Lacock Abbey host exhibition of previously unseen images

A new exhibition of previously unseen works by Magnum photographer Werner Bischof has arrived at Lacock’s Fox Talbot Museum in collaboration with Magnum Photos.

The photojournalist was an early adopter of colour photography through his use of the Devin Tri-Color camera, and Unseen Colour brings  re-discovered colour work to UK audiences for the first time. 

Bischof was also the first photographer to join Magnum as one of the founding members in 1949.  

Lacock, which is cared for by the National Trust, is hosting the exhibition for a full year in the gallery space of the museum.  

Largely considered one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, Werner Bischof’s iconic images explored what it is to be human. Famed for his black and white photojournalism of the post-war world, Bischof used the Devin Tri-Color camera from 1939 onwards for fashion, still life and documentary work. 

In 2016, decades after Werner’s death in 1954 at 38, his son Marco discovered the glass negatives taken by the camera, carefully stored in triplicate. 

"They were always treated with special reverence," he said. "In their steel cabinets, they formed a kind of ‘mysterious room’."

Composed of one identical image captured three times through different colour filters - red, green and blue - the resulting photos have excellent resolution and unmistakable colour intensity. 

Working with scanning specialists, Marco Bischof and Tania Kuhn of the Werner Bischof Estate worked over several years to bring the Devin Tri-Color negatives back to light. The images in Unseen Colour, all taken in the late 1930s and early 1940s, present a treasure trove of previously unknown colour photographs.   

Marco said: "Werner Bischof wanted to become a painter, contrary to the ideas of his father, a factory director. He became a photographer, his love of colour has always accompanied him. In many situations, he would first sketch before he began to take photographs. 

"Today we are amazed by these pictures. But anyone who takes a closer look at Bischof's work knows that he used colour from the very beginning."  

Curator Andy Cochrane said: "It’s perfect that the UK premiere of Bischof’s Unseen Colour is at the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock. Henry Fox Talbot developed photography at Lacock as he couldn’t paint or draw. 

"Constance Talbot is one of the world’s earliest women photographers, and unlike her husband Henry, preferred painting to photography. Werner Bischof’s exhibition at Lacock combines the ambitions and artistry of both Constance and Henry Fox Talbot."     

The Fox Talbot Museum explores Henry Fox Talbot’s invention of the negative at Lacock Abbey in 1835, with exhibitions celebrating both historic and contemporary photographic techniques from photographers around the world. Unseen Colour is the first in a three-year programme of exhibitions curated in collaboration with Magnum Photos.  

Marco said: "We are particularly pleased to show the exhibition at the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock, the place where the first negative - also on glass – first had a home." 

Unseen Colour runs until 31 May 2026.