Photograher unknown.
©1996 from the Estate of David Seymour
Chim and Robert Capa discussing Magnum business. Paris, 1950. Photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson
©1996 Henri Cartier-Bresson
The people of Cocullo capture snakes for a festival in honor of a Benedictine monk named San Domenico, believed to be a protector against snakebites. Cocullo, Italy 1951
©1996 from the Estate of David Seymour
Venice, 1950
©1996 from the Estate of David Seymour
Funeral procession for a child. In Italy, a child's hearse is traditionally white. Matera, southern Lucania, 1948
©1996 from the Estate of David Seymour
Procession to commemorate Good Friday. Sicily, 1955
©1996 from the Estate of David Seymour
The people of Cocullo capture snakes for a festival in honor of a Benedictine monk named San Domenico, believed to be a protector against snakebites. Cocullo, Italy 1951
©1996 from the Estate of David Seymour
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Chim's residence in Italy during the fifties marked a period of
normalization of life in Europe. After the restraints of fascism, a new
spirit of rebirth was embraced. Chim shared it in a uniquely personal
way, by a revived interest in the institutions of religion, which in Italy
meant the Roman Catholic Church. In the course of photographing for
the book on the Vatican, Chim had seen the Catholic Church's pomp
and power, and the unswerving belief of people from all over the
world who came to worship in Rome. Chim was not religious, but he
believed in any embellishment that might make life more positive and
fulfilling. With his sense of history, he was fascinated by the grass
roots aspects of faith. From 1951 on, he returned again and again to
his self-assigned projects, which he hoped to turn into a book of
stories on ancient religious rites and festivals persisting in remote
parts of Italy.
All of Chim's religious stories depict the celebrants' strong belief in
miracles and cures. Pagan rites are integrated into Catholic rituals,
along with live, impassioned street theater. There are processions in
which the splendid costumes are historically authentic; sometimes
bible stories are reenacted.
He became an intimate of the famed writer Carlo Levi, who had
recently become famous for his book Christ Stopped at Eboli. From
him, Chim learned about the south of Italy, about its extreme poverty
and the campaign being waged there against an illiteracy rate of
seventy percent. Chim proceeded to a remote village in Calabria,
Rogiano Gravina, and photographed old and young students learning to
read and write.
Meanwhile, Magnum was prospering and growing. By 1950 the
founders had invited two more stockholders: the brilliant young
Austrian, Ernst Haas, and the aesthetic Werner Bischof, already
famous in his native Switzerland. From the first, the founders had
agreed among themselves that to support itself, Magnum would need
to grow, and they were all enthusiastic about nurturing new, young
talent. Magnum now developed group projects, which gave
established photographers some financial support in their travels, and
younger ones an opportunity to get published.
Inge Morath, who came to Magnum as Ernst Haas's researcher in
1949, and later became a photographer, writes of that time:
Chim. Chimou, Chim-Chim. We all, especially Henri called him by
tender names. He was of a sweet nature, never pushy, but of
determining calming influence when Henri's temper flared. Capa said,
"Cool it," and Chim stood firmly by his side... when he arrived with the
pictures of the children for the UNICEF story. They left a deep
impression. I still see them in front of my eyes: The little Greek girl
holding up a pair of shoes, the girl in front of a blackboard. That was
the spirit in which we wanted to work, show the world how to make
things better by showing them what happened, moving them to help.
- Inge Bondi
© 1996, Inge Bondi
from CHIM: The Photographs of David Seymour, Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company
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