Fisherman near Ermatingen, 1940
Gelatin silver print on baryta paper, 2011

From the mid-1930s onwards, as a kind of ‘roving reporter’ with a motorbike, Hans Baumgartner supplied countless illustrated magazines with photographs from his immediate environment in the canton of Thurgau, but also from Zurich and the rest of Switzerland, as well as from numerous European trips. 

 

He was interested in people, whom he observed and captured in fascinating visual compositions, such as this group of fishers on Lake Constance. Today, it is hard to imagine how Baumgartner could have possibly found the time to produce such a high-quality and extensive photographic oeuvre alongside his work as a teacher.