ARTIUM, Basque Centre-Museum of Contemporary Art of Vitoria-Gasteiz, presents the bibliographical exhibition Photojournalism, a selection of books taken from the collection of the Centre-Museum's Library, dedicated to this journalistic and photographic genre. The exhibition includes more than 200 books on this subject, including those of a number of important authors such as Leni Riefenstahl, Dorothea Lange, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, Gervasio Sánchez, Sebastiao Salgado and César Lucas, among others, as well as several theme compilations such as those of the Magnum agency, EFE and the World Press competition. The exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to view a selection of films dealing with this subject, such as a set of images prize-winning from the World Press Photo competition. Photojournalism provides visitors with an in-depth look at the history of this genre which lies halfway between photography and journalism, and the way in which photojournalism has dealt with the major events of the 20th century: wars, politics, social questions, sports, and so on. With this aim, ARTIUM's Library has selected more than 200 books from its bibliographical collection, that enable visitors to delve into the different sub-genre that exist within photojournalism, such as war photography (Robert Capa), social commitment (Sebastiao Salgado), the combination of both present in images (Gervasio Sánchez) or documentaries (Bill Brandt and Henri Cartier-Bresson). These books not only contain photographs but also theoretical treatises and reviews.
Although the exhibition traces the history of photojournalism from 19th century documentalism (focusing on the construction of large infrastructures and scientific expeditions, among other subjects), to the present day, the exhibition concentrates on what is considered to be modern photojournalism, which began with the publication in 1936 of the first issue of the magazine "Life". Based on this premise, the Seminar Room contains works by iconic figures from the world of photography such as Frank Capa, Gerda Taro, the Magnum Agency, Henri Cartier Bresson, and more recently, Martin Parr, Sebastiao Salgado and Gervasio Sánchez.
Next to the Seminar Room, a monitor will show a number of films relating directly or indirectly with this genre, such as The Year of Living Dangerously, by Peter Weir, La dolce vita, by Federico Fellini, Welcome to Sarajevo, by Michael Winterbottom, His Girl Friday, by Howard Hawks, Rear Window, by Alfred Hitchcock, The Public Eye, by Howard Franklin, Salvador, by Oliver Stone and The Killing Fields, by Roland Joffé, among others. Likewise, the room features an audiovisual montage with fragments of journalistic reports made for the cinema or television in which we are reminded of some of the major milestones in the history of the 20th century.

On-line database

The exhibition is complete with an extensive documentary database on photojournalism, accessible via the website of ARTIUM's Library. In it, one can find information on the history of photojournalism, from documentalism and the first war images of the 19th century to the present day, including the golden age of this genre, namely, the mid 20th century. The website also contains a database of photojournalists which attempts to include everyone working in this field, especially those working in the Basque Country.

The exhibition is a production of the Library and Documentation Centre of ARTIUM.

Photojournalism: reality captured in a lens

Bibliographical exhibition
ARTIUM Library, until April 11, 2011. Free entrance

Exhibition website (Spanish)