Constantine "Costa" Manos (born 1934 in South Carolina) is a Greek-American photographer known for his images of Boston and Greece. His work has been published in
Esquire,
Life, and Look. He is a member of
Magnum Photos.
Manos first began taking photographs while in high school when he joined his school's camera club. Within a few years, he was working professionally as a photographer. At 19, Manos was hired as the official photographer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. His photographs of the orchestra culminated in 1961 with his first published work,
Portrait of a Symphony.
Manos graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1955, majoring in English Literature. He served in the military and then moved to New York City, working for various magazines. From 1961-64, Manos lived in Greece, photographing people and landscapes. This work resulted in
A Greek Portfolio, published in 1972, which won awards at Arles and the Leipzig book fair. In 1963, Manos joined Magnum Photos and became a full member in 1965.
After his time in Greece, Manos lived in Boston. In 1974, he was hired by the city to create the photographs for the
Where's Boston? exhibition, a large production in honor of Boston's 200th anniversary. The photos from that exhibit were published in the book
Bostonians: Photographs from Where's Boston? Manos also worked on projects for Time-Life Books.
In 1995,
American Color was published, containing Manos' recent photographs of American people.
A Greek Portfolio was reissued in 1999, followed by a major exhibition of his work at the Benaki Museum of Athens. In 2003, Manos was awarded the
Leica Medal of Excellence for his American Color photographs.
Source: Wikipedia
Constantine Manos was born in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A., of Greek immigrant parents. His photographic career began in the school camera club at the age of thirteen, and within several years he was a working professional. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in English Literature. At the age of nineteen he was hired as the official photographer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at its summer festival at Tanglewood.
Upon completion of his military service, he moved to New York, where he worked for Esquire, Life, and Look. His book,
Portrait of a Symphony, a documentary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was published in 1961. From 1961 to 1963 he lived in Greece, where he made the photographs for his book
A Greek Portfolio, first published in 1972. The book won awards at
Arles and at the Leipzig Book Fair, and exhibitions of the work took place at the
Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris and the
Art Institute of Chicago. In 1963 Manos joined Magnum Photos.
Returning from Greece, Manos settled in Boston and completed many assignments for Time-Life books, including their book on Athens. In 1974 he was the chief photographer for
Where’s Boston?, a multimedia production that documented the city and provided the photographs for his book
Bostonians.
Manos’s photographs are in the permanent collections of the
Museum of Modern Art, New York; the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris;
George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Benaki Museum, Athens. In 2003 Manos was awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence for his pictures from
American Color.
Work from Manos’s ongoing work in color first appeared in his book
American Color, published in 1995. The work continued in
American Color 2, published in 2010. A new edition of
A Greek Portfolio was published in 1999, accompanied by an exhibition at the Benaki Museum in Athens. In 2013 an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the making of the photographs for the book, including eighty unpublished pictures, was held at the Benaki.
Source: constantinemanos.com
As of 2014, he is currently working on a major retrospective book and exhibition that will include unpublished photographs dating from the start of his career.
