Magnum Photos launches ‘Odyssey’ print sale, including posthumous Martin Parr work

Magnum Photos, the renowned photographer-owned cooperative, has launched a time-limited sale of prints from its archives, notably including the first posthumous sale of a work by Martin Parr—who died in December at the age of 73.

The online sale, titled “Odyssey,” runs through just before midnight on March 29 and is part of Magnum’s recurring Square Print Sale—a weeklong event offering small prints in a uniform square format. Magnum will also hold an in-person event Thursday at Finback Brooklyn.

The “Odyssey” sale brings together work from more than 100 photographers, focusing on movement across borders, transitions between places and experiences, and broader themes of change. Shoair Mavlian, director of The Photographers’ Gallery, said proceeds from the sale would support the London-based nonprofit institution.

Unlike traditional limited-edition prints, the works are not capped by number but produced during a fixed sales window, after which they are no longer available. Similar time-limited print sales have been used by other photography organizations to support photographers and fund related programs.

Parr’s photo in the sale, taken in 2017, depicts a line of tourists waiting to cross the causeway to St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, England. The stone walkway connects the mainland town of Marazion to the island—but only at low tide.

Michael Sargeant, the global director of digital projects at Magnum, said in emailed remarks that the photo is typical of Parr’s “irreverent fashion” and was chosen by the photographer before his death.

“I always enjoy shooting queues — the British are very good at doing this,” Parr had written about the photograph. “I was very excited when I saw this queue for St. Michael’s Mount. It took me a while to find the right viewpoint and then wait for the line of people to be clear, to ensure there were no people pushing in.”

Parr, who joined Magnum Photos in 1994, helped redefine documentary photography through his use of saturated color and direct flash, focusing on leisure, consumption and class. His images frequently centered on the rituals of everyday life—crowds, food and tourism—rendered with a mix of humor and discomfort.

Also in this sale, Sargeant said photographer Jim Goldberg will be hand-finishing prints of his photograph with a variety of materials, making each print a “truly individual and unique” artwork.

Goldberg’s photograph depicts two young passengers leaning out of a train and watching the landscape pass on a voyage from Lima to Huancayo, Peru, in 1980. Sargeant said Goldberg made the trip just after finishing graduate school, while working on his first major book, Rich and Poor.

Other works in the sale include a 1955 color portrait by Eve Arnold of Marilyn Monroe reclining on playground equipment and reading James Joyce’s Ulysses on Long Island, while Juno Calypso presents a self-portrait in which she stands nude, her body painted green, in a room of mirrors.

A stark black-and-white image by Chris Killip shows a figure on horseback in a desolate landscape, and a photograph of a snarling dog by Daidō Moriyama showcases the photographer’s high-contrast, grainy style.