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SWISS INSTITUTE/PRESENTATION HOUSE GALLERY/MUSEUM GEGENWARTSKUNST/BYWATER BROS
Karlheinz Weinberger: Jeans
Introduction by Gianni Jetzer.
Commencing his career in the 1950s as a self-taught photographer working primarily for the gay underground Zurich club and magazine Der Kreis, Karlheinz Weinberger (1921–2006) took candid shots of lovers, friends and strangers on the street with an overt erotic investment in his subjects. He soon developed a fixation with the working-class youth culture known as the “Halbstark” (or “half strong”). Its members demonstrated their anti-establishment stance with embellished outfits of denim and leather, in an exaggerated and homemade version of the popularized American bad-boy style of the time. In his stark, posed photographs of these young rebels, Weinberger focuses on individual figures, exploring both a personal erotic obsession and the cultural symbolism of blue jeans, whose scarcity in post war Switzerland implied not just a fashion statement but a badge of pride. This publication reproduces a rare portfolio of these works that Weinberger designed himself in the mid-1950s.
Featured image is reproduced from Karlheinz Weinberger: Jeans.
Below is Swiss Institute curator Gianni Jetzer's introductory essay on cult photographer Karlheinz Weinberger's Jeans portfolio, followed by a selection of images from SI's new book. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 14.75 in. / 108 pgs / 54 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $45.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $60 GBP £40.00 ISBN: 9780920293850 PUBLISHER: Swiss Institute/Presentation House Gallery/Museum Gegenwartskunst/Bywater Bros AVAILABLE: 2/29/2012 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Swiss Institute/Presentation House Gallery/Museum Gegenwartskunst/Bywater Bros. Introduction by Gianni Jetzer.
Commencing his career in the 1950s as a self-taught photographer working primarily for the gay underground Zurich club and magazine Der Kreis, Karlheinz Weinberger (1921–2006) took candid shots of lovers, friends and strangers on the street with an overt erotic investment in his subjects. He soon developed a fixation with the working-class youth culture known as the “Halbstark” (or “half strong”). Its members demonstrated their anti-establishment stance with embellished outfits of denim and leather, in an exaggerated and homemade version of the popularized American bad-boy style of the time. In his stark, posed photographs of these young rebels, Weinberger focuses on individual figures, exploring both a personal erotic obsession and the cultural symbolism of blue jeans, whose scarcity in post war Switzerland implied not just a fashion statement but a badge of pride. This publication reproduces a rare portfolio of these works that Weinberger designed himself in the mid-1950s.
