Magnum Editions: Côte d’Azur, France, 1959

Born in Paris in 1928 to Russian parents, Erwitt spent his childhood in Milan, before emigrating to the US with his family in 1939, where he would spend his teenage years in Hollywood. It was here, working in commercial darkrooms, that he discovered a passion – and an innate skill – for photography. Now one of the cooperative’s most illustrious members, Erwitt is known for a benevolent irony and a humanistic sensibility traditional to the spirit of Magnum. Pictured here, sunbathers enjoy the sun in the French town of St Tropez. Ever since the 1950s, when the likes of Brigitte Bardot holidayed there, the former sleepy fishing village along the French Riviera has been synonymous with a culture of boats, beaches and sun-kissed bodies.