How Magnum photographers see Switzerland

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Raymond Depardon (1942-) Horse market in Saignelégier, canton Jura, 1980 Raymond Depardon / Magnum Photos

Martine Franck (1938-2012) Cattle market in Oey-Diemtigen, canton Bern, 2003 Martine Franck / Magnum Photos

Leonard Freed (1929-2006) Canton Graubünden, 1986 Leonard Freed / Magnum Photos

Nikos Economopoulos (1953-) Novartis, Basel, 2003 Nikos Economopoulos / Magnum Photos

Richard Kalvar (1944-) World Economic Forum Davos, 2017 Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos

Carl de Keyzer (1958-) World Economic Forum Davos, 1997 CARL DE KEYZER /MAGNUM PHOTOS

Guy Le Querrec (1941-) Horse market in Saignelégier, canton Jura, 1980 Guy Le Querrec / Magnum Photos

Ferdinando Scianna (1943-) Geneva, 2008 Ferdinando Scianna / Magnum Photos

Alex Webb (1952-) Lindt chocolate factory, Zürich, 2002 Magnum Photos

Jean Gaumy (1948-) Followers of Archbishop Lefèbvre in Ecône, canton Valais, 1977 Jean Gaumy / Magnum Photos

Erich Lessing (1923-) Summit in Geneva, July 1955: Swiss diplomats await the "Big Four"- President Dwight D. Eisenhower from the USA, Prime Minister Nikolai Bulganin from the Soviet Union, Anthony Eden from Great Britain, and Edgar Faure from France. ERICH LESSING/MAGNUM PHOTOS

Peter Marlow (1952-) Summit in Geneva, 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan give a press conference. (c)Peter Marlow-Magnum Photos

Werner Bischof (1916-1954) The town of St. Margrethen at the Swiss-German border on May 3, 1945: prisoners of war and forced labourers wait to cross into Switzerland. WERNER BISCHOF/MAGNUM PHOTOS

René Burri (1933-2014) Hungarian refugees in a detention centre in Trogen, Appenzell Outer Rhodes, 1956. REN BURRI/MAGNUM PHOTOS

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) Zürich, Heimplatz, 1966 © HENRI CARTIER BRESSON/MAGNUM PHOTOS

Josef Koudelka (1938-) Fasnacht, or carnival, celebration in Zürich, 1976 JOSEF KOUDELKA / MAGNUM PHOTOS

Erich Hartmann (1922-1999) A vault in Swiss bank SBG in Zürich, 1985 Erich Hartmann / Magnum Photos

Chien-Chi Chang (1961-) Basel, 2011 Chien-Chi Chang / Magnum Photos

Martin Parr (1952-) Switzerland, 1990 Martin Parr / Magnum Photos

John Vink (1948-) Hoch-Ybrig, canton Schwyz, 1997 JOHN VINK/MAGNUM PHOTOS

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In 1947, as Europe lay in ruins, like-minded humanist photographers founded the agency “Magnum Photos” in Paris. It remains the oldest and most renowned photo agency in the world. Many of its images are iconic. To what extent was – or is – Switzerland a theme for the agency’s photographers? 

If you enter “Switzerland” into the Magnum archivesExternal link, you’ll get around 9,000 results. Photographer Martin Parr focused extensively on Swiss cultural peculiarities, the World Economic Forum in Davos is always a topic, Henri Cartier-Bresson traversed the country, and the post-war images of legendary photographers René Burri and Erwin Bischof heavily influenced how the world saw Switzerland. 

In 1947, during the heyday of photo journalism, Robert Capa, George Rodger, David “Chim” Seymour and Henri Cartier-Bresson founded the Magnum Photo agency as a cooperative. Images could not be cropped, a credit was obligatory, and the negatives and rights belonged to the author. 

Originally the photographers would travel the world, from crisis to crisis, capturing life for magazines such as “Look”, “Life” or “Vu”. In the meantime, the choice of subjects expanded. Whoever wanted to join – and there were hundreds of applications a year – had to be voted in through a long process.