Hans Finsler. Sweet
14.04.2013 - 21.07.2013

Sweet shows one of the initial works of the father of objective photography, the Sachfotografie, Hans Finsler, German born and Swiss adopted (Heilbronn 1891 – Zurich 1972).
For thirty years professor at the Kunstgewerbeschule of Zurich, today Zürcher Hochschule der Kunst, he formed a large part of the major exponents of Swiss photography, from Werner Bischof to René Burri, from Emil Schulltess to Peter W. Häberlin.

Finsler also gave great impulse, together with graphic artists and architects of modernist orientation, to a new image of Swiss industry, making a major contribution to the creation of the value and image of Swiss made.

Photographer in part misunderstood, the Rolla Foundation show focuses on an early commissioned work (35 contact prints, 1928) in which Finsler defines the character of photography, which he then passed onto more then a generation of students, along with the transformation through the dimension of the still life of the object represented into pure form with aesthetic and artistic dignity.

The catalog is introduced with a short essay by Gian Franco Ragno, photographic historian.

Hans Finsler
Schokoladenfabrik Most, 1928
vintage contact prints
8.4 x 11 cm

CATALOGUE
ARTWORKS
ARTISTS
INSTALLATION VIEW
Hans Finsler

Born in Germany to a family of Swiss origin, after studying Architecture and Art History in Stuttgart and Munich, he became a professor at the School of Applied Arts in Halle. He participates in the main artistic avant-gardes of the period of the Weimar Republic, moving to Zurich in 1932, where he divides his time between teaching at the school of applied arts (Kunstgewerbeschule) and professional activity. The major post-war Swiss photographers were trained by him: Werner Bischof, René Burri, Peter W. Häberlin, Ernst Scheidegger, Emil Schulthess and Anita Niesz. In 2006, an important monographic exhibition at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich underlined his fundamental role in the construction of Swiss visual culture.

Schokoladenfabrik Most, 1928
Stampe a contatto vintage/vintage contact print,
8.4 × 11 cm - 9 × 11.8 cm ca
35 fotografie/photographs

Gian Franco Ragno

Installation view

Installation view

Installation view