Ernest Cole

Magnum Square Print: Ernest Cole

Sale launches Monday, October 20, 09:00 a.m. EDT.
Description

USA, 1971.

“Cole enjoyed photographing people in apartheid South Africa and the US and highlighted the parallels between the two sites of struggle. As Gil Scott-Heron sang in 1975: ‘New York’s like Johannesburg, Detroit’s like Johannesburg,’ or, in this case, Chicago is like Johannesburg. Music was a continuous connection between the cities. In Chicago, blues exerted a similar influence to jazz in Johannesburg, generating a language of resistance. 

“The fellow pictured appears to be channeling local heroes like Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley, but the song that comes to my mind is John Lee Hooker’s I’m Bad Like Jesse James. 

“It’s typical that Cole should discover a youthful ‘street’ version of the mythical Stagger Lee. More than 70 years after ‘Stack’ killed Billy. Nearly 50 years after the song was first recorded. Twelve years after Lloyd Price’s hit single, as William Faulkner noted: ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’”

— James Sanders, the Ernest Cole Family Trust

© Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos

This print is estate-stamped on an archival label to ensure quality and preservation, which is affixed to the back of the print.

The edition is available for purchase between:

Monday, October 20, 09:00 a.m. EDT
to Sunday, October 26, 11:59 p.m. EDT

 
All Magnum Square Prints come with a choice of three framing options: our standard custom wooden frame in black or white, or a new premium walnut frame.

Our premium walnut frames feature plexiglass on both sides, showcasing the signature label via a cutout on the rear. All of these contemporary custom frames are hand-crafted by expert framers.
In partnership with Aperture Foundation

Square Print Sale: Youth

Youth is about a moment, a memory — a state of becoming. It’s the spark of firsts: the first glance, the first protest, the first kiss, the first fall, the first revelation. With over 100 images selected by the photographers themselves, we explore the many faces of youth across generations and geographies.

Youth captures the electric charge of growing up. It brings together icons in their prime — Dennis Stock’s enigmatic portrait of James Dean, Danny Clinch’s shot of Bruce Springsteen, Philippe Halsman’s image of Brigitte Bardot — and the young at heart, as in Werner Bischoff’s portrait of Frida Kahlo months before her death. It seizes moments of the young and restless, from Robert Capa’s teenagers drinking on a film set to Raymond Depardon’s bubble-gum blowers in Glasgow. Intimate portraits trace the arc of self-discovery: Olivia Arthur’s child on the cusp of change and Alec Soth’s lone dancer both capture the spirit of youth, regardless of age. This selection reminds us of our own beginnings, encapsulating how being youthful is not only an era in our lives but a state of mind.

Over 100 signed or estate-stamped, museum-quality 6x6” prints will be available online for one week, priced from $110/£110/€120.

The Youth Square Print Sale runs Monday, October 20 at 9 a.m. ET and ends Sunday, October 26 at 11:59 p.m.

SHOP THE FULL COLLECTION

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