David Seymour

Chim (pronounced shim) was the pseudonym of David Seymour (November 20, 1911 – November 10, 1956), an American photographer and photojournalist.

Life

David Seymour was born David Szymin in Warsaw to Polish Jewish parents, on November 20, 1911. David had an excellent education, attending the Jewish Gymnasium Ascolah and the he became interested in photography while studying in Paris. He began working as a freelance journalist in 1933.

In 1940 he enlisted in the United States Army, serving in Europe as a photo interpreter during the war. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1942, the same year that his parents were killed by the Nazis. After the war, he returned to Europe to document the plight of refugee children for UNESCO.

Sometime after D-Day, Chim met Life (magazine)'s Paris Bureau Head Will Lang Jr. and had lunch with him at a cafe' in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, France. Alongside with him that day was reporter Dida Comacho and photographer Yale Joel.

(L-R) Will Lang Jr., Dida Comacho, David "Chim" Seymour, Louise Lang, and Yale Joel at a cafe' in the Bois de Boulogne

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After Capa's death in 1954, Chim became president of Magnum Photos. He held the post until November 10, 1956, when he was killed (together with French photographer Jean Roy) by Egyptian machine-gun fire, while covering the armistice of the 1956 Suez War.

Work

Chim's coverage of the Spanish Civil War, Czechoslovakia and other European events established his reputation. He was particularly known for his poignant treatment of people, especially children. In 1939 he documented the journey of Loyalist Spanish refugees to Mexico and was in New York when World War II broke out.

Seymour was among the first to depict fast moving, front-line, battle action with a camera, but he had little taste for the battleground. He soon relinquished that coverage to his friend and colleague Robert Capa, who became famous as a war photographer. Seymour preferred to photograph behind the lines, documenting war’s impact on the civilian population.

In 1947, Chim co-founded the Magnum Photos photography cooperative, together with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, whom he had befriended in 1930s Paris.

Chim's reputation for his compelling photos of war orphans was complemented by his later work in photographing Hollywood celebrities such as Sophia Loren, Kirk Douglas, Ingrid Bergman, and Joan Collins.

Seymour was among the first to depict fast moving, front-line, battle action with a camera, but he had little taste for the battleground. He soon relinquished that coverage to his friend and colleague Robert Capa, who became famous as a war photographer.

"It was probably a sort of escape from the world we are living now to wander through the ancient Greece ruins and sail around the islands…one gets philosophical looking at the remnants of great civilizations…”

Many of Seymour’s later photographs of Greece seem to reflect the photographer’s playful musings about the nature of the people and the landscape. These images reflect a strong kinship with the work of his friend Cartier-Bresson.

"He didn't surprise them, he didn't photograph them from a distance or over their shoulders...," Shneiderman says. "He made a close, personal and emotional relationship."

Publications

• Seymour, David. 1949. Children of Europe. UNESCO
• Seymour, David. 1950. The Vatican: Behind the Scenes in the Holy City. Grosset & Dunlap.
• Seymour, David. 1957. Little Ones. Japan: Heibonsha.
• Seymour, David. 1966. David Seymour-"Chim". Paragraphic Books.
• Seymour, David. 1999. Closeenough: Photography by David Seymour (Chim). Art Gallery, University of Maryland. ISBN 978-0937123386

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Beck, Tom. 2006. David Seymour (Chim). Phaidon Press. ISBN 978-0714842769
• Capa, Cornell. 1974. David Seymour. Penguin. ISBN 978-0670258321
• Miller, Russell. 1999. Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History: The Story of the Legendary Photo Agency. Grove Press. ISBN 978-0802136534
• Seymour, David and Inge Bondi. 1996. Chim: The Photographs of David Seymour. Bulfinch Press. ISBN 978-0821222294

External links

• CHIM: The Photographs of David Seymour Retrieved December 18, 2007.
• NPR Story: Reflections from the Heart
• Chim Home Page
• Chim: The Photography of David Seymour (1911–1956) de Young Exhibition, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
• Reflections from the Heart: Photographs by David Seymour (Chim) Corcoran Gallery of Art.
• David Seymour Magnum Photos.

Credits

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