Celebrations of the first Monday after Lent; 'Bloch Montag', Eastern Switzerland, 1960 (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
Left; collecting ice at Lake Sihl, Switzerland, 1959/60.
Right; An Italian woman on the train to Italy, 1960. (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
Preparations for Carnival, Switzerland in 1951 (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
Young men at the Lido jumping for the ball, Lucerne, Switzerland 1950's (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
Opening season at a large hotel, Arosa, Switzerland, 1959 (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
Gnant created the feeling of a narrative in his photo stories that had a social significance. Here in the first of three photos, the Son of an Italian mine worker in Belgium, 1953. (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
The changing room of the mine workers in Belgium, 1953. (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
An example of Gnants artistry using light and shade with this picture of a Sleeping child, 1960. (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
At the Jaguar factory in England, 1959 (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
A mining region in France, 1960's. (Rob Gnant / Fotostiftung Schweiz)
Fotostiftung Schweiz
Rob Gnant, a Swiss photographer with a knack for linking important social themes with a strong visual aesthetic, died in August leaving behind a legacy of over 200,000 negatives of his work.
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Born in England, I've lived in Switzerland since 1994. I trained as a graphic designer in Zurich between 1997 – 2002. More recently I have moved on to work as photo editor and joined the team at swissinfo.ch in March 2017.
A key photographer of the post-war period in Switzerland, his work involved both reportage and portraits. Gnant also had a keen interest in documentary film, leading him to work as a cameraman for the documentary film “In the Fall” (A fleur d’eauExternal link), which won the short film category at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.
Gnant often shot in black and white and was influenced by his work in film, seen in the graininess and the quick-shot approach that gave movement to his still images. His stylistic approach to social stories earnt him the nickname in the industry, the “van Gogh of Swiss photography”.
He strove to capture the extraordinary and beautiful in everyday life by focussing on various working worlds, looking at society’s outsiders, or miners for example. The photographer was intrigued by controversial themes from that time – the contrast between city and country, the urbanisation of Switzerland and innovation after the war.
In an interviewExternal link with the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger in 2015, Gnant said: “With me, people always knew when I photographed them. I was not a sniper.”
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A group exhibition in the Photobastei in Zurich is dedicated to young photographers. Thematically, it deals with the limits of human perception.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.