11 August – 2 November 2003
11 August – 2 November 2003
'Recent Gifts of Photojournalism', on show in the temporary display area of the V&A's new photography gallery, celebrates two significant new acquisitions of 20th century photographs. Examples from a body of work by David Seymour ('Chim') will be shown together with photographs and related material from the archive of the John Hillelson Agency, including work by Erich Salomon, Gis?le Freund and Ernst Haas.
London, England Thursday, August 14, 2003
Greetings from David Seymour's older sister Eileen Shneiderman (born 1908),
with her daughter Helen Sarid and her son Ben Shneiderman
We are delighted with the growing international enthusiasm for Chim's work, as a photo-journalistic record and as inspirational art. The curators of the
Victoria and Albert Museum, especially Mark Haworth-Booth, were warmly receptive to our donation offer and have been wonderfully responsive in promptly including Chim's vintage photos in this exhibit. The photos on these walls demonstrate how Chim made historic events personal by showing the emotional responses of participants, such as the passion of political leaders in Italy and the delight of arriving immigrants in Israel. We thank Kate Best and Prof. David Mellor who contributed their skills while researching the photos and preparing this exhibit.
Chim established his career in France in the 1930s, then covered the Spanish
Civil War, and photographed widely in Europe till he was killed while working
for Newsweek at the Suez Canal in 1956. He was one of the founders of the
international photo cooperative Magnum in 1947 with his friends Robert Capa,
Henri Cartier-Bresson, and George Rodger. Magnum remains a vigorous community, now numbering more than 50 photographers, and is respected as a world-leading agency with offices in London, New York, Paris, and Tokyo.
Chim's English connections include his photos of Winston Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and David Niven. Our donation to the V and A contains a rare vintage print of Chim's story of English steel workers. His work was disseminated in England by way of stories in widely-read publications such as Illustrated and Picture Post. Next year the London-based Phaidon Press will
publish a Chim review in its popular Phaidon 55 book series.
Chim's touching images of refugee children photographed after World War II for
UNICEF are among his most well-known. They inspired New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman in his story on Chim: "Images Engraved in History's Heart" (September 20, 1996). This article reported on the opening of a Chim
retrospective exhibit at the International Center of Photography in New York and
the publication of the book about Chim's work by Inge Bondi (Bulfinch/Little
Brown, 1996). Kimmelman wrote: "Chim was a dreamer, and along with Capa and Cartier-Bresson, one of the heroic and pioneering liberal journalists who
thought he could improve the world by showing people what was going on in it."
This exhibit helps promote that vision.
Thanks to all for your efforts and your appreciation of Chim's contributions.