With his photographic essays “The Eye of Love” and “Magic of the Rail”, with the combination of dynamic, radical photography and stylistic devices of a new, lyrical documentation, he became a pioneer of subjective photography of the post-war years and of European photography. His recordings have become part of the history of this medium.

René Groebli – London, 1949 #1202 - René Groebli, courtesy Buchkunst Berlin

The 96-year-old photographer René Groebli will talk about his life and work at the opening.

Groebli visited London and Paris in 1948 and 1949, at the time he was working for various international photo agencies. He roamed the two major cities with two cameras, a Leica and the Rolleiflex camera.

He documents the post-war mood in both metropolises with stylistically different approaches. A foggy, dark, almost nocturnal London is juxtaposed with an awakening, bright Paris.

Subjective photography with precise moments of blur and dynamism - the London cityscapes almost look like photographs of impressionistic paintings.

In contrast, the photos from Paris are in the style of lyrical street photography, which combines poetry and abstraction. They are detailed everyday moments in the metropolis on the Seine - long before Robert Doisneau and André Kertész went hunting for their pictures in Paris.

The exhibition also presents two works from the “Magic of the Rail” series, with which the then 21-year-old René Groebli made his international breakthrough in the world of photography in 1948.

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