow writes for AFP. "Like France's Gamma, another fabled photo agency, which went into receivership in July, Magnum has been seeking to carve out a niche in the new media era of Web-hosted stock photography and shrinking magazine and newspaper budgets," Lefkow says..."