In 1949, Swiss photographer René Groebli shot a series of images around and on top of trains in France, His working style was stimulated by his experiences with moving images, his fascination with movies. In many experiments he tried to express the dynamism of movement in single photographs. Lasting experiences – like his first train journey from Zurich to Paris – brought him to a city in which he immersed himself fully.
At the end of 1949, Rail Magic was published for the first time, 15 images in a publication that the artist financed himself. It was a daring opus at a time when photography was presented quite conservatively, where honest tradition demanded easily understood documentation. No surprise then, that Groebli’s images were met with rejection. Of course with time passing the work has been met with great admiration by photo historians and today an original publication is a treasured (and pricey) item for book collectors.
With a fresh perception, René Groebli started from this edition of the 15 photographs of the first publication and fashioned this new selection of 74 images, a sort of gem from the beginnings of the “Subjektive Fotografie” as a remembrance of the times when the smell of soot and of smoke intensified the magic between black and white, between Paris and Zurich.
Irène Attinger
Irène Attinger is head of the library and bookstore at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris.
René Groebli, Magic Rail
Published by Sturm & Drang
SFR. 48.00
