David Seymour. Retrospective

From April 3 to September 14, 2014 Palazzo Reale of Turin is hosting a new retrospective organized by Silvana Editoriale in collaboration with Magnum Photos and the Regional Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Landscape of Piedmont, dedicated to one of the most legendary photographers of the twentieth century: David Seymour (1911-1956) co-founder in 1947 of the Magnum Photos with Henri Cartier- Bresson and Robert Capa.
The exhibition consists of 127 photographs in black and white , divided into 9 sections (France, The Civil War in Spain, Germany , Europe after the Second World War , the children of the war, Israel, Egypt, Celebrities, Portraits Chim ), illustrating the key stages of the intense career of Seymour.

David Seymour, stage name of David Szymin - later shortened the pseudonym Chim - , was born in Warsaw November 20, 1911 to a wealthy family of Polish Jews. After studying graphic arts in Leipzig, he began his photographic career in Paris in 1933, where he became a friend of Robert Capa and Henri Cartier- Bresson, with whom he founded the Magnum Photos agency in 1947, which later joined George Rodger and William Vandivert.
Humanist intellectual , passionate about politics, knowledge of six languages, David Seymour is one of the first war photographer: love of photography considered a craftsman, not an artist; uses a state of the art camera , a Leica 35mm, to be able to make anonymous at the time of the shot and be able to capture people and events in the most authentic way possible, going right to the heart of the action.
Following are the most significant political events of the period for major magazines , including "Life" and "Regards" , beginning with the Spanish Civil War, during which triggered the famous photo of the mother who breastfeeds her child during an event farmers , unwittingly became a symbol and icon of the uprising.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, repair in New York, but was able to return to Europe in 1943 and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force , with the delicate task of photo-interpreter of aerial images.
Documents his time unconditionally, nurtured by a strong social conscience that leads him to not ever escape , even faced with the difficulty of telling the childhood stolen war orphans : in these shots she put all her sensitivity and empathy. His most famous series is in fact the children of the war, made for UNICEF in the postwar years. It is poignant images , which have attracted the attention of the public on the incredible number of children orphaned , maimed physically and spiritually.
David Seymour was killed in Suez in 1956, while preparing a service for "Newsweek" on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The exhibition is accompanied by a book published by Silvana Editoriale , which includes a selection of photographs and a critical contribution of Francis Zanot.

Vai alla guida d'arte di Turin