Josef Magnus

MYSTERY AND ENIGMA - THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF JOSEF MAGNUS BY LLOYD POLLAK

"It is amazing that a photographer as original and accomplished as Josef Magnus is entirely self-taught. His every photograph has something indefinably strange and otherworldly about it. The most prominent feature of his photographic practice is the bold and consistent use of deep shadow, dim lighting, dark black and grey tones and, with the exception of one photograph, complete still.

'Shadows I' is a perfect example. Magnus' model is nigh naked and her skimpy bra and generous breasts make her seem even nuder than nude. He situates her in a spaceless limbo of deep black shadow which seems to cling to the back of her body, collapsing any space behind her and totally eliminating any notion of a background. Jet black obliterates everything else but the nude so that all we see in the photograph is her body cropped in a half-length format. The light is subdued but nevertheless it seems to pick up every pore on her skin and leave a trail of faint silvery highlights on her chest, neck and face.

There is a sense of closeness. The model occupies the entire picture space apart from areas of impenetrable darkness on the left and right hand side. The image is so tightly cropped that the model's elbows are cut off at the base and summit of the photograph while her fingers are severed on the right hand side. The viewer is thus positioned just inches away from her in intimate proximity. The nude leans her head backwards cradling it with her left hand so that her face is foreshortened. Her expression with eyes closed and mouth slightly open is languorous and seductive. It is as though she were absorbed in arousing erotic reverie, absent, withdrawn and totally detached from whatever is going on around her. 

What is she doing we ask? There is something almost ritualistic about her pose but the meaning of this ritual is not made privy to the viewer. It could be a narcissistic rite of self-adoration or some devout form of prayer and imploration. We are left in the dark. Even her identity is indefinable. She appears to be a dusky Oriental beauty but her strip tease attire (she wears skimpy panties in 'Shadow III') proclaims that she might just be a showgirl playing a role. In this way her ethnicity is not disclosed. With Magnus there are always more questions than there are answers.

There is a secondary use of shadow. Ribbons of shade extend across her breasts and shoulders and swerve upwards to invade her arm and face. These confer a certain unreality upon the image. The model no longer seems a flesh and blood woman rather she is an unattainable emanation of desire, dream and fantasy materializing out of this matrix of black. Shadow envelops the vacant space in an aura of impenetrable mystery for, darkness always invites the question of what it conceals. 

'Shadows III' is a centralized half-length composition in which the model - the object of male desire - gazes directly at us. We see her eyelids clearly but the eyes are steeped in such dense shadow that we cannot make out her expression, or know whether she invites or would repel our attentions. This heightens our sense of her inaccessibility. Here the narrow strips of shadow that harness her body suggest ropes. Passive and still she appears tied up and bound as if participating in some masochistic ceremony. 'Shadows II' presents the female body as an almost unrecognizable abstract form covered in zebra stripes that hint at something animalistic. The overtones of sado-masochism become even more overt: the head and legs are cropped and both the buttocks and the neck and shoulders seem to be encased in some kind of tight leathery brace that underlines the soft and yielding quality of her flesh. 

'Sequins' - one of two colour photographs - is no longer studio bound. It is a dockside scene full of light, space and air. At first glance it resembles a conventionally glamorous fashion photograph of a stunning model in a gorgeous garment. It is highly professional, exquisitely lit and highlights the loveliness of the model and her shining sequined apparel. Only after we have experienced the initial uplifting aesthetic impression do we notice the strangeness of the juxtapositions in which glamour is juxtaposed with grit. The model is posed leaning on the edge of a pool with her head and gown still wet from exposure to the water. The off-focus background consists of a dreary industrial landscape but this does not detract from the image. Rather the contrast between the ugliness of the environs and the radiant beauty of the model emphasize the latter and overshadow the rest. To ensure this happens Josef arranges the model and her garment in a monumental High Renaissance pyramidal configuration that immediately monopolizes the eye and entirely dominates the unsightly setting.

In 'Mermaid' the merlady of the title is one of the models Josef has used consistently throughout the entire suite of photographs. Here there is movement and every action is rapid, abrupt and impetuous. The merlady has just suddenly erupted from the hidden depths of a rock pool. In a swift whiplash movement she flings her head backwards and her hair and the water it releases fly out in a great whoosh of silvery droplets and great swathes of long black hair. This is the only photograph in which Josef attempts to obtain a dynamic effect and it is entirely successful in evoking a sudden wild outburst of energy. The background of dark monochrome grey skies entirely without any hint of tonal variation is eyrie, edgy and unsettling. The scene could be set on another planet. The image verges on the supernatural and the livewire model appears to be a mythological figure, a nymph or daughter of Neptune rather than a mere mortal." - Lloyd Pollak