The Swiss-born photographer Werner Bischof was already receiving international recognition as early as 1945 after the publication of his work on the devastation caused by the Second World War - and close on the heels of opening his own photography and advertising studio in Zurich in 1942. 

In the years that followed, Bischof travelled to Italy and Greece for Swiss Relief, an organisation 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 also worked for Picture Post, The Observer, Illustrated and Epoca. Significantly, Bischof was the first photographer to join Magnum Photos after its formation in 1949 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and David 'Chim' Seymour. 

Among others, the works in the exhibition include colour photographs taken in New York in 1953, Bischof’s Japanese images, which have now become instantly recognisable and synonymous with his name, and poignantly his work in a remote part of Peru taken the month he died - Werner Bischof tragically died in a road accident in the Andes in May 1954.

Leica Camera UK is proud to collaborate with the Estate of Werner Bischof and bring to London for the first time oversized prints of some of Bischof's most revered icons. All prints in the exhibition are for sale.

Image credits

Frida Kahlo in her studio, Mexico City 1954 / © Werner Bischof / Magnum Photos
Shinto Priests in the courtyard of the Meiji Shrine, Tokyo, Japan / © Werner Bischof / Magnum Photos
Street gorge, New York City, USA 1954 / © Werner Bischof / Magnum Photos
Breast with Grid, Zurich, Switzerland 1940 / © Werner Bischof / Magnum Photos