Living for Photography

• Peter Bally: Rosellina and Werner Bischof, New York, 1953
  © Peter Bally
• Werner Bischof: Rosellina Mandel with children at the beach in Rimini, 1947
  © Werner Bischof Estate / Magnum Photos
• René Burri: Rosellina Burri-Bischof, Hugo Loetscher and Walter Binder working on the exhibition ‘Photographie in der Schweiz 1840 bis heute’, Zurich, 1973
  © René Burri / Magnum Photos, Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Photo Elysée

As a founding member of the Swiss Foundation for Photography and director of Magnum Schweiz, Rosellina Burri-Bischof (1925–1986) made pioneering contributions to the advancement of photography in Switzerland. The Swiss Foundation for Photography now honours the dedication of this charismatic advocate of the photographic medium with a presentation of images, along with documents and personal correspondence provided by the Rosellina Archive.

“In our country, there has probably never been a name so affectionately, imaginatively and profoundly associated with photography as that of Rosellina Burri-Bischof,” Hugo Loetscher wrote in 1986. As the widow of Swiss Magnum photographer Werner Bischof, Rosellina preserved his estate and continued to disseminate his photographic work in exhibitions and publications. In 1963, she married René Burri and continued her commitment to photography within this partnership. In 1966, she and Cornell Capa founded the International Fund for Concerned Photography, dedicated to the legacy of the late photographers Werner Bischof, Robert Capa and David Seymour, among others.

‘Rosselina – Living for Photography’ is on view at the Swiss Foundation for Photography from August 26, 2023, to January 28, 2024. It runs in parallel to the showcase ‘Werner Bischof – Unseen Colour’. Curated by Tania Kuhn (Rosellina Archive & Werner Bischof Estate) and Alessa Widmer (PhD candidate at Zurich University), the exhibition was made possible by the Swiss Foundation for Photography and the Rosellina Archive.