Gangs in black jackets, poseurs dressed in blue jeans and big belt, girls with beehive hairdos, the young rebels photographed by Karklheinz Weinberger had for heroes James Dean, Marlon Brando, Elvis and Marylin. However, we are in the deep end of German Switzerland in front of a generation traditional and conservative society rejected and nicknamed the « Verlaustan » (covered of scum) while they like to call themselves the « Halbstarker » or the semi-tough ones.
Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006) realized his first photos in a clandestine gay club in Zurich named “Der Kreis” which were published in the same named-magazine. Self-taught, he met these youth groups in the late 1950s and took their portrait at his photography studio in his apartment or during their escapades in the Swiss countryside. These young people who took over the codes of “Rebel without a cause” and created their own creative and provocative outfits, found an admirer in Karlheinz Weinberger.
The photographer followed them during several years. This allowed him to escape from the monotony and gloominess of his life as a factory worker and to accept his own peculiarity. Long-ignored, this work reveals with a lot of tenderness and a dash of humor, a generation of young individuals searching for their own identity, who have created an original underground culture based on pastiche and recycling.
Karlheinz Weinberger
The Rebels
Until March 17, 2012
Galerie Esther Woerdehoff
36, rue Falguière
75015 Paris – France
mar. – sam. 14h – 18h
