Mercury. Zurich, Switzerland, 1941

Werner Bischof set up his studio near the end of the thirties in a suburb of Zurich. After 1939, Switzerland had become an island of liberalism surrounded by a sea of fascism. Treating it as his ivory tower, Bischof devoted himself to his work as a studio photographer and portraitist, perfecting his photographic technique and training himself to be a master of seeing. Patience, care and precision were cultivated, and, as a result, a highly poetic language of images emerged.