TUGGENER, Jakob 1904-1988

PERSONAL:

Born February 7, 1904, in Zurich, Switzerland; died 1988, in Zurich, Switzerland; married three times; children: two sons. Education: Reimann Kunstschule für Gestaltung, studied drawing, 1930-31.

CAREER:

Maag Zahnzäder AG, Zurich, Switzerland, apprentice, 1919-23, machine draftsman, 1923-30; freelance industrial photographer, 1932-51; independent documentary and fantasy filmmaker and painter, 1937-70; freelance magazine and advertising photographer, 1951—. Exhibitions: Works included in permanent collections at Stiftung für die Photographie, Künsthaus, Zurich; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany. Solo exhibitions at Helmhaus, Zurich, 1974; Work Gallery, Zurich, 1981; and Galerie zur Stockeregg, Zurich, 1981. Military service: Swiss Army, 1931-32.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Gold Medal, Biennale di Fotografia, 1957; Cultural Achievement Award, City of Zurich, 1981.

WRITINGS:

Fabrik: ein Bild Epos der Technik, [Zurich, Switzerland], 1943.

Zürcher Oberland, text by Emil Egli, [Zurich, Switzerland], 1956.

Forum Alpinum, [Lausanne, Switzerland], 1965.

Jakob Tuggener, Fotografien 1930 bis Heute: 27, Museum der Städt Solothurn, 1978.

Jakob Tuggener: Photographs, edited by Martin Gasser, Künsthaus Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

Swiss photographer Jakob Tuggener became interested in photography while working as a draftsman at Maag Zahnräder, a metal-working company in Switzerland. Between 1926 and 1929 he took photographs at Maag Zahnräder and compiled them in an album. When he was laid of from Maag Zahnräder in 1930, photography became his career, and he worked as a freelance industrial photographer up until 1951 when he started photographing for advertisements and magazines. Besides industry, other photography subjects for Tuggener were high-society balls and the Swiss countryside.

Jakob Tuggener: Photographs, edited by Martin Gasser, was published after Tuggener's death in 1988. It is a collection of Tuggener's photographs, along with excerpts from his diary, both arranged chronologically. Gasser provides an essay on Tuggener, based on his research and conversations with the photographer prior to his death. Library Journal contributor Kathleen Collins remarked that "Art and photography enthusiasts will greet this retrospective with happiness."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Photographers, 3rd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

PERIODICALS

Independent (London, England), April 1, 2000, "Portfolio: Having a Ball; He May Have Begun Life as a Humble Factory Worker, but Jakob Tuggener's Love of Swiss High Society Led Him to Create an Enduring Record of a Lost Age," p. 16.

Library Journal, June 15, 2000, Kathleen Collins, review of Jakob Tuggener: Photographs, p. 75.*