CHIM picked up his camera the way a doctor takes his stethescope out of his bag, applying his diagnosis to the condition of the heart. His own was vulnerable.  (Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1996)

David Seymour was born 1911 in Warsaw, Poland as David Syzmin. He studied graphic arts in Leipzig, and turned to photography in 1933 while continuing his studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. He later adopted the working name ‘CHIM’ based on the pronunciation of his birth name.
Seymour covered many important political events for leading magazines including Life, beginning with the Spanish Civil War. At the outbreak of World War II he made his way to New York. During the war he served as a photo-interpreter with the U.S. Air Force in Europe. In 1947, he co-founded the international photojournalists’ cooperative Magnum Photos with his friends Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and William Vandivert.
Seymour’s postwar series of photographs of the physically and spiritually maimed children of Europe attracted worldwide attention, was published in a book by UNESCO, and became part of the posthumous exhibit, “CHIM’s Children.” The sympathetic and compassionate portraits of these small victims of war led a friend to note that for Seymour, wars were an enormous crime against children. Fluent in several languages, with deep affinities for many countries and peoples, Seymour was truly international. Among his many photographic essays are outstanding portraits of Bernard Berenson and Arturo Toscanini.
CHIM was killed by an Egyptian machine-gunner in 1956, four days after the Armistice at Suez.