René Groebli is widely regarded as one of the formative figures of post-war photography, known for his early and influential exploration of movement, intimacy and colour as expressive photographic languages.
Born in Zurich in 1927, Groebli began photographing at an early age and trained as a photographer in the 1940s. His early work already demonstrated a strong experimental impulse and a fascination with movement, light and abstraction. In 1949, at just 22 years old, he published Magie der Schiene (Rail Magic), a groundbreaking photo essay that remains a landmark in the history of the photobook.
In the early 1950s Groebli worked as a photojournalist for international magazines and agencies, while simultaneously developing deeply personal photographic projects. In 1954 he published Das Auge der Liebe (The Eye of Love), a poetic and intimate series created with his wife Rita during their honeymoon in Paris. This work established him internationally and positioned him as a key figure in the movement of subjective and expressive photography.
In 1955 Groebli was included in Edward Steichen’s legendary exhibition The Family of Man at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. During the following decades he built a successful studio practice in industrial and advertising photography, becoming a pioneer in the creative use of colour processes such as dye transfer and colour lithography, at a time when colour was still considered marginal in fine art photography.
Alongside his commercial work, Groebli continuously returned to his personal artistic practice, producing photographic essays that explore themes of intimacy, perception, abstraction and time. His work moves freely between black-and-white and colour, documentary and experimental, personal and universal.
René Groebli’s work has been exhibited internationally and is held in numerous museum and private collections. A major retrospective of his work was presented at Kunsthaus Zurich in 1999. He lives and works in Switzerland.