Cheese and Coal 3x3 con­tem­po­rary approaches

Stately farms, beau­ti­ful cows, proud cheese makers, young­sters and cheer­ful women pick­ing berries in the forest – Johann Schär’s pho­to­graphic doc­u­men­ta­tion of a sedate rural life at the begin­ning of the 20th Cen­tury has no com­par­i­son in its den­sity and qual­ity in Switzer­land. The doc­u­men­ta­tion of the coal sur­face-mining in and around Gondis­wil is unique and gives an impres­sive tes­ti­mo­nial of this rare activ­ity of mining in Switzerland.

For the first time, Kun­sthaus Lan­gen­thal presents an overview of Johann Schärs’s (1855–1938) work. Over 4000 glas-neg­a­tives, his­toric prints, album and post­cards were secured, researched and dig­i­tal­ized by Foto­büro Bern.

The exhi­bi­tion was curated by Markus Schürpf (Foto­büro Bern) and will be accom­pa­nied by an exten­sive cat­a­logue that will be pub­lished on 18 March 2017.