Karlheinz Weinberger (Switzerland, 1921-2006)
The gallery will be for the first time in Prismes, in the salon d’honneur in the 1st floor of the Grand Palais with vintage prints by Karlheinz Weinberger, chosen by François Cheval, curator of the Swiss Rebels exhibition in les Rencontres d’Arles this Summer. There original images, some of them exceptional by their size, were printed during the artist’s lifetime. They constitute his first personal selection as a coherent ensemble. They were exhibited for the first time in 1980 at the Klubschule Migros. Subsequently, these images were presented in 2011 at the Swiss Institute in New York, then at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Basel, under the title Intimate Stranger.
Born in Zurich in 1921, Karlheinz Weinberger began to take pictures as a teenager and became a member of the Bund der Naturfreunde photography club where he improved his technique. In the 40s, he joined the famous Zürich underground gay club “Der Kreis” and began to publish his photos in its magazine under the pseudonym of Jim. In the late 50s, he met young misfits on the street and began to photograph them, in studio at his mother’s apartment or during their trips in the Swiss countryside. Working all his life as a warehouseman for the Siemens factory, he devoted all his spare time to his photographic passion for eccentricity. For more than thirty years, Karlheinz Weinberger followed these young people, who reused the codes of
Rebel Without a Cause and created inventive and provocative outfits. His series in black and white and colour follow rockers, bikers and tattooed misfits and offer an amazing portrait of underground Switzerland. This work of a lifetime show, with boldness, kindness and a touch of irony, a post-war generation searching for its identity. Revealed shortly before his death in 2006, the work of Karlheinz Weinberger has ever since been exhibited around the world and resulted in numerous publications. The Galerie Esther Woerdehoff owns the estate and works to uncover it. On 2017, a large retrospective exhibition took place in Les Rencontres d’Arles, along with a book published by Steidl.