Werner Bischof (April 26, 1916 - May 16, 1954) was a Swiss photographer and photojournalist.

Bischof was born in Zürich. When he was six years old, the family moved to Waldshut, Germany, where he subsequently went to school. In 1932, having abandoned studies to become a teacher, he enrolled at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zürich, where he graduated cum laude in 1936. From 1939 on, he worked as an independent photographer for various magazines, in particular the renowned magazine du based in Zürich. His works on the devastation in post-war Europe (he travelled extensively from 1945 to 1949 through nearly all European countries from France to Romania and from Norway to Greece) established him as one of the foremost photojournalists of his time. In 1949, he joined Magnum, which at the time was composed of just five other photographers: Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, David Seymour, and Ernst Haas.

In 1951, he went to India, working for the magazine Life, and then to Japan and Korea, before he went for the magazine Paris Match as a war reporter to Vietnam. In 1954, he travelled through Mexico and Panama, before flying to Peru, where he embarked on a trip through the Andes to the Amazonas on May 14. On May 16, his car precipitated off a cliff on a mountain road in the Andes, and all three passengers were killed.

External link

• Werner Bischof Estate

Literature

• Bischof, M.; Magnaguagno, G.; Loetscher, H. : Werner Bischof, Bullfinch 1992; ISBN 0-821-218174-8.
• Cookman, C.: Werner Bischof, Phaidon Press 2001; ISBN 0-714-84041-6.
• Mafai, M.; Bischof, W.: After the War, Smithsonian Books 1997; ISBN 1-560-98721-9.

• du 9/1990: "Werner Bischof: Europa 1945 - 1950"; Tages-Anzeiger AG 1990