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The photographer René Burri, known for his portraits of Che Guevara and Pablo Picasso, who has died aged 81, was an early member of the renowned Magnum photo agency. Burri’s naturalistic, editorial style of photography suited the company well, and he was a close friend of Werner Bischof, a fellow Swiss photojournalist, who had joined Magnum in 1949, scarcely a year after its creation. When Bischof was killed in a road accident in Peru in 1954, Burri stepped into the older man’s role as the adventurous and cosmopolitan photographer who covered the most extreme and remote landscapes of the world. The photographer René Burri, who has died aged 81, was known for his portraits of Che Guevara and Pablo Picasso, and was an early member of the renowned Magnum photo agency. Burri’s naturalistic, editorial style of photography suited the company well, and he was a close friend of Werner Bischof, a fellow Swiss photojournalist, who had joined Magnum in 1949, scarcely a year after its creation. When Bischof was killed in a road accident in Peru in 1954, Burri stepped into the older man’s role as the adventurous and cosmopolitan photographer who covered the most extreme and remote landscapes of the world.
In the heyday of photo-magazines, 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. Du commissioned stories from around the Mediterranean, and Burri also picked up industrial and commercial assignments in Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey from the late 1950s onwards. At the same time, quieter stories from closer to home – the darkly cobbled streets of a misty Prague; a lengthy picture story on Germany in the 1960s that became a major touring exhibition – showed a Europe ravaged by war, but returning to work, and even to carnival.In the heyday of photo-magazines, 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. Du commissioned stories from around the Mediterranean, and Burri also picked up industrial and commercial assignments in Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey from the late 1950s onwards. At the same time, quieter stories from closer to home – the darkly cobbled streets of a misty Prague; a lengthy picture story on Germany in the 1960s that became a major touring exhibition – showed a Europe ravaged by war, but returning to work, and even to carnival.
Burri’s most famous book was The Germans (1962), produced in response to Robert Frank’s The Americans. Intended as a part-serious, part-humorous look at a nation with which Burri had many things in common (not least a language), but which he could view from a distance, it attracted considerable critical attention – and rapidly sold out. (It was revised and reprinted in 1986.) One image from the collection, of a zigzag iron staircase, taken in Berlin in 1957, is a mass of striated shadows and half-tones, where one silhouetted figure is walking up; another down; and one hesitates on a landing. The picture captures the atmosphere of time and place with eloquence.Burri’s most famous book was The Germans (1962), produced in response to Robert Frank’s The Americans. Intended as a part-serious, part-humorous look at a nation with which Burri had many things in common (not least a language), but which he could view from a distance, it attracted considerable critical attention – and rapidly sold out. (It was revised and reprinted in 1986.) One image from the collection, of a zigzag iron staircase, taken in Berlin in 1957, is a mass of striated shadows and half-tones, where one silhouetted figure is walking up; another down; and one hesitates on a landing. The picture captures the atmosphere of time and place with eloquence.
Burri combined an ability to get along with people with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s knack for disappearing into a crowd. Middle Eastern journeys focused on Iraq and Iran; then, in the early 1960s, Burri spent long periods in Korea and Japan. A commission might provide him with the means to visit a new region, but then he would extend his stay, in order to “get beneath the surface”. It is almost possible to tell how long Burri stayed in a particular place by how close he got to his subjects: two monks performing deep bows to one another before a temple in Kyoto are in long shot; later shots are taken in close-up, inside the monastery. Burri’s extended coverage of the Vietnam war was as much about the Vietnamese as the Americans. He photographed other wars, in Cambodia and Lebanon, always following the civilians at least as much as the military. Burri combined an ability to get along with people with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s knack for disappearing into a crowd. Middle Eastern journeys focused on Iraq and Iran; then, in the early 1960s, Burri spent long periods in Korea and Japan. A commission might provide him with the means to visit a new region, but then he would extend his stay, to “get beneath the surface”. It is almost possible to tell how long Burri stayed in a particular place by how close he got to his subjects: two monks performing deep bows to one another before a temple in Kyoto are in long shot; later shots are taken in close-up, inside the monastery. Burri’s extended coverage of the Vietnam war was as much about the Vietnamese as the Americans. He photographed other wars, in Cambodia and Lebanon, always following the civilians at least as much as the military.
Burri was also involved in a long, if intermittent, exploration of the Americas. He spent six months in Argentina and in 1968 published The Gaucho, with an introduction by the writer Jorge Luis Borges. Burri related how he had been sent to the Argentine pampas on what initially seemed a wild goose chase in pursuit of a breed of cowboy outlaws and their cattle that appeared to have died out generations earlier. About to leave the country, he had been invited to a barbecue, where his host asked him his favourite colour. Burri answered “blue”, and next morning a blue station wagon awaited to transport him on what turned into a months-long trip with the gauchos. The book is a lovely piece of work, reflecting the gallantry, intimacy, wildness and mystery of that remote and now finally lost way of life in the grasslands. Burri was also involved in a long, if intermittent, exploration of the Americas. He spent six months in Argentina and in 1968 published The Gaucho, with an introduction by the writer Jorge Luis Borges. Burri related how he had been sent to the Argentinian pampas on what initially seemed a wild goose chase in pursuit of a breed of cowboy outlaws and their cattle that appeared to have died out generations earlier. About to leave the country, he had been invited to a barbecue, where his host asked him his favourite colour. Burri answered “blue”, and next morning a blue station wagon awaited to transport him on what turned into a months-long trip with the gauchos. The book is a lovely piece of work, reflecting the gallantry, intimacy, wildness and mystery of that remote and now finally lost way of life in the grasslands.
In Cuba on a commission for Look magazine in 1963, he took an iconic image of the Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara in his military fatigues, backlit against a window, looking over the photographer’s head. Afterwards, Burri described how an angry Che was pacing his tiny office like “a caged tiger” during the interview. While “hectoring” the female reporter and “chomping on his cigar”, Guevara suddenly looked Burri straight in the eye and told him “If I catch up with your friend Andy, I’ll cut his throat” (while slowly drawing his finger across his neck). Andy was a fellow Magnum photographer, Andrew Saint-George, who had filed reports for the CIA from the Sierra Maestra. In Cuba on a commission for Look magazine in 1963, he took an iconic image of the Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara in his military fatigues, backlit against a window, looking over the photographer’s head. Afterwards, Burri described how an angry Che was pacing his tiny office like “a caged tiger” during the interview. While “hectoring” the female reporter and chomping on his cigar, Guevara suddenly looked Burri straight in the eye and told him “If I catch up with your friend Andy, I’ll cut his throat” (while slowly drawing his finger across his neck). Andy was a fellow Magnum photographer, Andrew Saint-George, who had filed reports for the CIA from the Sierra Maestra.
Burri’s Brasilia: Photos 1960-1993, on which he worked closely with the city’s architects, Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa, was reissued in 2010, on the Brazilian capital’s 50th anniversary. Interspersed with Burri’s long reportage series were portraits of artists such as Picasso (in communion with his caged parrot) and Alberto Giacometti, the film director Jean Renoir and the architect Le Corbusier. Burri’s subjects rarely escaped becoming his friends. Burri’s Brasilia: Photographs 1960-1993, on which he worked closely with the city’s architects, Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa, was reissued in 2010, on the Brazilian capital’s 50th anniversary. Interspersed with Burri’s long reportage series were portraits of artists such as Picasso (in communion with his caged parrot) and Alberto Giacometti, the film director Jean Renoir and the architect Le Corbusier. Burri’s subjects rarely escaped becoming his friends.
Born in Zurich, Burri studied photography under Hans Finsler (who had also taught Bischof) and film-making at the Zurich school of arts and crafts. He then undertook national service in the Swiss army. His earliest paid work was as assistant cameraman on the Walt Disney film Switzerland (1955), useful technical experience at the time, but with a stylistic result somewhere between a calendar and a chocolate box. If Burri wished to maintain control over his work, it was simpler to concentrate on still photography.Born in Zurich, Burri studied photography under Hans Finsler (who had also taught Bischof) and film-making at the Zurich school of arts and crafts. He then undertook national service in the Swiss army. His earliest paid work was as assistant cameraman on the Walt Disney film Switzerland (1955), useful technical experience at the time, but with a stylistic result somewhere between a calendar and a chocolate box. If Burri wished to maintain control over his work, it was simpler to concentrate on still photography.
In the same year, Du published his first feature, on the Zurich Institute of Musical and Rhythmic Education, where hearing- and speech-impaired children were taught through sound and its reverberations. The images of a young boy, eyes closed, hugging and sounding his tambourine, and of four teachers holding hands with a long line of children, are especially poignant.In the same year, Du published his first feature, on the Zurich Institute of Musical and Rhythmic Education, where hearing- and speech-impaired children were taught through sound and its reverberations. The images of a young boy, eyes closed, hugging and sounding his tambourine, and of four teachers holding hands with a long line of children, are especially poignant.
A year later, Burri happened to be in Egypt when the Suez crisis erupted, and he had the contacts (and good fortune) to meet President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Having fallen in love with the land – he averred that “riding the desert with the Bedouin, and watching the sun set behind the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos was among the most romantic experiences of a lifetime” – he returned again in 1958. This time he accompanied Nasser the length of the desert border with Syria, in celebration of the United Arab Republic, a short-lived incorporation of the two countries. A year later, Burri happened to be in Egypt when the Suez crisis erupted, and he had the contacts (and good fortune) to meet President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Having fallen in love with the land – he averred that “riding the desert with the Bedouin, and watching the sun set behind the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos were among the most romantic experiences of a lifetime” – he returned again in 1958. This time he accompanied Nasser the length of the desert border with Syria, in celebration of the United Arab Republic, a short-lived incorporation of the two countries.
In 1963, Burri married Rosellina, Bischof’s widow, and they had a son and a daughter. He claimed that he took jobs as a camera operator on films primarily in order to be able to educate his children, but the subjects he chose tended to follow his photographic preoccupations. In 1965 he was involved with the creation of Magnum Films and his work appeared regularly at the annual New York international film and television festival. In 1968 he made The Two Faces of China for the BBC. In 1963, Burri married Rosellina, Bischof’s widow, and they had a son and a daughter. He claimed that he took jobs as a camera operator on films primarily to be able to educate his children, but the subjects he chose tended to follow his photographic preoccupations. In 1965 he was involved with the creation of Magnum Films and his work appeared regularly at the annual New York international film and television festival. In 1968 he made The Two Faces of China for the BBC.
New and reissued publications accumulated over the years, with major touring exhibitions traversing Europe and the Americas. In 2004, and after his images had been included in many group shows, a career retrospective was held at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, accompanied by a giant volume covering half a century.New and reissued publications accumulated over the years, with major touring exhibitions traversing Europe and the Americas. In 2004, and after his images had been included in many group shows, a career retrospective was held at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, accompanied by a giant volume covering half a century.
His final work, Impossible Reminiscences (2013), was a massive compendium of his colour images and the stories behind them. On its publication, Burri, impish in a black fedora and the white scarf of a tango dancer, discussed his work with me at the Photographers’ Gallery in London. Burri’s responses to my questions took on a life of their own, drawing the viewer behind the image, almost invariably with humour.His final work, Impossible Reminiscences (2013), was a massive compendium of his colour images and the stories behind them. On its publication, Burri, impish in a black fedora and the white scarf of a tango dancer, discussed his work with me at the Photographers’ Gallery in London. Burri’s responses to my questions took on a life of their own, drawing the viewer behind the image, almost invariably with humour.
Rosellina died in 1986. Burri is survived by his second wife, Clotilde, and their son; and the son and daughter of his first marriage. Rosellina died in 1986. Burri is survived by his second wife, Clotilde, and their son; and by the son and daughter of his first marriage.
• Rene Burri, photographer, born 9 April 1933; died 20 October 2014 • René Burri, photographer, born 9 April 1933; died 20 October 2014