It presents around 100 colour digital prints from original negatives from 1939 to the 50s: a chance to explore all of the Swiss photographer’s colour images for the very first time. Bischof is considered one of the great masters of reportage and photography of the twentieth century.
Model wth rose - Zurich 1939 © Werner Bischof Estate / Magnum Photos
Best known for his black and white reportage work, shot all over the world, Bischof was an artist
renowned for iconic images that bear witness to war and capture humanity at its truest. As the title
suggests, the exhibition at MASI highlights a lesser-known aspect of his work. In a period in which colour photography was often snubbed, relegated to the realm of advertising, Bischof was one of the few to grasp its expressive potential, and it quickly became a fundamental part of his creative practice.
© MASI Lugano, foto Alfio Tommasini
The exhibition is designed to offer a tour in vivid colour of the worlds Bischof visited and
experienced and it covers the entire span of his career, presenting previously unexhibited images taken
using three different cameras: a Rolleiflex, with its distinctive square negatives, a handy, pocket-sized
Leica, and a Devin Tri-Color Camera, which was based on the colour separation system that permitted an high quality colour rendering. The images taken with this camera are being presented to the public for the very first time thanks to the photographer’s son, Marco Bischof, director of the Bischof archive, who discovered and investigated the original glass plates.
left: Reichstag Berlin
right: Orchids (studio)
Zurich 1943 © Werner Bischof Estate / Magnum Photos
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