Quote: "The flow of people in a setting, their changing relationships to each other and their environment, and their constantly changing expressions and movements - all combine to create dynamic situations that provide the photographer with limitless choices of when to push the button. By choosing a precise intersection between subject and time, he may transform the ordinary into the extraordinary and the real into the surreal."
Constantine Manos joined Magnum Photos in 1963 and became a full Member in 1965.

Constantine Manos
American, b. 1934

Constantine Manos was born in 1934 in South Carolina to Greek immigrant parents. His photographic career began when he was 13, in the school camera club, and within a few years he was a professional photographer. At the age of 19 he was hired as the official photographer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. During this time he attended the University of South Carolina, graduating in 1955 with a BA in English Literature.

After military service, he moved to New York, where he worked for Esquire, Life and Look. His book Portrait of a Symphony, on the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was published in 1961. For the next three years, he lived in Greece, producing work that resulted in A Greek Portfolio, first published in 1972 and an award-winner at Arles and at the Leipzig Book Fair. In 1963 Manos joined Magnum Photos.

Manos's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Art Institute of Chicago, the George Eastman House in Rochester, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

His book Bostonians, which celebrates the people of that city, was published in 1974. A new edition of A Greek Portfolio was published in 1999, accompanied by a major exhibition at the Benaki Museum in Athens. In 1995 Manos's American Color was published, and in 2003 he was awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence for his continuing work on that project.

Education

1955 Bachelor of Arts (English Literature), University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

Awards

2003 Leica Medal of Excellence
1972 Arles Award
1966 New York Art Directors' Award

Exhibitions

1999 A Greek Portfolio - Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
1994/95 American Color - Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, USA;
Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, USA; Leica Gallery, New York, USA

Collections

Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
George Eastman House, Rochester, USA
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France
Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, USA
Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, USA
Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
Books
2000 Portrait of a Symphony 1960-2000, Boston Symphony Orchestra, USA
1995 American Color, W.W. Norton, USA
1975 Bostonians, Cambridge Seven Associates, USA
1975 Where's Boston?, Cambridge Seven Associates, USA
1972 Suite Grecque, Le Chêne, France
1972/99 A Greek Portfolio, Studio Book/Viking Press, USA; W.W. Norton, USA
1961 Portrait of a Symphony, Basic Books, USA