Fotostiftung Schweiz

Robert Frank: Memories

Robert Frank: Memories

Robert Frank, who was born in Zurich in 1924 and died last year in Canada, is widely regarded as one of the most important photographers of our time. Over the course of decades, he has expanded the boundaries of photography and explored its narrative potential like no other. Robert Frank travelled thousands of miles between the American East and West…
Walter Bosshard, Robert Capa: The race for China

Walter Bosshard, Robert Capa: The race for China

Walter Bosshard (1892–1975) was the first Swiss photojournalist to become internationally famous as a result of his reportage. As early as 1930, his photo reports had already reached an audience of millions. From 1931, Bosshard concentrated on China.As a photographer and writer, he followed the devastating war with Japan and the power struggle between nationalists and communists, but also dedicated…
Jakob Tuggener: Maschinenzeit

Jakob Tuggener: Maschinenzeit

Jakob Tuggener (1904-1988) is one of those exceptions in Swiss photography. His personal and highly expressive photographs of the boisterous parties in better social circles are legendary, and his book “Fabrik” of 1943 is regarded as a milestone in the history of the photobook. The exhibition “Machine Age” focuses on his photographs and films from the world of work and…
Thomas Kern: Haiti. The Perpetual Liberation

Thomas Kern: Haiti. The Perpetual Liberation

Since his first trip to Haiti in 1997 Thomas Kern(*1965) has repeatedly returned there to capture the turbulent history of the former Pearl of the Antilles. Reserved and at the same time close to the people, he documents everyday life in one of the world’s poorest countries in a classical black-and-white. His photographs testify to the great individual efforts made…
Roberto Donetta: Photographer and Seed Salesman from Bleniotal

Roberto Donetta: Photographer and Seed Salesman from Bleniotal

Roberto Donetta (1865-1932) from Ti­cino is one of Swiss pho­tog­ra­phy’s great out­siders. He man­aged to make a liv­ing as a trav­el­ling pho­tog­ra­pher and seed sales­man, and upon his death left al­most 5,000 glass plates which were pre­served merely by chance. These cap­ture the ar­chaic life of his com­pa­tri­ots in the Valle di Ble­nio, which at the time was to­tally iso­lated,…
Life, a Sport. Jules Decrauzat – A Pioneer of Photo-reportage

Life, a Sport. Jules Decrauzat – A Pioneer of Photo-reportage

A great find: almost 1,250 glass negatives dating from between 1910 and 1925 that had defied the ravages of time in the archive of the Swiss picture agency Keystone. While the quality of those photographs was well known, the circumstances under which they were taken were largely obscure. Now, thanks to thorough research work, a new chapter in the history…