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April 2006  

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Reflections from the Heart

Title: Sophia Loren (at 19), 1953 (Printed 2006)
Artist: Chim (David Seymour: Polish, 1911-1956)
Medium: Inkjet Print from Digital Scan of Original Transparency
Dimensions: 12 x 12 inches
Courtesy of Ben Shneiderman
Image Courtesy: Corcoran Gallery of Art

Photographs by David Seymour : Chim
through June 4, 2006
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Washington DC

Chim, one of the founders of Magnum, was a genius in the development of photojournalism. He is best known for his use of light in his black and white images. Rarely did he photograph in color. Now for the first time some of these unusual works, for this photographer, will be exhibited along with his familiar techniques.

“Chim aimed to tell the heart-breaking and heart-warming stories of life through his photographs,” said Tom Beck, Chief Curator, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “His work was revolutionary at the time and still speaks today to those who encounter his images.”

Biography

Dawid Szymin was born in Warsaw, Poland. He moved to the French capital in 1931 and embarked on his calling as a photojournalist. He had dreamed of a science career but the political upheaval of 1930s Europe put a damper on these hopes. With a borrowed camera and an eye for the historical images before him he defined photojournalism.

He used the nickname "CHIM" to identify himself, which is a French phonetic abbreviation of his surname. Early in his career he worked for the French magazine Regards, which was a left-leaning publication. At the time using photographs to create or illustrate stories in European magazines was popular with the readers providing opportunities for photographers.

Chim became a US citizen in the early years of the Second World War and anglicized his name from Dawid Szymin to David Robert Seymour, hoping to avoid any possible Nazi reprisals against his family, who lived in then then occupied Poland. He documented countless historical events including the Spanish Civil War, World War II, post-war life in Italy and Greece, early evolution of the state of Israel and the Suez Canal crisis. These images were published in leading journals including Paris Match and Life Magazine.

He was so known for this subject that these images are often called "Chim's children.

Along with Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and others Chim was a founding member of Magnum, the pioneer among photojournalist co-ops. Their aim was editorial independence and to be first in concept, quality and timing.

Title: Orphans of the Greek War, 1948
Artist: Chim (David Seymour: Polish, 1911-1956)
Medium: Silver Gelatin Print
Dimensions: 7 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches
Loan courtesy of George Eastman House Collection:
Gift of George Stephanopoulos
Image Courtesy: Corcoran Gallery of Art

Henri Cartier-Bresson said of his friend, “Chim picked up his camera the way a doctor takes his stethoscope out of his bag, applying his diagnosis to the condition of the heart. His own was vulnerable.”

“Seymour is considered a pioneer of small camera photo-reportage and humanistic documentary photography,” said Phillip Brookman, Corcoran Senior Curator of Photography and Media Arts. “His images provide an eloquent testimony to the strength and vulnerability of humankind.”

Title: Joan Collins (at 18), London, 1951 (Printed 2006)
Artist: Chim (David Seymour: Polish, 1911-1956)
Medium: Inkjet Print from Digital Scan of Original Transparency
Dimensions: 12 x 12 inches
Courtesy of Ben Shneiderman
Image Courtesy: Corcoran Gallery of Art

Founding Magnum photographer David Seymour, best known as Chim, is honored with a retrospective of seventy-five works at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Reflections from the Heart
Photographs by David Seymour : Chim
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC:
March 18 - June 4, 2006