CARLO MARIA MARTINI DIOCESAN MUSEUM – MILAN
May 19, 2026 – October 18, 2026
The Carlo Maria Martini Diocesan Museum in Milan presents the exhibition “Werner Bischof. Point of View,” which, 110 years after his birth, offers a broad overview of the life and work of the Swiss photographer, one of the most important photojournalists of the 20th century. A member of the Magnum Photos agency since 1949, Bischof (Zurich, 1916 – Trujillo, Peru, 1954) distinguished himself with a profoundly humanistic approach to photojournalism, combining documentary rigor and poetic intensity.
The exhibition features 200 original vintage photographs, accompanied by a series of contact sheets and a documentary, which, with a perspective that is still extraordinarily relevant today, tell the story with empathy, attention, and profound respect for human dignity.
The exhibition unfolds in four chronological sections that trace the key stages of Bischof’s career: Switzerland 1932-1944 recounts his formative years and early experiments; Europe 1945-1950 collects photographs documenting Europe devastated by the Second World War, a theme that profoundly influenced the artist’s work and vision; Asia 1949-1953 collects reportages from India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Indochina; and finally, North and South America 1953-1954 documents Bischof’s final phase of research, with new visual explorations of the American continent.
Immediacy and expressive power characterize every one of Bischof’s photographs, whose constant pursuit of a profound interpretation of reality was expressed through the rigorous formal attention to detail, balanced compositions, and measured black and white gradations with which he crafted his shots. These distinctive traits earned him, even at the time, critical recognition and the rare definition for a photojournalist as a true “artist.” Moreover, Bischof was accustomed to taking notes, making quick sketches, or even actual drawings, as can be seen in his diaries, in order to fully connect with the places, events, and people he wanted to portray, respecting their scale and approaching these realities with intellectual finesse and the sensitivity of a pure humanist.
Find out more: https://chiostrisanteustorgio.it/mostra/werner-bischof-point-of-view/
