Mardi 02 Juin 2015 10:30:38 par Louis Royer dans Expositions

A great find: almost 1,250 glass negatives dating from between 1910 and 1925 that had defied the ravages of time in the archive of the Swiss picture agency Keystone. While the quality of those photographs was well known, the circumstances under which they were taken were largely obscure. Now, thanks to thorough research work, a new chapter in the history of Swiss photography can be written: the glass negatives form part of the extensive oeuvre of Jules Decrauzat (1879-1960), who was born in Biel and was Switzerland’s first major photo-reporter. His instantaneous photographs in the fields of sports or early aviation go to the very heart of Swiss society on the threshold to modernism.

© Jules Decrauzat

Decrauzat’s biography can only be roughly reconstructed. He was born on 16 March 1879 in Biel, the middle son of Jules Decrauzat, senior, and Estelle Adèle Lambelet. Having spent his early years in Biel, he moved to Geneva with the family in 1895. Jules studied sculpture at the Ecole des Arts Industriels and, with a diploma under his belt, set off for Paris in 1897, where he initially earned his living as a sculptor, while at the same time attending evening courses at the Ecole Pathé. There he discovered the two young media of film and photography, as well as the new profession of photo-journalist. He also recognised a potential as yet unused by the press: the possibility of responding directly, dynamically and intuitively to world events. Most of the photographs printed at that time were static, posed and hardly suitable for conveying a lively impression. Jules Decrauzat was looking for a different kind of photography. He envisaged instantaneous photography, recording movement and action within seconds so as to capture decisive moments.

© Jules Decrauzat
 

The largest part of Jules Decrauzat’s photo archive, which some sources claim consisted of about 80,000 glass negatives, has been lost – or was destroyed. Only about 1.5% seems to have survived, albeit as anonymous stocks that finally made their roundabout way to the Zurich picture agency Keystone. This archive of glass plates covers the years from 1910 to 1925 and Decrauzat’s activities for La Suisse Sportive. That sports journal – the first in Switzerland – appeared every 2 weeks and responded to the increasing interest in sports by according photography a major status and involving Jules Decrauzat in the editorial team as the first full- time photo-reporter in Switzerland.
 

© Jules Decrauzat