KARLHEINZ WEINBERGER
Together & Alone

AUGUST 1 - OCTOBER 4, 2020

click here to view a selection of works from the show

click here to read an excerpt of Collier Schorr’s introduction titled “It Must Commence”

SITUATIONS presents Karlheinz Weinberger: Together & Alone, a selection of vintage photographs by Zürich photographer Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006), opening on August 1st. The exhibition pairs images of Weinberger’s most famous subjects, the “Halbstarke,” a loosely organized group of Swiss “rebels” in the late 1950s and early 1960s, carousing at local carnivals and on a camping trip, with a much more private side of Weinberger’s oeuvre: solo portraits of men from the late 1950s through the mid-1970s whom he invited into his makeshift studio in the rooms of the apartment he shared with his mother. The men in these portraits—construction workers, street vendors, bicycle messengers, outsiders—span a spectrum of fully clothed, arms-crossed poses to campy and flirtatious, fully nude and reclined, while others mimic art historical postures. All of these images, though, reveal a palpable sense of tenderness between photographer and subject, revealing an expansive and uncritical take on the male form in an era when being photographed wasn’t such a casual, ubiquitous record as it is today. 

Though not a professional photographer—he worked as a warehouse stock manager—Weinberger captured his subjects with a distinctly gay male gaze, both carnal and artistic, and this collection is certain to earn his work a larger following and appreciation. For most of his adult life, Weinberger worked in the warehouse department of the Siemens factory in Zurich, Switzerland. On the weekends, he escaped his job’s monotony by immersing himself in photography. Self-taught, Weinberger rarely exhibited his photographs until his “discovery” during the final years of his life. Since then, his work has been the focus of exhibitions in Europe and the United States. 

This exhibition coincides with the recent publication of Photographs: Together & Alone published by The Song Cave (edited by Ben Estes). Collier Schorr wrote an introduction titled “It Must Commence” of which an excerpt can be read on our website and in full in the book. We are grateful to Bruce Hackney, the U.S. Manager and Curator, of the Karlheinz Weinberger Foundation for helping make this exhibition possible.

Karlheinz Weinberger: Photographs: Together & Alone is available to purchase at the gallery and from The Song Cave. 

SITUATIONS is an art gallery located in the Chinatown neighborhood of manhattan. Open by appointment in August, and to be determined thereafter, following the recommendations of the CDC. Masks are required and hand sanitizer is provided. To schedule a viewing or request a PDF or more information, please contact the gallery: info@situations.us