Hans Finsler + Embru Photographs / Fotoausstellung Vintage photographs, retouched photographs, original furniture Vintage Fotos, Retouchen und Originalmöbel Curated by / kuratiert von: Franca Comalini + Peter Lepel The exhibition presents photographs by one of Switzerland's most important photographers, Hans Finsler (1891-1972) - commissioned beginning in the 1930s by the furniture manufacturer Embru - together with a selection of objects depicted in his photographs. "Through the collaboration with some of the most significant designers of his time, Finsler played a significant role in the visual communication of modern design. As the first instructor (1932-1957) of the legendary photography course at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, as longtime chairman of the Werkbund, and as theorist, he strongly influenced Swiss photography." (Museum für Gestaltung Zürich) Hans Finsler's precise object photography accompanies our journey through the collective memory of private, public, and institutional life from the 1930s through the post-war period: Gustav Hassenpflug's ergonomically adjustable school bench in different variations marked the experiences of generations of Swiss grade-school students over decades. Even today Embru partition walls remain the embodiment of competition exhibitions or architecture students' project presentations and critiques. The clinical practicality of hospital rooms with variable furnishings embodies Switzerland's increasing infrastructural prosperity of the time. Garden furniture symbolizes leisure hours outdoors, a swing for untroubled times of amusement. Chairs and tables evoke the atmosphere of cafés and restaurants. Armchairs, couches, sofa beds, or the salon table illustrate the simple, clear elegance of the "modern" parlor of the era. Beginning in 1925, a new development emerged in the international context of interior and industrial design. Typification, standardization, and industrialization were the postulates of the modern movement, tied together with technical challenges and new production methods. The basic idea was the programmatic separation of space and furnishing, the "elementary" discovery of liberation from sated bourgeois furnishings, and the mechanization of daily life as an index of progress. In Finsler's photographs we see the new Swiss-norm furnishing: industrially produced, simple, functionally coherent and consistent - not conceived of in the context of fashion. The Wohnbedarf AG, catalyst of Swiss avant-garde design in addition to its collaboration with leading European architects, succeeded in working closely with the industry (Embru) to establish modern furniture as socially presentable within the bourgeoisie. Embru factories demonstrated bold pioneering spirit and engagement in research and development of new production techniques, in addition to an entrepreneurial way out of the economic hardship of the time. Collaboration with the photographer Hans Finsler demonstrates, on the one hand, Embru's commitment to "modern" quality, and on the other, the innovative coherence of a consistent corporate image - in advertising brochures and sales catalogues - with the product itself. Examples of "retouching" and collage technique on exhibition impart a glimpse into the evolution of the advertising design process, then directly interwoven with Finsler's photographic work for Embru. These singular works astound with their effective picture editing, a sort of "Photoshop ante-litteram"! Franca Comalini Dipl. Arch. ETH/SIA, www.comalini.com