ABBAS 1944–2018
▶ The godfather to a generation of photographers, Iranian-born Abbas has died in Paris, aged 74. His documentation of strife and religion for Magnum Photos is unparalleled. James Langton writes
For more than half a century, the photographer who was known simply as Abbas recorded world events across many fault lines, from the wars of Biafra and Vietnam, to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and the revolution in his native Iran.
Born Abbas Attar in Baluchistan, he moved first as a child to Algeria but later made his home in Paris, where his death at the age of 74 was announced on Wednesday.
“My photography is a reflection which comes to life in action and leads to meditation,” Abbas once said.
His subjects defied categorisation, but they were depicted with a concern for all humanity, from Senegal and Mexico to New Orleans and Algeria.
As Abbas grew older religion became a major theme, with Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism observed through a sceptical eye and with an emphasis on the political and ritual elements as much as the spiritual.
Before his death Abbas had turned his lens to Judaism.
One of a series of published photo essays, his book Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam, published in 1994, took him across nearly 30 countries and found a greater significance after the events of September 11, 2001.
In 1997 Abbas returned to Iran after 17 years in voluntary exile, completing another work, Iran Diary 1971-2002.
In 1982, he joined Magnum Photos, the legendary co-operative agency founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa, and was elected a full member in 1985.
“He was a pillar of Magnum, a godfather for a generation of younger photojournalists,” said Thomas Dworzak, the president of the photo agency.
“It is with immense sadness that we lose him. May the gods and angels of all the world’s major religions he photographed so passionately be there for him.”