Info

Wolf has created a legacy of socially engaged photography and film work known for its integrity and compassion: he has worked on over a hundred documentary, feature and commercial films. His photographs are held in collections worldwide. In London alone galleries including the Photographers’ Gallery represent him. In 2002 a major retrospective of his work was held at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh and most recently in Vienna

“The frontispiece [above] shows the photograph of a photographer taking a photograph. Wolf Suschitzky, 78 years young at the time, is seated in a director’s chair in the open country, relaxed, his legs crossed and his camera in his hands, ready to shoot. The picture neither tells us how he has come to this place nor why. And still the photograph communicates a lot; that he is someone who travels light and thus has remained astoundingly mobile all his life. A man whose casual clothes and sturdy footwear suggest that he is well prepared to cope with all weathers and the perils of nature. A photographer who always carries his equipment. Who releases the shutter at the right moment. Who is as much at home in the unspoilt countryside as in Vienna, Amsterdam or London.

His travels around the globe from 1930 until today have resulted in many thousands of photographs. From these, we have, with the help of Wolf Suschitzky and Tony Wallis, selected 170 for this volume, photographs that convey something of the astonishing range of his oeuvre, which not only comprises his photographic work but also around 200 films for which he did the cinematography.

Characterising Wolf Suschitzky is not difficult once one has been allowed to, in a manner of speaking, take a glimpse behind the scenes of a remarkable and fruitful life. There is his wonderful Old Viennese charm, which surfaces in his friendliness and warmth whenever you meet him, even though he has been calling London his home for more than half a century. There’s his political commitment, his interest in current affairs, his attentiveness towards the needs of others and towards social injustice, his persistent interest in innovation and progress, his open-mindedness and candour, his subtle sense of humour and his engaging personality.”

Brigitte Mayr, Michael Omasta, Ursula Seeber. Vienna, May 2006