René Burri
born 9.4.1933 in Zurich. Studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School for Applied Arts) in Zurich. 1949-50 Burri followed a course by Johannes Itten. He wanted to join the movie industry, and followed photography classes with professor Hans Finsler. Later he was cameraman for the Walt Disney-Film production Switzerland (1953), under the direction of E.A. Heininger. In 1956 he realized a story on the musical education of deaf-mute children and became member of the agency Magnum. From 1955 he worked in the Middle East, South America, Far East, Africa, and the United States. After 1959 his stories were distributed by Magnum and published in numerous magazines like Life, Look, Stern, Patis-match, Epoca, Sunday Times, New York Times and Du. In 1963 while working in Cuba, he made portraits of Fidel Castro and of a young Che Guevara. He shot a number of films on China (1965, 1968), Israel (1967) and Switzerland during the time of the initiative against foreign control (1970). He made portraits of Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Le Corbusier and Jean Tinguely.

Exhibitions (selection):
2005 René Burri: Photos of Jean Tinguely & Co., Museum Tinguely, Basel
2005 René Burri: Utopia – Architecture et Architecte, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel 
2004 René Burri: Rétrospective 1950-2000; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
2002 Berner Blitz, Galerie Karrer, Zürich
1998 77 Strange Sensations, Villa Tobler, Zürich; Die Deutschen, Fotografie Forum International, Frankfurt am Main
1997 Che, Fnac-Forum, Paris ; Galerie R. Mangisch, Zürich
1995 Le Paris de René Burri, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
1994 Dialogue avec Le Corbusier, Museo de arte moderno de Medellin