Considered as a legendary photographer 75-year-old Robert Frank returned to Zurich on February 15th 2000 to attend the retrospective exhibition of jakob Tuggener's works held at the Kunsthaus and due to last until April 9th. Frank, who settled in New York in 1947, is also exhibiting his photographs with those of Gotthard Schuh in Zurich.
He considers Tuggener as a “monument” as big as William Tell, Switzerland's legendary hero. Tuggener described and literally dissected Swiss life during the 1920's and 1930's showing mountains, lakes and people at work like a tourist travelling throughout that country.
Tuggener was simply a witness of his time and influenced much Robert Frank. He was however completely living in his own world producing his photos, developing and classifying them methodically and his whole production, now reunited in a foundation, finally unravelled itself like a movie.
Frank feels much more at unison with Schuh especially as Tuggener was a conservative, a kind of perfect Swiss citizen, though himself has mixed feelings vis à vis his native country. “I rapidly became conscious that I would not remain in Switzerland and I finally decided to go the U.S where I had to engage into a kind of daily war whereas I feel I have to remain polite in Switzerland,” he told the daily Le Monde. “In Zurich I have nothing else to do than to take a bus or visit the city zoo,” he added.
Asked about the situation in neighbouring Austria, Frank said he never had any sympathy towards Tyrolians. “What happens there is like seeing the past surge back,” he added.
Frank's last occupation has been dedicated to photographing tools after seeing the works of Walker Evans published in “Fortune” magazine.
Meanwhile Tuggener (1904-1988) is the first photographer whose works are shown by the Kunsthaus of Zurich, a rare distinction for a photographer who spent his whole existence showing his country with an acute eye.
Tuggener is above all a Swiss who took shots of Switzerland and the Kunsthaus has surely been wrong to show so many photos, books, watercolours or films (over 500) in this exhibition. Martin Gasser, its organiser, stressed it was the first time that these works were exhibited and one must admit that Tuggener was a much complete photographer who worked on numerous themes and used all possible techniques. “Tuggener, who earned a living as an industrial draughtsman, considered himself as a true artist. He kept aloof from all groups of photographers in Switzerland and was inflexible with his patrons to such an extent that he often was unsuccessful,” Gasser said.
Tuggener worked in a style reminiscent of the Bauhaus and German Expressionism but what signalled him was his inclination to stick closely to reality with the eye of an entomologist. His photographs of balls taken between 1935 and 1950 deal with all possible sequences, from the atmosphere of feast to that of tiredness, from the ballroom to the kitchen or adjoining rooms with close shots on food and drinks giving the overall impression of a strange symphony.
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