Kindheit in der Schweiz

Herausgeber Peter Pfrunder unterscheidet in seiner Einleitung zwischen Familienalben "voll von sentimentalen Bildern, die für die Angehörigen zweifellos ihren Wert und ihre Bedeutung haben, darüber hinaus jedoch keine Wirkung entfalten" (er bezeichnet sie als "Visuelle Zuckerwatte"), und Bildern, "bei denen sich die Fotografen forschend, fragend und einfühlsam beobachtend jenem rätselhaften Kontinent Kindheit annähern, durchaus wissend, dass es zwischen Feldforschern und Eingeborenen eine unüberbrückbare Kluft gibt. Diese Kluft lässt sich als Spielraum für Deutungen und Gestaltungen nutzen – wenn es dem Bildermacher gelingt, auch seine eigenen, vielschichtigen, ambivalenten Empfindungen miteinzubeziehen. Um solche Fotografien geht es in diesem Band."

Ich blättere in dem Band, verweile hier und dort, fühle mich einmal mehr und einmal etwas weniger angesprochen, könnte nicht immer genau sagen, wieso, es drängt mich auch gar nicht. Und komme dann auf diese Behauptung zurück – "wenn es dem Bildermacher gelingt, auch seine eigenen, vielschichtigen, ambivalenten Empfindungen miteinzubeziehen" – und frage mich, wie sich das konkret in einer Fotografie zeigen soll, etwa bei den beiden folgenden Abbildungen. 

Theo Frey, Obersaxen, 1948

Es sind wunderbar gelungene Bilder, die dieser Band versammelt. Das muss niemandem erklärt werden, das kann jeder und jede sehen. Sie stammen von bekannten Namen – unter ihnen Gotthard Schuh, Theo Frey, René Burri, Robert Frank oder Paul Senn – , auch ein paar Frauen sind vertreten, ihre Namen (etwa Yvonne Griss, Monique Jacot, Anita Niesz) sind mir nicht vertraut.

Vereinzelt finden sich auch kurze Texte mit einem Kindheitsbezug, doch ohne dass diese mit den daneben abgebildeten Aufnahmen in einem Verhältnis stehen. Eine eigenartige, wenn auch gängige Praxis. Und ein generelles Übel von Fotobüchern.

Nichtsdestotrotz, Kindheit in der Schweiz ist ein überaus gelungener Band. Das liegt auch daran, dass Herausgeber Pfrunder darauf verzichtet hat, die Aufnahmen "nach inhaltlichen Kriterien oder nach äusseren Motiven zu organisieren." Stattdessen hat er sich entschieden, die Bilder so zu behandeln, wie Kinder ihre Welt erleben  – als "Garten voller Überraschungen".

Hans Baumgartner, Thurgau, 1938, Heimweg von der Schulreise

Die Kinderbilder in diesem Band zu betrachten, löst bei mir ganz Unterschiedliches aus. Ob sie vor hundert oder vor zwanzig Jahren aufgenommen worden sind, scheint nicht besonders relevant – auch Fotos, die weit vor meiner Zeit entstanden sind, können ähnliche Gefühle auslösen wie Aufnahmen, über die man mir sagt, dass sie aus der Zeit meiner eigenen Kindheit stammen. Und es gilt auch für die oft farbigen Bilder von Kindern aus jüngerer Zeit.

Kinder, von einst oder von heute, sind Kinder – sehr gegenwärtig, sehr sehnsüchtig und sehr nahe bei ihren Gefühlen. Es tut gut, das gezeigt zu kriegen. Und es erfüllt einen (mich jedenfalls) mit einer Mischung aus Zuneigung, Freude und Wehmut.

Kindheit in der Schweiz

Fotografien

Enfance Suisses

L'Infanzia in Svizzera

Uffanza En Svizra

Herausgegeben und mit einer Einleitung

von Peter Pfrunder, Fotostiftung Schweiz

Limmat Verlag, Zürich 2015

Christian Menn: Brücken / Bridges

"Do you remember your first bridge?" Caspar Schärer asks Swiss civil engineer Christian Menn, one of the great contemporary bridge builders. It is difficult to think of a less uninspiring question and the rest of the questions by Schärer aren't much better but might serve as proof that it doesn't really matter who is asking what for when the person asked is willing to tell stories he will – regardless what has been asked, and by whom.

Brücken / Bridges comes with texts in German and English and is introduced by Christian Menn's My Philosophy of Bridge Building in which he elaborates on the antecedents of a bridge design, competitions, standards, the goals of bridge design, safety, durability, serviceability, economy, aesthetic quality, bridge aesthetics, the balance of cost and aesthetic quality, and the development of a bridge concept.

For somebody like me, who has never really thought about anything to do with bridge building, sentences like: "Bridges are functional objects that play an essential role in transportation systems, carrying pedestrians, highway traffic, railways, and even ships. They must satisfy challenging and complex requirements relating to transportation, structural function, exonomy, the environment, and culture" sound akin to revelations for they are clear, simple, and to the point.

Christian Menn, born 1927 in Meiringen, attended high school in Chur and studied civil engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) from which he graduated in 1950. In 1957, he started his own engineering company in Chur and began work on various bridge projects in Switzerland and, later on, also abroad. "After retiring, Menn remained actively involved in numerous projects, many of them for prize-winning bridges that have won international acclaim, such as the Sunniberg Bridge near Klosters."

The Sunniberg Bridge was opened on 9 December 2005. In his inauguration speech, Federal Councilor Moritz Leuenberger, said: "This bridge is culture. It is a work of art not just in appearance, but also in how it came about. What brings people together is not just the finished bridge, for its planning and construction were also collective undertakings entailing the interaction of all the various human and technical elements." In the words of Christian Menn: "A bridge cannot be built by one man alone. It is the work of many hands."

Brücken / Bridges is a formidable tome that contains, on the one hand, projects by Menn's engineering firm from 1957 to 1971 as well as designs and consultancy projects after 1971, and, on the other hand, texts by David. P. Billington (The influence of Robert Maillart and Othmar Ammann on Christian Menn), Luzi Bärtsch (Bridge building from the politician's perspective), Werner Oechslin (An ideal balance of harmony and elegance), Joseph Schwartz (On architecture in bridge building), and Iso Camartin (Bridge stories).

Looking at the photographs in this tome fills me with awe. Needless to say, this has primarily to do with the constructions. It has however also to do with the photographer or the photographers. Most of the photos were taken by Ralph Feiner who did a truly outstanding job – I cannot remember having seen more impressive photographs of bridges and by this I mean that the photographer's ingenuity in identifying the angles from which to shoot is definitely remarkable. Obviously, quite some walking, hiking, and climbing up and down was required to get to the spots from where the photographs were taken.

I felt most fascinated by the views of bridges in my vicinity  – the bridge over the Rhine, Bad Ragaz; the Swiss Federal Railways overpass in Buchs  – that I've never really paid attention to. This has now changed – for photos, there is no doubt about it, can make one see.

In sum: Works of art photographed by an artist.

Caspar Schärer / Christian Menn (Hrsg. / Eds.)

Fotografien / Photographs Ralph Feiner

BRÜCKEN / BRIDGES

Scheidegger & Spiess, Zürich 2015

The James Bond Archives

When counselling, I often advise: Just imagine you're James Bond! Needless to say, I usually get rather irritated looks. Is he probably slightly mad? seems to cross quite some minds. And, so I start elaborating: I do not mean you should attempt to become superman (or superwoman), I mean something completely different. Can you imagine Bond suffering from motivation problems? Sure, after a completed mission he prefers to stay under the duvet with his lover and does not want to be disturbed by calls from London. But that is at the end of the movie. Apart from that he's always ready to do what is required from him. Never does he complain, criticise or find fault with the universe. He always acts like a gentleman. In this sense, he could very well be a role model.

Looking at stills of action movie making feels weird and fascinating. To be shown how Bond and his companions are constantly surrounded by lots of people, some of them holding cameras and microphones, very likely destroys quite some of the sensations one might have experienced while watching the movies. It is a rather sobering experience to realise that the movie heroes (yes, we knew that, of course ... but nevertheless) are hardly more than puppets on a string.

The James Bond Archives is an impressive document that lets us participate in the very human endeavours that go into the making of a movie. I do especially warm to the scenes in which the actors and actresses seemingly have fun and appear to be most relaxed.

Among the discoveries to be made is "Casino Royale", the first James Bond parody that is based on the Jan Fleming novel. Shot in 1967, it is starring Peter Sellers, Ursula  Andress, David Niven, Orson Welles ... and Woody Allen! Ursula Andress said about it: "Peter Sellers wanted to change the whole script every day and every day he got into a big fight with the producer Charlie Feldman. Then Peter Sellers walked off, and we had to wait. It was the craziest film I ever made."

"There is only one recipe for a best seller. You have to get the reader to turn over the page", Ian Fleming, the creator of the fourteen James Bond novels once remarked. In a Playboy interview that introduces this tome he was asked whether, as some psychologists seem to believe, "neurosis is a concomitant of the creative drive" to which is responds: "I think this is perfectly true. I think to be a creative writer or a creative anything else, you've got to be neurotic. I certainly am in many respects. I'm not quite certain how but I am. I'm rather melancholic and probably slightly maniacal as well."

 The James Bond Archives provides not only plenty so far unpublished movie stills as well as production memos from filming but also an oral history recounted by over 150 actors, actresses, producers, directors, stage designers, and stuntmen. The actress Honor Blackman, who starred in "Goldfinger", summed up succinctly, by quoting producer Harry Saltzman, the appeal of the Bond movies. "Harry Saltzman always said that women came out of a Bond movie dreaming about Bond and the men came out walking tall. That's the attraction of the Bond films. I think, that men identify with him, and the females want him."

The James Bond Archives is a hugely informative and most enjoyable tome. It is indeed, as the publisher says, "a comprehensive tribute to the legend of James Bond". This is how editor Paul Duncan introduces the book: "Exactly half way though the first James Bond film, Dr. No, Bond prepares a trap for Professor Dent. Bond arranges a bedroom to make it look as though he is asleep in bed, then calmly puts a silencer on his gun, and plays a card game as he waits behind the doorway. Deep into the night, Dent carefully opens the bedroom door and empties his gun into the bed. Bond, knowing that Dent's gun is empty – "You've had your six," he says – shoots Dent in cold blood, then puts another round into Dent as he lies on the floor. Bond, still sitting, unscrews his silencer and blows into it, contemplating his next move.

This is the quintessential Bond moment. Up to this point, Bond has been a charming, cultivated gentleman, equally at home in a casino or a seafront bar, fully able to repel attacks from devious chauffeurs or rapacious women. And then he kills without hesitation, for Queen and Country. It is the first time that we understand what it means to have a licence to kill."

Disclaimer: When advising people to imagine 007 as a role model, I do of course not refer to his licence to kill.

Paul Duncan, Editor

The James Bond Archives

Taschen, Cologne 2015

Morning Sun on the Pizol

As seen from my balcony in Sargans on 24 November 2015