Switzerland Black & white photo
Johann Baptist Isenring was a Swiss landscape painter and printmaker, one of the first photographers in 19th-century Switzerland.
Johann studied painting and aquatint at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, opened an art studio in St. Gallen in 1828 and soon began publishing his lithographic collection of picturesque views of Switzerland's most remarkable cities and towns.
In 1839, Isenring, fascinated by the discoveries of Niépce and Daguerre, bought equipment for "daguerreotype" and a year later organized an exhibition in his studio in Multtertor, which was probably the first photographic exhibition in the world. Isenring even gave up painting for a while and worked as a photographer for two years, settling in Munich. He made portraits, photographs of architecture, reproductions of paintings and developed a coloring method for his prints, which he patented in America.
Edward Quinn is an Irish photographer famous for his portraits of celebrities and artists.
Edward Quinn began his career as a photojournalist, covering events such as the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. In the 1950s he moved to the French Riviera and began photographing the rich and famous — Pablo Picasso, Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Francis Bacon, Salvador Dali, Graham Sutherland, David Hockney.
Quinn's photographs are noted for their naturalness and spontaneity. He had a talent for capturing his subjects in inconspicuous moments and revealing their true essence. His portraits often show his subjects relaxed and at ease, as if they were unaware of the camera's presence.
In addition to photography, Quinn was also a writer and filmmaker. He wrote several books about the French Riviera and made a documentary about Pablo Picasso.
Sabine Weiss is a Swiss artist and photographer who became known for her street photography and portraits. In 1942 she moved to Zurich to study photography with Hans Finsler, where she met her future husband, the American artist Hugh Weiss.
After the Second World War, Weiss moved to Paris and began working as a freelance photographer. She became associated with the humanist photography movement, which sought to capture the daily lives of people in cities. Weiss' photographs often focused on working class neighbourhoods, street scenes and children's lives. Her photographs were known for their sensitivity and empathy as well as her strong sense of composition and use of light.
Weiss's work was exhibited widely throughout her life and she received numerous awards and prizes, including the Niepce Prize in 1955 and the Grand Prix National Photography Award in 1995. Her photographs have been collected by major museums and institutions around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.