Otto Pfeifer

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Otto Pfeifer (born January 6, 1914 in Lucerne ; † September 19, 1999 ibid) was a Swiss architecture and landscape photographer .

Live and act

Pfeifer House in Udligenswil, designed together with Josef Stadelmann, 1960

After completing his apprenticeship as a painter in his parents' company, Pfeifer attended the Lucerne School of Applied Arts from 1929 to 1932 . He received lessons from Otto Spreng and Max von Moos, among others . Internships at Tempo-Film Zurich and at Berlin film companies followed, including the UFA. In Berlin he also continued his studies at the German University for Optics and Photo Technology . In 1936 he returned to Switzerland for political reasons and opened his own studio in Lucerne the following year. In 1939 he was a member of the specialist photo service of the Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich . In the same year he became a specialist photography teacher at his own training facility, the arts and crafts school, where he taught until 1946.

In 1952 Pfeifer was one of the organizers of the Lucerne World Photography Exhibition . Pfeifer worked for Picasso , Marc Chagall , Le Corbusier and Richard Neutra , among others . He became one of the most important architectural photographers in Switzerland, including his outstanding black and white work on Franz Füeg's Pius Church in Meggen, the Geneva headquarters of Jean Tschumi's World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization . His own home in Udligenswil , which he planned together with Josef Stadelmann in 1960 and sits on the ridge of the Rooterberg , has been well received since the 1980s and is today a cultural monument of national importance, which today serves an art promotion foundation he founded.

As a travel and landscape photographer, he researched Switzerland and southern France for decades and published several illustrated books on them. In 1986 he received the BSA Culture Prize , and in 1994 the Art and Culture Prize of the City of Lucerne .

Illustrated books

  • Provence, Rhoneland and Camargue. With accompanying text by Marcel Pobe. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1952
  • Switzerland. Landscape and mountains. Neptun, Kreuzlingen 1956
  • Unknown Provence - from the Mediterranean to the highlands. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1957
  • Cote d`Azur. A picture book. Fretz and Wasmuth, Zurich 1960

Exhibitions

  • commercial photography, 1943. Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1943–44, group exhibition
  • Photography in Switzerland - Today the Gewerbemuseum Basel, 1949, group exhibition
  • World exhibition of the Photography Art Museum Lucerne, 1952, group exhibition
  • Otto Pfeifer. Photographs from five decades. Kunstmuseum Luzern 1981, solo exhibition
  • Pictures from Provence. Kunsthaus Luzern 1981, solo exhibition
  • Images de Provence. Institut Français, Stuttgart, 1982, solo exhibition
  • The cultures of the south of France. Emmenbrücke 1982
  • Otto Pfeifer. Photographer. SWB Museum in Bellpark Kriens, 1998, solo exhibition

literature

  • Fabrizio Brentini: Pfeifer, Otto . In: Isabelle Rucki and Dorothee Huber (eds.): Architectural Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century. Birkhäuser, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-7643-5261-2 . P. 415

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Among others by Daniele Marques and Bruno Zurkirchen: Otto Pfeifer, photographer SWB, Lucerne . In: Archithese . tape 15 , no. 3 , 1985.
  2. ↑ Ivo Bösch: Above the clouds on Lake Lucerne - the home of the architectural photographer Otto Pfeifer in Udligenswil . In: Heimatschutz . tape 102 , no. 2 , 2007, p. 24-25 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-176217 .
personal data
SURNAME Pfeifer, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss photographer
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucerne
DATE OF DEATH September 19, 1999
Place of death Lucerne