The world as seen by Swiss photographers

by Thomas Kadelbach

Thomas Kadelbach, né en 1979. Après des études d'histoire et littérature française à Angers, Fribourg et Madrid, il collabore au projet de recherche FNS Les relations culturelles internationales de la Suisse, 1945-1990. Thèse de doctorat sur Pro Helvetia et l'image de la Suisse à l'étranger. Actuellement collaborateur scientifique à l'Université de Neuchâtel.
, Thomas Kadelbach, born in 1979. Studied history and French literature in Angers, Fribourg and Madrid. Research assistant in the SNSF research project Switzerland's International Cultural Relations, 1945-1990. PhD thesis on Pro Helvetia and the image of Switzerland abroad. Currently scientific collaborator at the University of Neuchâtel.

photography
Africa
Australia
arab countries

In February 1978, the Swiss ambassador to Iran inaugurated a travelling exhibition of photography. During its world tour, the exhibition showed in several Iranian cities. In the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran, the public had the opportunity to see a selection of Swiss photography from the 1840s up to the second half of the 20th century.

Among others, the show included works of Gertrud Dübi-Müller, Hans Staub, Gotthard Schuh, Werner Bischof, and Luc Chessex. Parts of the exhibition portrayed Swiss life in the 1930s and the social changes after World War II up to the riots of 1968 in the streets of Zurich. From the 1950s onwards Swiss photographers detected places such as e.g. India and Peru, which then were featured in expansive reports. Specific genres of photography, including portraits, features, and photo-essays were also considered.

The Pro Helvetia exhibition of Swiss photography proved to be a rare moment of Swiss cultural presence in Iran. In the second half of the 20th century, Pro Helvetia did not much take Iran into its consideration, safe for the organisation of a concert tour for the "Freiburger Landwehr", the musical corps of the city and Canton of Fribourg, which was sent on official mission to the celebrations marking the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire in 1971.

Even at the time of the exhibition in Iran, photography was a new medium for Swiss cultural foreign policy. For the first time Pro Helvetia used it in 1958 by organising an exhibition dedicated to Werner Bischof’s work, which was shown in several European countries. The discovery of photography as an influential artistic medium was primarily due to the Swiss Foundation for Photography, founded 1971 in Zurich with the aim to preserve and highlight Switzerland’s photographic heritage. In 1974, Pro Helvetia was involved in this initiative and subsidised a photography exhibition at the Kunsthaus, Zurich and the Rath Museum, Geneva. In 1975, Pro Helvetia turned this exhibition into a travelling exhibition entitled Photography in Switzerland – 1840 to the Present Day, which started its world tour shortly afterwards.

In terms of creating a national identity, the exhibition promoted the image of a country open to the world, confronted with the same problems just as other nations. The numerous travel photos taken in India, Japan, and in South American countries bear witness to a genuine in-depth dialogue with different cultures. In the catalogue of the exhibition, Swiss writer Hugo Loetscher stated that the look at the other implies questioning the self. On this note Gotthard Schuh’s photo essay on Mussolini’s visit to Berlin in 1938, featured in Photography in Switzerland – 1840 to the present, can also be read as a reflection on Switzerland’s role in the Second World War.(tk)

Archive
AFS E9510.6 1991/51 Vol. 342 Pro Helvetia, procès-verbaux du groupe I

Bibliography
Photographes suisses depuis 1840 à nos jours, Zurich, Kunsthaus 1977

medias

Gertrud Dübi-Müller

Various genres, such as portrait photography or photo journalism are included in the exhibition Fotografie in der Schweiz – von 1840 bis heute.

Gertrud Dübi-Müller, Ferdinand Hodler, painter, around 1910

© Fotostiftung Schweiz

Gotthard Schuh

According to Hugo Loetscher, author of the exhibition catalogue, Gotthard Schuh’s photo essays about Germany during the Nazi regime point out that looking at others includes contemplating oneself.

Gotthard Schuh, image: Mussolini on official visit to Berlin, 1938

© Keystone

Hans Staub

Switzerland becomes a country of immigration. Photographers begin to notice the marginalised within a changing society.

Hans Staub, foreign labourers in Zurich’s main station, around 1950.

© Keystone

René Burri

Part of the exhibition is dedicated to group portraits.

René Burri, Die Inspektion, 1950

© Magnum Photos, Paris

Werner Bischof

Photo essays on far away countries illustrate the open and cosmopolitan approach of Swiss photographers.

Werner Bischof, Flötenspieler bei Cuzco, 1954

© Marco Bischof

Luc Chessex

Luc Chessex‘ artistic involvement includes tackling typical Swiss stereotypes.

Luc Chessex, La Suisse, 1969

© Luc Chessex

The photography exhibition in Lübeck

A stopover in Lübeck, 1976.

Swiss National Library, poster collection

Swiss photography in Iran

The exhibition opens in February 1978 in Tehran.

Pro Helvetia Archives

Photography exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City

In 1979, the exhibition is shown in Ho Chi Minh City.

Pro Helvetia Archives

Prague, 1978

Poster of the exhibition Die Fotografie in der Schweiz - von 1840 bis heute, Prague, 1978.

Swiss National Library, poster collection

René Mächler

Part of the photography exhibition is dedicated to the artistic manipulation of reality.

René Mächler, image shot with a self-built fly eye lens

© Pro Litteris

Swiss photography in Australia

1981 and 1982 the  exhibition Fotografie in der Schweiz - von 1840 bis heute stops in different towns on its tour in Australia.

Swiss National Library, poster collection

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