Werner Bischof - Unseen Colour

Swiss photographer Werner Bischof (1916-54) is best known for his impressive black-and-white images, most of which were taken on expeditions as a reporter in postwar Europe and during the Indochina War (1946-54), and on his travels in the Far East and South America. Far too little known are Bischof's early color photographs, comprising studio work in fashion and advertising photography as well as reportage from war-damaged European cities. For these, Bischof used various types of camera, including a Devin Tricolor. This elaborate color-separation device exposed three monochrome plates in a single exposure, each of them equipped with a color filter so that a true color print was subsequently made by addition of the three monochrome negatives. Some 200 of Bischof's Devin Tricolor negatives have been restored and a selection of them is published for the first time ever in this book.
The beautifully illustrated German language volume is fascinating not only from a photo-historical perspective. Even these early color images reveal Bischof's outstanding, sensitive aesthetic that characterizes his entire oeuvre. Some 100 color plates are supplemented with texts by Clara Bouveresse, the French photography historian, Peter Pfrunder, the director of the Fotostiftung Schweiz in Winterthur, and Luc Debraine, the director of the Swiss Camera Museum in Vevey.

About the author

Ludovica Introini
ist Kunsthistorikerin und arbeitet seit 2019 im Ausstellungsbüro des MASI Lugano.


Francesca Bernasconi ist Kunsthistorikerin und seit 2017 als Leiterin Ausstellungsorganisation am MASI Lugano tätig.

Additional text

"A hidden treasure trove of previously unknown colour images." Kate Connolly,
The Guardian

«Experimentell, kunstvoll, ein Torso der Kreativität, aber von starkem Narrativ und unfassbarer Ästhetik.» Gregor Auenhammer,
Der Standard

 

Report

"A hidden treasure trove of previously unknown colour images." Kate Connolly, The Guardian
«Experimentell, kunstvoll, ein Torso der Kreativität, aber von starkem Narrativ und unfassbarer Ästhetik.» Gregor Auenhammer, Der Standard

Product details

• Assisted by: Francesca Bernasconi (Editor), Ludovica Introini (Editor), Tobia Bezzola (Foreword), Beate Susanne Hanen (Translation), Claudia Kotte (Translation)
• Publisher: Scheidegger & Spiess
• Languages: German
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.03.2023
• EAN: 9783039421299
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3942129-9
• No. of pages: 184
• Dimensions: 220 mm x 20 mm x 250 mm
• Weight: 828 g
• Illustrations: 102 farbige Abbildungen
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Photography, film, video, TV; Fotografie, Leica, Modefotografie, Fotoreportage, Schweiz, Bildband, Photographie, einzelne Fotografen, Farbfotografie, Fotograf, Kamera, Rolleiflex, Reportagefotografie, eintauchen, Fotostiftung Schweiz, Foto-Journalismus, Fotojournalismus und Dokumentarfotografie, Peter Pfrunder, MASI Lugano, Magnum photo, Werner Bischof, Tobia Bezzola, Luc Debraine, Unseen Colour, Devin Tri-Color-Kamera, Clara Bouveresse, Foto-Reporter