Larger than Life – René Burri

On the 11th of May René Burri’s: Larger than Life exhibition will be going on show at the ATLAS Gallery, where they will be showing a wide collection of his wonderful photographs, blown up to a staggering size of 50×70 inches.

Burri is a well known figure in the photography world, having worked for the prestigious Magnum agency since 1982, producing some of the most iconic photographs of our age. The Swiss photographer’s work has been collected and exhibited worldwide as well as being in nearly every major magazine for over the last 60 years. Larger than Life features René Burri’s most iconic and celebrated works presented for the first time in a monumental size and limited edition.

Born in Zurich in 1933, Burri studied design and composition, and worked as a documentary filmmaker before turning to photography during military service. In 1955 Burri had made his first contact with Magnum through Werner Bischof, when his first reportage was on deaf-mute children, which was published in LIFE as well as other European magazines. Henri Cartier-Bresson famously sent Burri away to work on a defining body of work. The resulting work was taken over a six month period, which was a photographic poem on the life of Gauchos on the Argentinian Pampas, which consequently cemented his membership of Magnum in 1959. Burri was 26 when eventually Gauchos was published in 1968. He achieved international recognition with the publication of Die Deutschen (The Germans) in 1962 displaying a powerful portrait of a changing nation in the immediate aftermath of World War II, in the style of Robert Frank’s Americans, at a time when the memory of the war and the consequences of defeat were still evident and recovery was just beginning.

The story of René Burri’s career is the story of the second half of the twentieth century. His curiosity and humanity has gained him almost unrestricted access to the major events and personalities of the last sixty years and his work is a fascinatingly personal account of these men and women. Admired and respected by his peers for his compelling photo essays and social commentaries, which are made with a sympathetic eye. During the 1960s and 70s Burri travelled extensively around Europe, The Middle East, Cuba, Indochina and Brazil, where he captured one of his most iconic photograph, Four Men on the Rooftop (shown below). Burri has also been able photograph such important figures such as, Picasso, Yves Klein, Alberto Giacometti and many more. In 1963 Burri shot a career defining portrait of Che-Guevara in Havana chomping on a cigar, which became one of the most celebrated photographs of the twentieth century.