René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...

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René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
René Burri, Explosions of Sight
From January 29 to May 3, 2020
A new retrospective of the life’s work of the photographer, from the artist's collection,
his personal archives and those of Magnum Photos

                        Elysée Lausanne                        Press kit
René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
René Burri, Explosions of Sight                           Elysée Lausanne                            Press kit          1/14   1/9

From January 29 to May 3, 2020
René Burri, Explosions of Sight
René Burri was born in 1933 and died in 2014 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Throughout his life, he was on the front line of global history. He
joined Magnum Photos in 1955, becoming one of its members in
1959. Over the course of his career spanning almost sixty years,
he travelled to Europe, the Middle East, North, Central and South
America, Japan and China, recording with lucidity and acuity most
of the momentous events of the second half of the 20th century.
Numerous influential people were also captured by his lens including
Picasso, Le Corbusier, Niemeyer, Barragan, Giacometti and Tinguely.
In 1963, he produced his iconic portrait of “Che au cigare” (Che with
Cigar), which brought him to the attention of the public.

From January to May 2020, curated by Marc Donnadieu and Mélanie
Bétrisey, the institution has scheduled a new retrospective of his
life’s work entitled René Burri, Explosions of Sight. The bonds
between René Burri and the Musée de l’Elysée are strong, and
anchored in the institution’s history. In 1985, when it was opened as
a “museum for photography”, Burri attended for his friend Charles-
Henri Favrod. Two years later, his photographic project “Les Ruines
du futur” (The Ruins of the Future) was presented. In 2004, the
museum hosted his first retrospective. In 2013, Burri decided to set
up a foundation in his name at the Musée de l’Elysée.

This new exhibition is the culmination of diligent research and
studies carried out by the Musée de l’Elysée teams since 2013 on
the entire René Burri collection in family archives and the Magnum
Photos archives in Paris and New York. It aims to offer a new
perspective on all Burri’s myriad creative activities throughout his
life. It reveals a more personal and secret side to one of the most
influential photojournalists of our time with a great many often
previously unpublished documents: contact sheets, study prints,
films, models for books, exhibition projects, notebooks, collages,
watercolours, drawings, etc.

Based on a long, chronological “Lifeline” leading visitors through
the nine rooms of the Musée de l’Elysée’s two exhibition levels,
this project develops twelve “Focal Points”, each showcasing a
decisive element of Burri’s creative process in the broadest sense
of the term: Cinema; Structures; Myself and the Others; Che; China;
Television; Magnum; Book; One World; Colour; Collages; Drawings.
In this exhibition, René Burri is shown to be modern and inventive,
committed and facetious, curious and generous, unifying and a
mentor, a rebel and poet, impassioned and fascinating and above all,
particularly explosive!

The exhibition receives the generous support of PKB Privatbank,
valued partner of the Musée de l’Elysée and partner of the Fonds
René Burri the FONDATION COROMANDEL, the Loterie Romande
and the Cercle du Musée de l'Elysée.

Curators: Mélanie Bétrisey and Marc Donnadieu,
with the assistance of Jessica Mondego
Scientific advisor : Werner Jeker, representative
of the Fondation René Burri
Press conference : Tuesday January 28, 2020 at 10am
Opening : Tuesday January 28, 2020 at 6pm

Cover : René Burri, Xerox, Los Angeles, Californie, Etats-Unis, 1971, (detail)
Above : René, Burri, El Che, after 2005. Reproduction painted on cardboard of the Retrospective 2005-2010 in Rotterdam
René Burri, Quatre hommes sur le toit, São Paulo, Brésil, 1960
© René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
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René Burri: a child of the 20th century with multiple sensitivities
As a child, Burri collected stamps from all over the world. By the
end of a career spanning almost sixty years, he had immortalised
thousands of anonymous people, accompanied some of the most
important artists, architects and writers of his time, pointed his
lens at the leading directors or politicians who shaped the history
of the second half of the twentieth century, witnessed almost all
the conflicts, crises, clashes and important events that shook
the planet. Thus, at times at some risk to his own life, he was in
Czechoslovakia during the mid-1950s, witnessing the Prague
Spring and later the collapse of communism; in Korea as war broke
out and at the controversial Olympic Games of the late 1980s;
the closure and reopening of the Suez Canal; the heyday and the
ruin of Lebanon . . . Although Burri was not in Berlin in 1961 for the
building of the Wall, he was there on 23 December 1989 to help
bring it down among that intrepid, joyful crowd keen to regain
its identity and its freedom, fired by a collective momentum. He
also put together a documentary account of the United States’
victorious Space Race and the ruins left in its wake; on the cult
of the motorcar and its decline; on the birth of Brasilia and its
evolution over time. […]

[…] René Burri firmly believed that humanity, despite its intrinsically
disparate nature,had to learn to share the unique territory that is our
world. Moreover, aside from a simple dialogue between cultures,
he constantly pondered the make-up of our civilisation; about what
brings us together rather than what splits us apart; about what we
build together and for all people, rather than what we destroy in one
fell swoop. His lengthy investigations sparked major, immediately
published inquiries into his in-depth view of Europe, Asia, Latin
America and the Middle East in particular, of which he was a true
connoisseur and a perspicacious observer. […]

[…] Burri appeared to be tackling the fractures of the past with an
engaged and profoundly humanist approach, as if attempting to
defuse the schisms, neutralise them even, as if he were trying to
heal the fissures, if not sew them back together. It is true that he
had experienced the momentum of the years 1960–1970, those
hopes for absolute equality and solidarity, that peaceful building of
a future free at last from the rivalry of the great powers, but real life
and geopolitical issues soon put a stop to such dreams and ideals.
Burri himself, however, seemed still to cling to these dreams, the
ones he drew as a child on sheets of paper, and then leafing
through Life, the dreams of Burri the photojournalist, constantly
chasing all over the globe in a bid to find out what was really going
on, those of Burri the visionary photographer and filmmaker of the
great movements of the world, and even the innermost ones of
Burri, the craftsman of images, who made collages to try and dispel
his fear of flying or the frantic multiplication of images all around
him, and lastly those of the most intimate Burri, the colour artist,
making drawings once more in the notebooks he always carried in
his pocket simply for pleasure and for joy as he watched everyday
life go by. […]

Excerpt from the text of Marc Donnadieu Everything, Terribly in Mélanie Bétrisey, Marc Donnadieu (dir.), René Burri, Explosions of Sight, Exhibition Catalogue, Musée de
l’Elysée, Lausanne, 2019, pp. 14-17
René Burri, Collage from the serie Culture à l’étranger, 1997-1998
René Burri, Autoportrait, Coronado, Nouveau Mexique, Etats-Unis, 1973/1983
© René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
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Preservation and dissemination of the René Burri's archives
While Burri is famous for iconic photographs that have stood the
test of time, his work is altogether more extensive and varied than
one might imagine. One cannot fail to be surprised, admiring – and
somewhat startled – by all that he has handed down to future
generations. Certainly, his photographs – almost exclusively press
photos – are an important collection of almost 10,000 proofs, but
they are only one aspect of his creative work. The body of his work
consists of more than 7,000 contact sheets, 33,000 work prints
and 170,000 slides, along with 100 or so collages and over
150 notebooks filled with sketches and book maquettes. Not
to mention 100 kilos of painstakingly collected paper archives,
documents and magazines. We have the entire collection of the
work of this great photographer.

Burri was aware of the value of his archive and, determined to hand
down the body of his work, set up his foundation in 2013 in order
to preserve it. The statutes tell us that its aim is to ‘bring together
the work of the Swiss photographer, to ensure its conservation,
its diffusion and its valorisation to museums and the public and
to promote its spread throughout the world’. Supporting Swiss
photography in all its forms also became one of the aims of the
foundation, which chose Lausanne and the Musée de l’Elysée
as its headquarters.

René Burri, who was born in Zurich, always brandished his Swiss
passport with pride, despite the decades he spent travelling the
globe. He never forgot where he came from, and this unusual fact
of living between two countries – Switzerland and France – fed
continually into his work. He spent more than half his life in his birth
country, in any case, with his first wife Rosellina Bischof, with whom
he had two children, Yasmine and Olivier, who still live in Zurich.
After his wife died, he spent more time in Paris, where Magnum
Photos has offices. Some years later, he married Clotilde Blanc, and
Leon Ulysee was born of this union. Despite his departure
for France, Burri maintained his strong links with Switzerland,
which he visited regularly. When it came to choosing a place to
accommodate his foundation, it was only natural that he should,
with his family’s agreement, think of a Swiss institution. Under the
impetus of its then director, Sam Stourdzé, the Musée de l’Elysée
offered to provide a home for his archives. Burri had attended the
opening of the museum in 1985, and was already close to its first
director, Charles-Henri Favrod, and his work was often enhanced
thanks to the support of the institution. Since the photographer’s
death in 2014, the museum and members of the René Burri
Foundation have been working together to preserve and propagate
his legacy.

Excerpt from the text of Mélanie Bétrisey The René Burri Foundation in Mélanie Bétrisey, Marc Donnadieu (dir.), René Burri, Explosions of Sight.. Op. Cit., p. 19
René Burri, Brésil, 2004
René Burri, Habana, 2006
© René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
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Publication

The 8th book in the “Collection – Musée de l’Elysée”, the René
Burri, Explosions of Sight exhibition catalogue published by
Éditions Noir sur Blanc, develops in the body of the work eleven
of the exhibition’s twelve “Focal Points”. The “Lifeline”, on the
other hand, is addressed at the end of the book in an illustrated
biography looked at anew and completed by the René Burri
Foundation and edited by the Musée de l’Elysée. Four essays – by
Marc Donnadieu on René Burri’s personality, Mélanie Bétrisey on
the René Burri collection itself, Clara Bouveresse on Burri’s various
roles at Magnum Photos and Julie Enckell Julliard on his drawings
– successively shed light on his life and work. Four more personal
accounts, by Daniel Bischof, Hans-Michael Koetzle, Bernard
Plossu and Werner Jeker, round off the venture.

The catalogue is supported by the Societe Academique
Vaudoise – Fondation Fern Moffat.

Edited by
Mélanie Bétrisey and Marc Donnadieu, curators of the exhibition,
with the assistance of Jessica Mondego, Musée de l'Elysée

Director of the collection
Tatyana Franck

Research consultant
Werner Jeker, representative of the Fondation René Burri

With contributions by
Mélanie Bétrisey, Daniel Bischof, Clara Bouveresse, Marc
Donnadieu, Julie Enckell Julliard, Tatyana Franck, Werner Jeker,
Hans-Michael Koetzle and Bernard Plossu

The Editions Noir sur Blanc - Collection du Musée de l’Elysée
With the collaboration of Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich,
for the english and german editions

Available at the museum's bookshop and on the online shop
www.shopelysee.ch

21 × 27.2 cm
Bound, 240 pages
ISBN 978-2-88250-612-2
Selling price: 49 CHF / 45 EUR
Date of publication : January 16, 2020
René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
René Burri, Explosions of Sight                         Elysée Lausanne                           Press kit           5/14   5/9

Biography

1933       René Burri is born on April 9 in Zurich (Switzerland)
1950 René Burri is admitted to the Kunstgewerbeschule
Zurich where he take courses in photography, graphic design
and typography. He graduated in 1953 with the distinction of "very
honourable"
1955       René Burri goes to Paris (France) and presents himself at
Magnum Photos, where his work arouses great interest
1956       He travels very frequently and makes many reports for
the New York Times Magazine, Life, Jours de France or even the
Weltwoche, the Schweizer Illustrierte and the Bunte Illustrierte
1959       René Burri becomes a full member of Magnum Photos
1960 The 1960s are particularly intense years for René Burri and
mark a turning point in his professional and private lives while
undertaking an uninterrupted series of journeys
1962       After many long years of exploration and research, René
Burri finally publishes his first book, Les Allemands
1963       At the very beginning of the year, René Burri is sent to
Cuba for Look magazine, where he met Ernesto Guevara, bringing
back with him the famous portrait of the "Che with Cigar," whose
success would be worldwide. In December of the same year, he
marries Rosellina Bischof in Zurich
1964 1964 marks the first of his journeys to China, a country that
fascinates him. His daughter Yasmine is born this year In New York,
he starts up Magnum Films with members of Magnum Photos.
1966 At the start of the year, René Burri puts on China, his first
personal exhibition, in the Form Gallery in Zurich
1967       For the first time, he is the subject of a personal photo
exhibition at the Art lnstitute of Chicago (United States). his son
Olivier is born this year
1970       Once again, the 1970s are very productive years, marked
by numerous trips and reports. His films are also starting to gain
some acclaim. During this time, he concentrates on taking more
personal photos
1972       René Burri takes part in the collective exhibition Behind
the Great Wall of China: Photographs from 1870 to the Present
organised by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
1978-79 This year marks the start of his growing interest in
the conquest of space. He investigates the future of NASA’s
installations in the United States via his reportage, which is
published in Stern under the title ‘Ruinen der Raumfahrt’. Ten years
after man’s first steps on the moon, he is commissioned by Life to
compile photo portraits of the twelve Apollo astronauts who have
taken part in moon landings
1980 During the 1980s, René Burri develops more personal
projects and beginning to think how to deploy his work to best
effect. The issue of a special edition of Du is the occasion for René
Burri to publish a first glimpse of his collage work, which he has
been engaged in since the 1950s
1982       He is elected vice-president of Magnum Europe. He
decides to open a photo gallery on the ground floor of their office in
the rue des Grands-Augustins, Paris.

René Burri, Paris, France, ca. 1953
René Burri, Photocollage des membres de Magnum Photos durant leur meeting annuel, passage Piver, Paris, France, 1990
© René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
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1984 In 1984, the Stiftung für die Photographie provides funding for
a first ambitious retrospective, One World, in the Zurich Kunsthaus. It
features a great
number of prints, and, above all, his collages, presenting for the frst time
his MegaPhotoMobil installation. This show then travels to Paris, to the
Centre national de la photographie, and to Lausanne, to the Musée des
Arts Décoratifs.
1986 On January 30, his wife, Rosellina Burri-Bischof, died
1987      His 1978 photographic project on the space conquest in
the United States, Les Ruines du futur, is exhibited at the Musée de
l'Elysée.
1989      René Burri is present at the fall of the Berlin Wall
1990 The 1990s are distinguished by a number of publications
by René Burri and his first awards. He frequently travels between
Europe and the Americas
1991      The photographer is awarded the chevalier de l’ordre des
Arts et des Lettres medal of the French governement
1994      his third child Léon Ulysse is born, to Clotilde Blanc, his
new partner
1998      In September 1998, René Burri is awarded the Dr. Erich
Salomon Award by the German Society for Photography
1999      René Burri is awarded the Prix Culturel by the canton of
Zurich
2000 Starting in the 2000s, René Burri revisits his work and
puts large exhibitions together, which will travel around the world.
On Septembre 29, 2000, he marries Clotilde Burri
2004 The exhibition René Burri - Rétrospective 1950-2000
opens in Paris at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie,
and in Lausanne at the Musée de l’Elysée and, finally, in Milan at
the Palazzo Reale. From 2004 to 2010, this exhibition travels to a
dozen places
2010 During the last years of his life, René Burri
continues to set up projects and to travel. His exhibition
projects multiply and diversify
2011      René Burri receives the Swiss Press Photo award in the
Lifetime Achievement category at Berne (Switzerland).
2013      June 27, he takes part in the Nuit des Images at the
Musée de l'Elysée. This year, the Lausanne institution organises
an additional reception this year, to honour the photographer on his
eightieth birthday. In July of the same year, René Burri establishes
his own foundation in Switzerland. It is now housed in the Musée
de l’Elysée in Lausanne
2014      René Burri dies a month later, on October 20, 2014 in a
Zurich hospital

Extract from the chapter Biographical Details in Mélanie Bétrisey, Marc Donnadieu (dir.), René Burri, Explosions of Sight... Op. Cit., pp. 219-230
René Burri, Xerox, Los Angeles, Californie, Etats-Unis, 1971, (detail)
René Burri, Nantes - Paris TGV, 1994, Drawing booklet © René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
René Burri, Explosions of Sight                                Elysée Lausanne                            Press kit                                              7/14      7/9

The photographs in the press kit are available for the press free of charge                                                                                   Contact presse
Their use is limited to promoting the exhibition René Burri, Explosions of Sight at the                                                                          Julie Maillard
Musée de l’Elysée. They must not be cropped or modified and no mention must appear                                                                        +41 (0) 21 316 99 27
on the image. Please use the captions provided.                                                                                                           julie.maillard@vd.ch

René Burri, Brasilia, Brésil, 1960                                                         René Burri, Mexique, Etat du Chiapas, 1982
© René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne   © René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne

                                                                                           René Burri, Fleurs de lotus séchées sur lac de Kunming, palais d’été de Pékin,
René Burri, Ministère de la Santé, Rio de Janeiro, Brésil, 1960                            Chine, 1964
© René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne   © René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne

René Burri, Juf, Suisse, 1967                                                              René Burri, Les procès des manifestants de la place Tian’anmen vus à la télévision
© René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne   dans une chambre à l’hôtel de la Paix, Shanghai, Chine, 1989
                                                                                           © René Burri / Magnum Photos. Fondation René Burri, Courtesy Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
René Burri, Explosions of Sight From January 29 to May 3, 2020 - A new retrospective of the life's work of the photographer, from the artist's ...
Partenaires Partners Partner
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        Le Musée de l’Elysée remercie ses précieux partenaires pour 2020
        The Musée de l’Elysée thanks its valued partners for 2020
PartnersDas Musée de l’Elysée dankt seinen geschätzten Partnern für 2020
The Musée de l’Elysée thanks its valued partners for their support in 2020

            Partenaire global Global Partner Global Partner

            Partenaires privilégiés Preferred Partners Premiumpartner

            Partenaires principaux Main Partners Hauptpartner

            Soutiens privés, mécènes et institutionnels Private Partners, Patrons and Institutional Partners Private Förderer, Mäzene
            und Institutionen

                                              Fondation UBS pour la cultre

            Fournisseurs officiels Official suppliers Offizielle Lieferanten

            Partenaires médias Media Partners Medienpartner
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The Musée de l’Elysée
The Musée de l’Elysée is one of the world’s leading museums
entirely dedicated to photography. Since its establishmentas a
photography museum, it has improved public understanding of
photography through innovative exhibitions, key publications and
engaging events.

Recognised as a centre of expertise in the field of conservation and
enhancement of visual heritage, it holds a unique collection of over
one million phototypes and more than a dozen Collections and full
Archives including those of Sabine Weiss, Charles Chaplin, René
Burri, Nicolas Bouvier or Ella Maillart.

By 2021, the City of Lausanne and the Canton of Vaud will see three
of their flagship cultural institutions brought together on a single
site. The Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Design
and Contemporary Applied Arts (mudac) and the Musée de l’Elysée
will be housed just a few yards from the station in the former CFF
locomotive hangars.
www.plateforme10.ch

Practical information
Press contact
Julie Maillard
+41 (0)21 316 99 27
julie.maillard@vd.ch

Address
18, avenue de l’Elysée
CH - 1014 Lausanne
T + 41 (0) 21 316 99 11
www.elysee.ch

Twitter @ElyseeMusee
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Instagram @elyseemusee

Hashtag
#ReneBurri

Hours
Tu - Su , 11am - 6pm
Closed on Mondays, except bank holidays
Open until 8pm the last Thursday of the month

Free admission
Until the museum opens on the Plateforme 10 site, admission to
the Musée de l’Elysée will be free of charge.

        Le Musée de l’Elysée
        est une institution
        du Canton de Vaud

Musée de l’Elysée © Reto Duriet
Un musée deux musées, le bâtiment du Musée de l’Elysée et du mudac à PLATEFORME 10 © Aires Mateus
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