WERNER BISCHOF
Werner Bischof was born in Switzerland 1916. He studied photography with Hans Finsler in his native Zurich at the School for Arts and Crafts, then opened a photography and advertising studio. In 1942 he became a freelancer for Du magazine, which published his first major photo essays in 1943. Bischof received international recognition after the publication of his 1945 reportage on the devastation caused by the Second World War.
In the years that followed, Bischof traveled in Italy and Greece for Swiss Relief, an organization dedicated to post-war reconstruction. In 1948 he photographed the Winter Olympics in St Moritz for Life magazine. After trips to Eastern Europe, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, he worked for Picture Post, The Observer, Illustrated and Epoca. He was the first photographer to join Magnum with the founding members in 1949.
Disliking the `superficiality and sensationalism` of the magazine business, he devoted much of his working life to looking for order and tranquility in traditional culture, something that did not endear him to picture editors looking for hot topical material. Nonetheless, he found himself sent to report on famine in India by Life magazine (1951), and he went on to work in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Indochina. The images from these reportages were used in major picture magazines throughout the world.
In the autumn of 1953 Bischof created a series of expansively composed color photographs of the USA. The following year he traveled through Mexico and Panama, and then on to a remote part of Peru, where he was engaged in making a film. Tragically, Bischof died in a road accident in the Andes on 16 May 1954, only nine days before Magnum founder Robert Capa lost his life in Indochina.
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Exhibitions (selection)
2016
•Werner Bischof, «Standpunkt" and «Helvetica», Musée de l`Elysée, Lausanne (CH).
• «Werner Bischof, Standpunkt. Homage to the 100th birthday», Versicherungskammer Kulturstiftung Munich, (DE)
•«Werner Bischof, an exhibition of his work», Photobastei, Zurich, (CH)
2006
• «WernerBischofPictures», Museum Helmhaus, Zurich, (CH)
• Big Retrospective - Werner Bischof, Prague, Czech Republic, Municipa House (CZ)
2005
•«Réflexions de vie, 1916-1954 photographies de Werner Bischof», Fnac Forum des Halles Paris, (FR)
•«Werner Bischof Exhibition in Kaposvár, Hungary», Vaszary Gallery, Kaposvár, (HUN)
2004
•«Werner Bischof: A Retrospective 1932-1954» Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, (USA)
•«Werner Bischof Photographs 1932-1954» Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota (USA)
1999
• National Gallery of Namibia, Windhoek, (NAM)
• National Art Gallery, Sofia, (BGR)
1998
• Musee Suisse de l`Appareil Photographique, Vevey (CH)
1996
• Museo National de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires
1995
• Museo de Arte, La Paz, (BOL)
1994
• New South Wales Art Gallery, Sydney, (AUS)
1993
• Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, (VEN)
• Museum of Arts, Santa Barbara, (USA)
1992
• Museum foor Photography, Antwerp, (BE)
• Museum of Photography in the Munich City Museum, Munich, (DE)
1990
• International Center of Photography, New York City, (USA)
1987
• Musée de l`ElyséeLausanne, (CH)
1986
• Kunsthaus, Zurich, (CH)
Publications (selection)
•«Werner Bischof: 24 Photos» L.M.Kohler, Bern 1946, Werner Bischofs Zusammenfassung seiner Arbeit im Studio. 24 Photos
•«Japan» Edition Robert Delpire, Paris 1954, Werner Bischofs Zusammenfassung seiner Arbeit in Japan. 109 Photos
•«Unterwegs» Conzett & Huber, Zürich 1956, Rosellina Bischof über die Arbeit ihres Mannes. 76 Photos
•«Leben und Werk von Werner Bischof 1916-1954», Benteli Verlag, Wabern-Bern 1990/2004. 200 Photos
•«Dopo la guerra» Motta Editore, Milano 1994, Werner Bischofs Bilder seiner Reisen im Nachkriegseuropa. 40 Photos
•«55 Photos» Phaidon, London 2001, Überblick von Werner Bischofs Werk in 55 Bildern
•«Questions to my father» Trolley, London 2004, 70 unbekannte Bilder zum 50. Todestag von Werner Bischof
Collections (selection)
• Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• International Center of Photography, New York, New York, USA
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA
• Museum of Decorative Art, Prag, Tschechien
• Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, USA
• The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
• Rose Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
• Fotostiftung Schweiz, Winterthur, Schweiz
• Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Schweiz
• Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, USA
• Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Schweiz
