René Groebli is among Switzerland’s best known photographers. The 82 images in his photo essay Rail Magic have entered the annals of photography. In 1949, René Groebli traveled by French rail from Paris to Basel, photographing energy, speed, smells, moods, feelings and sounds and the romance of the fuming trains – the very symbol of power and technic. He photographed the intangible which we can feel and smell and hear when we view this magical, mystical, dreamlike photo series – it is like viewing a rare and wonderful film.
René Groebli was born in Zürich in 1927. He studied photography with Hans Finsler at the Zürich University of the Arts and went on to become one of the greatest black-and-white photographers and one of the most subtle masters of the darkroom.
In the early 1950s, he worked worldwide as a photojournalist for Life, Picture Post and various other international illustrated magazines and agencies. When he was only 26 years old, in 1953, he was invited to take part in the legendary exhibit The Family of Man, which was curated by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and later shown in numerous museums worldwide. His photographic love letter The Eye of Love of his belated honeymoon is in the MoMA's collection. In 1954, Groebli was accepted as a member of the Academy of Swiss Photographers - along with Robert Frank. In Germany his talent was discovered by the famous photographer Otto Steinert, founding member of the legendary avantgardistic group fotoform and René Groebli’s ‘Bewegungsbilder’ were exhibited 1951 and 1954 in his exhibits subjektive fotografie. He was an innovator with his color photography work as well. His pioneering work earned him the title Master of Color in 1957 in the renowned American magazine Color Annual. Indeed, René Groebli counts among the most experimentative personalities in the history of photography. He gained attention with his fascinating movement studies and avant-garde color photos, which are represented today in many international collections.
The exhibit comprises 82 black and white photographs, artist proofed prints, which are framed in sizes from 60 x 42 cm to 133 x 107 cm. The exhibit is ready for hanging. High resolution scans of a variety of images will be made available for the purposes of PR, invitations and posters. Marketing texts, a CV, photograph captions, as well as texts and quotations by René Groebli about his life, photography, and work will likewise be made available as editable files in both German and English.
The exhibit is accompanied by the book Rail Magic, published by Sturm & Drang Publishers, Zürich, Switzerland 2017 (128 pp., 74 ills. in duotone, softcover ), and can be ordered via BuchsteinerArtManagement.
Additional information available upon request
