Born in 1916 in Zurich, Switzerland. Died in 1954 in Trujillo, Peru.
Werner Bischof studied at Zurich School of Applied Arts under Hans Finsler and established a studio for photojournalism and advertising photography after his graduation. His works were first published in the Swiss art magazine Du. In 1945, Bischof achieved his breakthrough after the publication of his photo reportage Europe 1945-1950, which showed the devastation of World War II. In the years that followed, Bischof traveled to Italy and Greece on behalf of Swiss Relief, an organization that turned its attention to the devastations in the post-war era. He photographed for Life Magazine the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz in 1948.
After further travels through Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, Bischof worked for Picture Post, The Observer, Illustrate and Epoca. Because Bischof was skeptical regarding the superficiality and the sensationalism of the publishing industry, he joined Magnum Photos 1949, becoming the first photographer who joined the agency after the founding members. Bischof devoted a lot of his work to the pursuit of peace and order in traditional cultures with which he did not necessarily try to attract the attention of editors, who tend to be more interested in headlines. Nevertheless, Bischof went to India on assignment for Life Magazine in 1951 to document the ongoing famine there. Furthermore, Bischof traveled to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Indochina and took photographs, which were published in major magazines worldwide.
In 1954 Bischof traveled to Mexico, Panama and remote areas of Peru, where he was involved in the making of a film. Bischof died in a car accident in the Andes Mountains on May 16, 1954.
