Theo Frey

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theo Frey in conversation with farmers in Romoos . Image by Max Albert Wyss

Theo Frey (born February 14, 1908 in Hochdorf LU , † April 19, 1997 in Weiningen ZH ) was a Swiss photographer . He is one of the classics of Swiss reportage photographers and documentarists.

Life

After completing an apprenticeship as a machine fitter in Hochdorf, Frey studied mechanical engineering at the Technikum Winterthur from 1927 to 1930 . From 1931 to 1935 he worked as a radio manufacturer and radio dealer in the Lucerne Seetal. He decided to become a photographer and moved to Zurich in 1935, where he found a position as a trainee at the ETH Photography Institute . From 1935 to 1938 he wrote short reports from all areas for various family papers , for Meyers Schweizer Frauen- und Modeblatt , Zürcher Illustrierte , Föhn and for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung . For the Swiss National Exhibition of 1939, he realized a series of twelve community portraits that documented Switzerland's cultural diversity.

In active service he was an aviator in Spreitenbach and from 1940 to 1945 a photo reporter in the press office of the army staff. There he was jointly responsible for setting up the photographer detachment . He was the official reporter for the Rütli report on July 25, 1940. In 1945, as part of the Swiss donation and on behalf of the Red Cross , he traveled to the war-torn areas in Lorraine and Normandy . From 1945 to 1975 he was a journalist for numerous aid organizations such as Winterhilfe , Pro Juventute , Pro Infirmis , Children's Aid of the Swiss Red Cross and Swiss Mountain Aid (1964–1985). He worked for the Swiss Heimatwerk for fifteen years .

plant

Theo Frey's main work comprises long-term documentaries and social reports and was created in the late thirties and forties. It was dedicated to rural life and humanitarian work in Switzerland. His photographs were characterized by social commitment and deep sympathy for the worlds of the 'little people'. His recordings of the Rütli report with General Guisan and his report on the interned soldiers in Switzerland show a deep human bond. As part of his many years of work for Schweizer Berghilfe, Theo Frey developed his specific documentary style with depictions of rural life. His work comprises around 1,600 reports, 14,000 enlargements and 100,000 negatives. The estate is owned by the Swiss Federal Archives for the Preservation of Monuments and has been on permanent loan from the Swiss Photo Foundation in Winterthur since 2006 .

Exhibitions

  • 1939 “Twelve Communities” project, Swiss National Exhibition, Zurich.
  • 1983 «fellow human beings. 40 years of Swiss mountain aid », town hall, Zurich.
  • 1986 "50 Years of Winter Aid", Museum of Design, Zurich
  • 1993 "Black on White", Swiss National Library, Bern 1993
  • February 29 to August 24, 2008 «Theo Frey. Photographs », retrospective for the hundredth birthday, Swiss Photo Foundation, Winterthur

literature

  • A book about building (Festschrift). Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich 1943.
  • Three months vacation in Switzerland. A memory book for our young guests. Landibuchverlag G. Duttweiler, Zurich 1946.
  • Flashback. Fifty years of photo reports. Offizin, Zurich 1989
  • Markus Britschgi: Theo Frey - Reports from Switzerland. Diopter-Verlag, Lucerne 1993, ISBN 3-905198-12-6 .
  • Peter Pfrunder (Ed.): Theo Frey. Photographs (monograph, volume accompanying the exhibition of the Photo Foundation). Limmat-Verlag, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-85791-553-6 .

Movie

  • Christoph Kühn, «Theo Frey. Old Guard Photographer », 1989.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Frey, Theo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss photographer
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Hochdorf LU , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 1997
Place of death Weiningen ZH , Switzerland