MagnumTime Interview with Pia de Richemont

Pia de Richemont
Head of Sales Magnum Photos Paris 1987-1991

 “I remember when Gueorgui Pinkhassov walked into the office one day. Nobody knew him. He came in. At the time he didn’t speak very good French and he said, “I have these photos. They are important. You must show them, you must have them, you must sell them!”  And people just thought he was some sort of - you know - he couldn’t speak the language and nobody knew him. He was being shuffled around the office and nobody was looking after him, so after a while I go over and say, “What’s happening?”  So he explains that he had just come from Armenia and a war was about to start and nobody knew this, but he had the photos to prove it, he had the tanks and everything. I sit down and have a look at the pictures. “OK, OK, just wait a minute here.”  So I went in to see the director and said, “I think we’ve got something here.”  And it was a scoop, and it was huge, and - well - the rest is history. Pinkhassov is still there doing, doing…  But that was amazing.” 

MagnumTime interview in Paris, France, 2011