David Seymour (Chim) was a Polish-born American photojournalist and co-founder of Magnum.  Seymour is best known for his empathic and moving images of people, especially children, and for his work covering the Second World War and other conflicts. He also photographed celebrities, politicians, and socialites working for magazines such as Life, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar. Seymour believed the medium of photography could awaken the public conscience and used his skill to tell stories photographically.

We are only trying to tell a story. Let the 17th-century painters worry about the effects. We’ve got to tell it now, let the news in, show the hungry face, the broken land, anything so that those who are comfortable may be moved a little

David Seymour (Chim)

Early Life

He was born Dawid (Chim) Szymin on November 20, 1911, in Poland to Polish Jewish parents Regina and Benjamin Szymin. His parents were prominent Yiddish and Hebrew book publishers and owners of a bookstore that was a gathering point for Warsaws Jewish intellectuals.  Chim was a talented pianist and linguist, fluent in eight languages and studied graphic arts and printing technology in Leipzig. However, with the increasing political and economic unrest at home, he decided to continue his studies in Paris.  While studying at Sorbonne University in 1932, he developed an interest in photography.  

By 1934 he abbreviated his surname and began stamping his prints ‘Chim’ (pronounced shim) as it was easier to pronounce and more “commercial”.  He became friends with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Besson while they were all working at the RAP picture agency. All three shared an apartment in Paris for a time, and their bathroom doubled as a darkroom.

In the late 1930s, Chim covered the Spanish Civil War.  His images gained widespread attention, particularly those that portrayed life behind the lines and the impact of the war on the people of Barcelona, and they were published in Life magazine. In addition, the new French weekly Match assigned Chim and writer George Soria to photograph the defeated Republicans fleeing Spain for France. He also covered the SS Sinaia voyage in 1939, the first ship to carry Spanish refugees to Mexico.

The War Years

In 1939 while he was covering the Spanish civil war, Chim realised it wasn’t safe to return home, so he emigrated to the United States.  In 1942, he was drafted, and while training in military intelligence as a photo interpreter at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, he became a naturalised U.S. citizen.   During his service, he received a bronze star and  was discharged with the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1945

 In 1947,  Chim, Capa, Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and William Vandivert founded Magnum Photos, the international photographers’ cooperative agency.  Magnum was formed to give photographers control over their own assignments and retain copyrights over their own negatives.

Children of Europe

Chim was designated a ‘special consultant’ by UNICEF in March 1948 and was assigned to document the plight of the child survivors of World War II. That year, while on assignment for the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), Chim photographed the children orphaned by the war and irrevocably physically and emotionally damaged.

The assignment would take him to five countries. His visit to a school in Warsaw for disturbed children saw him create one of his most famous images. Tereska’s ‘drawing’ on a blackboard of her’ home’ is a nebulous, incomprehensible scribble, indicating her deep trauma.  He later turned the images into the critically acclaimed book  Children of Europe (1949).  While still on assignment with UNESCO, Chim learned his parents, who had remained behind in Poland during the war, were killed by the Nazis when they liquidated the Otwock Ghetto and sent the inhabitants to Treblinka. The Children of Europe series reflected his raw emotions.

Post War

In 1949, Chim moved to Rome. Working on a  book on the Vatican, he took over 2,500 photographs, photographing everyone, from workers to the pope during a private audience. Then, in 1951, Robert Capa came up with a large-scale idea –  to be handled entirely by Magnum photographers. ‘Generation X’ was about children coming of age after the war. Chim, still in Italy, chose two subjects and, from 1951 to 1955, he photographed traditional religious festivals and processions held in Italian villages.  He also made several trips to Israel as the fledgling state was fighting against attacks from neighbouring Arab states.  Israel had become extremely important to him, symbolically and emotionally.  He saw it as a place of hope for the Jews of Europe.

The 1950s

In 1954 Magnum lost two of its top photographers.  Werner Bischof died in a car accident in Peru on May 16, and just nine days later, on May 25, Robert Capa, Magnums president, was killed in Vietnam when he stepped on a landmine. 

“My Dear Magnum family, the lump is still in the throat, and the dust not settled yet. The blow is hard, and the reaction slow to come… We have to go on, keep together, and avoid the stunning effects of our sorrow. Maybe through this we will help ourselves, and find strength to keep and develop Magnum—a home for all of us.”

David Seymour

Following Capa’s death, Chim took over the role of President at Magnum. He was also a gifted portrait artist. From 1955-1956, he was the trusted portrait artist of Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini and family, Audrey Hepburn, Joan Collins, Ava Gardner, Kim Novak, Kirk Douglas, Gina Lollobrigida, Rita Hayworth, Irene Papas, Maria Callas, and many others. In addition, he took portraits of writers and intellectuals like Arturo Toscanini and Bernard Berenson.

Death

On November 10, 1956, Chim covered the Suez Crisis for Newsweek.   He and French photographer Jean Roy were driving to photograph an exchange of wounded soldiers at El Quantara. Tragically they were killed by Egyptian machinegun fire.  It was four days after the armistice of the 1956 Suez Crisis, ten days before his 45th birthday.