List of notable or famous photographers from Switzerland, with bios and photos, including the top photographers born in Switzerland and even some popular photographers who immigrated to Switzerland. If you're trying to find out the names of famous Swiss photographers then this list is the perfect resource for you. These photographers are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known photographer from Switzerland is included when available.
List below includes Robert Frank, Gunter Sachs and more people.
This historic photographers from Switzerland list can help answer the questions "Who are some Swiss photographers of note?" and "Who are the most famous photographers from Switzerland?" These prominent photographers of Switzerland may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected Swiss photographers.
Use this list of renowned Swiss photographers to discover some new photographers that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}
Gaudenzio Marconi (1841–1885) was an Italian photographer who worked in France. He sold académies (photographic figure studies) to students at the École des beaux-arts (School of Fine Arts) in Paris. Accomplished artists and students often sketched the figure from photographs when living models were not available or proved too costly. The poses were generally imitations of those used in the sculptures of classical antiquity and the Renaissance. His photographs were used by famous artists such as Auguste Rodin for their works.
Fritz Gunter Sachs (14 November 1932 – 7 May 2011) was a German photographer, author, industrialist, and latterly head of an institute that researched claims of astrology. As a young man he became a sportsman, then gained international fame as a documentary film-maker, documentary photographer, and third husband of Brigitte Bardot.
Helmar Lerski (18 February 1871, Strasbourg - 19 September 1956, Zürich) was a photographer who laid some of the important foundations of modern photography. His works are on display in the USA, Germany, Israel and Switzerland. He focused mainly on portraits and the technique of photography with mirrors.
His real name was Israel Schmuklerski. The family moved in 1876 to Zürich, Switzerland, where the family was naturalized. In 1888, Lerski emigrated to the United States, where he worked as an actor. Around 1910, he began to photograph. In 1915, he returned to Europe and worked as a cameraman and expert for special effects for many films, including Fritz Lang's Metropolis. At the end of the 1920s, he made a name as an avant-garde portrait photographer.
In 1932, he emigrated with his second wife to Palestine, where he continued to work as a photographer, cameraman, and film director. On 22 March 1948, they left what was now Israel and settled again in Zürich.
Martin Hürlimann (12 November 1897 in Zürich – 4 March 1984 in Zürich) was a Swiss publisher, better known in the English speaking world as a photographer.
Following successful completion, at Frauenfeld, of his school career, Hürlimann went on to study History, German literature and Philosophy at Zürich, Leipzig and Berlin universities. His doctoral thesis, submitted and accepted in 1924, was entitled Die Aufklärung in Zürich. Die Entwicklung des Zürcher Protestantismus im 18. Jahrhundert.
In 1929 Hürlimann founded the newspaper "Atlantis", based in Berlin and specialising in international travel and related themes. In 1930 he founded "Atlantis Verlag", a publishing house, taking over from Ernest Wasmuth publication of the "Orbis Terrarum" series of books. In 1933 he married Bettina Kiepenheuer, the oldest daughter of Gustav Kiepenheuer, another publisher. In 1936 he founded a Zürich branch of "Atlantis Verlag", and by 1939, with the outbreak of war, had relocated his head office to Zürich, while retaining German branch across the border at Freiburg im Breisgau.
His wife and co-publisher Bettina Hurlimann, is the author of Three Centuries of Children's Books in Europe, published 1967. They lived in Uerikon, Switzerland.His photographic work was published in a number of books. Western European cities were a common theme, but he also photographed Ceylon and Southeast Asia.
In the 1930 English edition of his book Burma, Ceylon, Indo-China, Hürlimann wrote "My photographs were chiefly taken with a Sinclair Una camera, Zeiss lens, and Kodak films."
