At the Crossroads

Jean-Pascal Imsand (1960-1994)

Like the music of American bluesman Robert Johnson, played in a Swiss mode
… the artist finds trains, death, and a beautiful woman at the crossroads.

The first U.S. exhibition of the works of Swiss photographer Jean-Pascal Imsand since the artist’s untimely death at the age of thirty-four in 1994 opens October 26, 2007 at Anahita International Photography in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The twenty vintage images were printed by the artist and have been released by the Fondation Jean-Pascal Imsand especially for this Anahita gallery show. The exhibition draws on Imsand’s series of montages, cityscapes, and portraits to demonstrate Imsand’s stylistic range and the artist’s famed mastery of mood.

Jean-Pascal Imsand remains a dark and in many ways mysterious figure despite the numerous publications of his work and his unquestioned stature in the history of late 20th century European photography. Imsand was one of the last generation of artists to work by hand in the darkroom to create photomontages, or as he preferred, the French term assemblages, in which he used steam, clouds, and deep shadow to construct dreamlike visions. Imsand achieves equally dramatic effects in his "straight" photography, notably in the urban cityscapes of his hometown Lausanne. Here, the only human figures are the wary inhabitants of an often threatening environment - reminiscent of the gothic works of Paul Citroën or Fritz Lang's film Metropolis. In contrast, his portraits are tender, with gentle humor, especially those featuring his beautiful wife, the actress Sabina Scullari.

Imsand’s formal concerns are always paramount, and it is this focus on the abstract qualities of an image that sustains and gives coherence to Imsand’s work, regardless of the subject matter or whether he takes a "straight," montage, fragmented or minimalist approach to each particular photograph. While the "message" of each photograph may include elements of the political, the documentary, or visionary, the formal rigor beneath the message is what compels the viewer to look, and then look again. Even in his commissioned works (a source of much strife with his editors, except in the case of the more avant magazine "du"), this dedication to his personal vision resulted in the compilation of a major body of unique works even during his short lifetime. Imsand’s edgy, dark landscapes and attenuated, ghostlike figures are a forceful artistic challenge to the clichéd notions of Switzerland as a land of stolid virtue, chocolate, and banks.

The first retrospective exhibition of Imsand's work was a joint-project between three major Swiss photography institutions conceived and produced by the Fotostiftung Schweiz (Swiss Foundation for Photography), Winterthur, the Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, and the Galleria Gottardo, Lugano. (A list of other exhibitions and books on the artist is attached below.) Although Imsand’s works have found an important place in museum and private collections worldwide, the Anahita International Photography show of twenty Imsand prints in Santa Fe is the first U.S. private gallery exhibition of the artist’s oeuvre.

The Fondation Jean-Pascal Imsand holds copyright to all works created by the artist Jean-Pascal Imsand. Established in 2000, the aim of the Fondation Jean-Pascal Imsand (FJPI) is to keep Imsand's work and its documentation together, to maintain its proper record and to make it accessible to the general public through publications and exhibitions. The FJPI has entrusted the artist's archive for safekeeping to the Fotostiftung Schweiz (Swiss Foundation of Photography) in Winterthur, where researchers, curators and other professionals can study the works by appointment. Proceeds from this limited sale of the artist's work will be used to further the aims of the FJPI.

Short Bio

1960 Jean-Pascal is born to Mylène and Marcel Imsand in Lausanne on June 26th.

1977 - 1979 Kunstgewerbeschule Basel, Graphic Design Department.

1979 - 1984 Atelier Pietro Sarto, Saint-Prex, studies to be a lithographer.

1985 Decides to focus on photography and produces his first photomontages.

1987 Marries Sabina Scullari in Lausanne.

1988 Wins the "Grand Prix Européen da la Photographie" at Arles for his photomontages.

1989 - 1990 Meets Dieter Bachmann, editor-in-chief of the magazine "du", as well as Marco Meier and Martin Schaub, with whom he will be working closely until his death; works for "du" and "Das Magazin", weekly supplement to the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.

1990 - 1994 Member of the agency "Vu" in Paris.

1993 - 1994 Critical stage in life: Jean-Pascal Imsand questions his work, plans to paint again or do artistic movies. Cancels several assignments and forwards them to other photographers.

1994 Jean-Pascal Imsand takes his own life on March 29th.

2000 Founding of the Fondation Jean-Pascal Imsand in Zurich.

Exhibitions of the work of Jean-Pascal Imsand

2006 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Photographer, Istituto Svizzero di Roma, Rome (solo)

2006 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Photographer, Spazio Culturale Svizzero di Venezia, Venice (solo)

2005 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Photographer, Galleria Gottardo, Lugano (solo)

2004 – 2005 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Photographer, Musée d’ Elysée, Lausanne (solo)

2004 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Photographer, Fotostiftung Winterthur (solo)

1995 Imsand - Père et Fils, Espace photographique de la Ville de Paris (cat.)

1993 - 1994 Aus der Romandie, Fotomuseum Winterthur

1993 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Vision, Galerie zur Stockeregg, Zürich (solo)

1993 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Kreis 5, Scalo Books & Looks, Zürich (solo)

1993 Jean-Pascal Imsand – La clef des songes, Galerie Salon d’Art, Brussels (cat.) (solo)

1992 - 1993 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Fotomontagen und Brocki-Land, Galerie de Ballens, Ballens (solo)

1992 En Avion, Palais de Tokyo, Paris

1991 Voir la Suisse autrement, Musée de l’art et de l’histoire, Fribourg

1991 En bateau, Palais de Tokyo, Paris

1991 Jean-Pascal Imsand – Passagen, Hyposwiss, Zürich (solo)

1988 - 1989 Jean-Pacal Imsand - Fotomontagen, Galerie zur Stockeregg, Zürich (solo)

1988 Grand Prix Européen de la Photographie, Arles, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie

Publications of the work of Jean-Pascal Imsand

2007 Creative Journey - Jean-Pascal Imsand, Lorraine Anne Davis, B&W Black and White Magazine, No. 54, October 2007.

2005 What Is It Worth?, Jean Pascal Imsand, Balancing Parallels in European and American Sensibilities, Lorraine Anne Davis, B&W Black and White Magazine, No. 36, April 2005.

2005 2004 Jean-Pascal Imsand, Fotograf. Lars Müller (Hrsg.), Wettingen, 2004 (German, French and English Edition.) Galleria Gottardo, Lugano, 2004 (Italian Edition). Texts by Dieter Bachmann, Jean-Christophe Blaser, Martin Gasser and Fabio Pusterla.

1996 du / November 1996. Suburbia. Das Leben der Vorstädte. (Selected photoessays of the planned book project "Zürich – Kreis 5")

1993 du / March 1993. Fotografin Gisèle Freund. Der Archipel der Erinnerung. (Portraits)

1992 du / December 1992. Nicht zuhause. Migranten der Literatur. (Portraits)

1992 Noir et Blanc. Jean-Pascal Imsand. Sabina. In Leica Fotografie International, Hamburg, 4/1992.

1992 Vision. U. Bär Verlag, Zürich, 1992. 20 Fotomontagen. Foreword by Patrick Roegiers and epilogue by Charles-Henri Favrod.

1991 Hans Schweizer - Skulpturen. Niggli Verlag, Heiden, 1991.

1991 du / February 1991. Kunstzeichen-Zeichenkunst. (Artist Portraits)

1990 Lausanne. Une Jeunesse. 24 Heures, Lausanne, 1990. Texts by Pierre-Jean Crittin and Frédéric Pajak.

1989 du / May 1989. Les Romands. Die fernen Nachbarn. (Photomontages)1988 DANA. Editions du Griffon, Neuchâtel, 1988. Texts by Bertil Galland.