An underground classic for years, Walter Pfeiffer (*1946 Beggingen, lives in Zurich) has developed a unique blend of eroticism and wit, classical serenity and ornamental playfulness, artifice and immediacy that has begun to garner major international attention in the past few years. Fotomuseum Winterthur presents an unprecedented chronological overview of Pfeiffer's photographic work, spanning four decades from his beginnings in the early 1970s to his most recent work. Some of the photographs have never before been published or exhibited; thus the exhibition provides a new perspective on Pfeiffer's oeuvre.

Walter Pfeiffer: Ohne Titel, 2006 (Untitled)

C-print, 39,5 x 59 cm
© Walter Pfeiffer / Pro Litteris

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Initially a painter, draughtsman and graphic designer, Walter Pfeiffer started to use photographs as aide-memoirs while working on large-scale photorealist pencil drawings in the early 1970s. But soon Pfeiffer developed a genuine passion for photography and its capacity to capture transient epiphanies of beauty. Stimulated by a cast of handsome drifters and stylish women, his very own personal Warhol-inspired "Factory", he began to carve out his trademark style that testifies to both his desire for timeless beauty and his precise observation of the permutations of fashion and style. His breakthrough as a photographer was a series of images of a young man in drag that was included in Jean-Christophe Amman's seminal "Transformer - Aspekte der Travestie" exhibition in 1974, the same year as Pfeiffer's first solo photo exhibition, a series of assemblages of photographs and fabrics, which will be shown for the first time since 1974.

Walter Pfeiffer: Ohne Titel, 2006 (Untitled)

C-print, 59 x 39,5 cm
© Walter Pfeiffer / Pro Litteris

Click on image to enlarge.

In 1981, he published his book "Walter Pfeiffer" (recently reprinted by JRP / Ringier), whose cheeky eroticism and raw immediacy was in perfect tune with the Punk / Wave movement, while prefiguring the diary-like, ostentatiously unpretentious approach to photography that would become popular in the 1990s. For most of the 1980s, Pfeiffer embarked on a quest for male beauty that culminated in "Das Auge, die Gedanken, unentwegt wandernd", a 1986 series of b/w close-up portraits of young men, whose elegant reduction was the result of years of study and experimentation, as documented in the exhibition.

Walter Pfeiffer: Ohne Titel, 2004 (Untitled)

C-print, 59 x 39,5 cm
© Walter Pfeiffer / Pro Litteris

Click on image to enlarge.

Subsequently, Pfeiffer dedicated himself to drawing for a number of years, only to return to photography in the late 1990s. In 2001, he published "Welcome Aboard", an overview of recent and past photographs, which proved that he has remained as youthful and exuberant as ever. In recent years, he has ceaselessly refined his approach to photography and has worked for international magazines such as i-D, Achtung, Butt, the German edition of Vanity Fair, Officiel, Têtu and Out Magazine. His most recent book "Cherchez la femme" revealed yet another surprising aspect of his work - zany and glamorous portraits of women.

Curators: Martin Jaeggi and Thomas Seelig.

On the occasion of the exhibition a catalogue will be published by Steidl.

at the Opening of Walter Pfeiffer at Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2008

28 November 2008
Walter Pfeiffer framed by the three graces: Lumnje, Helena and Andrea (from left)
Photo: likeyou - the artnetwork
© Centrik Isler

Click on image to enlarge.