Agenda

René Groebli wanted to photograph the intangible: emotions as in The Eye of Love and movement and dynamism as in Rail Magic, his pioneering photo essay that was created in 1949 and in an interplay of smoke, smell, landscape, romance and mood allegorized the French steam railways as symbols of power. The Eye of Love is concentration on an emotional situation of short duration as mirrored in the photographs. The sequences of images impress through the beauty of the motion, the interplay with the silhouette, the subdued light, the deep shadows, the contrast of sharp and soft focus, of cloaking and unveiling; they live through suggestion and association. One perceives still lifes, the interior of the hotel room, a view from the window, even the scene of a nearby café – but central is what the photographer observes with the eye of love: his wife Rita. The Eye of Love is a work full of intimacy and timeless poetry – a work way ahead of its time.

© René Groebli