Vintage silver print 20 x 30 cm (7.9 x 11.8 in)
Photographer’s agency stamp and handwritten notations in unknown hands on the reverse
LITERATURE „Voice from Korea“, in: Life, New York 1954, June 7, p. 178-188 [same series]; Marco Bischof/René Burri (eds.), Werner Bischof 1916-1954. His Life and Work, London 1990, p.176-184 [same series]; Marco Bischof/Simon Maurer/Peter Zimmermann (eds.), Werner Bischof. Bilder, Bern 2006, p. 290-299 [same series].

After World War II, Werner Bischof was among the outstanding photo journalists within the Magnum group. His images of Europe destroyed, but also of the conflicts in the Far East, take an interest in those affected and their feelings – from a respectful distance. They speak of sorrow, but also of hope. “I felt compelled to go out and discover the true face of the world. Our good, satisfied life blocked many people’s view of the incredible suffering beyond our borders.” This motivation took the Swiss photographer to Korea in July 1951, where the conflict between East and West had caused a war of great consequence. For Life, Bischof travelled to the South Korean prison island of Koje-do. There, the North Korean prisoners – six-year-old boys, but also 63-year-old men – were confined behind barbed wire in a UN re-education camp. Camera angle, frame selection and middle focal distance – in the present photograph, everything points to the face of a boy holding a bowl for rice or soup. To a child – and yet a prisoner.
A keen interest in people and the circumstances of their lives runs as a leitmotif through Bischof’s work. His ability to grasp people’s feelings gives his images from the 1940s and 1950s a meaning that goes far beyond the documentary element. Even in our own era, swamped with images as it is, they attain their goal: they are touching.