'Moments that can never come back': the other side of Ren Burri in pictures | Art and design

 Posted on September 29, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  743 words  |  Martina Birk

'Moments that can never come back': the other side of René Burri – in pictures

The Swiss photographer was known for his celebrity portraits and black and white work – but a new exhibition explores his more colourful side too

Main image: A man exercising on a beach, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1966. Photograph: René Burri/Magnum

Wed 16 Sep 2020 07.00 BST Last modified on Wed 19 Oct 2022 15.11 BST

  • Illinois, Chicago, US, 1981

    The exhibition René Burri – Les Autres runs until 24 October at Galerie Bildhalle, Zürich, and showcases more than 50 signed prints, including famous works from Burri’s oeuvre, colour photographs and samples of lesser-known colour images. All photographs: Rene Burri/Magnum Photos

  • Tokyo, Japan, 1980

    Akihiro Maruyama, a transvestite, with his driver in their Rolls-Royce in the city’s nightclub district

  • Albisgütli, Zurich, Switzerland, 1980

    Two parallel approaches can be distinguished in the work of René Burri: on the one hand the composition, the structure and the visual impact are of indisputable economy and precision. On the other, each sign, each shape, each frame within the image confers an original and personal perspective on what is portrayed

  • Tokyo, Japan, 1980

    Known primarily for his black-and-white work, Burri curated his colour photos in a new selection titled Impossible Reminiscences

  • Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, 1981

    Burri was born in Zurich in 1933 and became an early member of the Magnum photo agency. He is perhaps best known for his portraits of Che Guevara and Pablo Picasso, and for venturing to extreme landscapes across the globe

  • Town of Leonforte, Sicily, 1956

    In 1956, Burri travelled throughout Europe and the Middle East, and then went to Latin America. Burri became an associate of Magnum in 1955 and received international attention for his first reportages published in Life magazine

  • Illinois, Chicago, US, 1971

    Burri’s work appeared regularly in publications including Life, Look, Paris-Match, Stern, the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph and, most often, Du, the mass-circulation Swiss weekly. His 1962 book The Germans was a semi-serious response to Robert Frank’s celebrated The Americans

  • Near the Central Station, Leipzig, Germany, 1964

    Burri: ‘After I left the photography class, in which all we did was photograph coffee cups under the light, I had to chase after my images. How to position the device when everything was moving? When people walked, when everything galloped in front of me? I shouted at them to stay still! This lasted until I started moving myself, until I managed to swim with the tide. Then, when I did, the action was taking place on the other side of the street! Snaps are like taxis in the rush hour – if one isn’t fast enough, someone else will get them first’

  • In the Ministry of Health building, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1960

    Crisscrossing shafts of light inside the building designed by architect Lúcio Costa’s practice, which included Oscar Niemeyer who designed Brasilia

  • Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1960

    The uniqueness of Burri’s visual universe comes from the economy and precision of the composition, married with his very personal perspective on what is portrayed

  • São Paulo, Brazil, 1960

    Burri was always driven by an irrepressible zest for life and a thirst for discovering the universe, especially an acute awareness of the ebb and flow of things, a tenacious desire to understand the workings of the world, and the certainty of then being able to share his experiences

  • Fifth Avenue, New York, US, 1967

    The advice Burri gave aspiring photographers was: ‘Go and discover for yourself, because the fantastic thing about photography is that you are able to freeze a moment that can never come back’

  • Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US, 1966

    A man exercising on a beach, not far from the port where nuclear submarines are stationed

  • Brasilia, Brazil, 1960

    The National Congress building by Oscar Niemeyer

  • 6th arrondissement, Luxembourg gardens, Paris, France, 1950

    René Burri died aged 81 in 2014. You can read his obituary here
Topics

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJmiqa6vsMOeqqKfnmS0orjLnqmyZ2Jlf3F70p6naGlmZMGpsYyoq6GdomLAqrDEZqafZaKau6Z5wa6pq6FdqMSqv9Jmp6GnpKS0s63PoZyrZZmjerG1wq2sq52j