Karlheinz Weinberger Bücher

Karlheinz Weinbergers Job in einer Siemens-Lagerhalle mag zwar eher eintönig gewesen sein, seine Fotografien aber, die er in seiner Freizeit machte, sind alles andere als angepasst. Denn seine Leidenschaft, und damit auch der Fokus dieses Buches, gehört der aufrührerischen Jugend in der Schweiz der 1950er und 60er Jahre, die sich vom amerikanischen Rock’n’Roll inspirieren ließ und daraus ihre ganz eigene Kultur entwickelte – mit hochgekrempelten Jeanshosen und Jeansjacken, aufgebauschten Föhnfrisuren, gestreiften T-Shirts und selbstgefertigten Gürtelschnallen, die Elvis oder James Dean zeigten. Weinbergers heitere, freigeistige und selbstbewusste Porträts zeigen die aufsässige Haltung der Jugendlichen als Gegenentwurf zur konservativen Schweizer Nachkriegszeit. Swiss Rebels präsentiert außerdem eine Reihe homoerotischer Bilder von Rockern, Bikern, Bauarbeitern und Sportlern, von denen viele als außerhalb der sozialen Norm betrachtet wurden und werden. Dieses Buch liefert als erste Publikation einen tieferen Einblick in Karlheinz Weinbergers Gesamtwerk.

In 1958, Zürich photographer Karlheinz Weinberger captured Halbstarke (rebel) Jimmy Oechslin, marking the beginning of a collection focused on young Swiss teenagers. This encounter sparked Weinberger’s fascination with outsiders and nonconformists within Switzerland's conservative environment. The photographs in this first volume provide a rare glimpse into a bygone era that, while appearing quaint today, represented a bold statement at the time. Dressing in jeans, sporting beehive hairdos, and wearing chains was as provocative as blasting Buddy Holly or Jerry Lee Lewis on a quiet Swiss Sunday. Discovered by the art scene shortly before his death in 2006, Weinberger's extensive collection of tens of thousands of prints, slides, and negatives has been meticulously archived over the past decade, revealing many never-before-seen images. This inspired the publication of thematic volumes, designed to echo the glossy entertainment magazines of the era. Following the release of Halbstarke as Volume #1, Sturm & Drang publishers plan to explore topics such as sports, tattoos, and his work with biker gangs and rockers in the 1970s and 80s. Each first edition will be limited to 1200 copies.

Commencing his career in the 1950s as a self-taught photographer working primarily for the gay underground Zurich club and magazine Der Kreis, Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006) took candid shots of lovers, friends and strangers on the street with an overt erotic investment in his subjects. He soon developed a fixation with the working-class youth culture known as the "Halbstark" (or "half strong"). Its members demonstrated their anti-establishment stance with embellished outfits of denim and leather, in an exaggerated and homemade version of the popularized American bad-boy style of the time. In his stark, posed photographs of these young rebels, Weinberger focuses on individual figures, exploring both a personal erotic obsession and the cultural symbolism of blue jeans, whose scarcity in post war Switzerland implied not just a fashion statement but a badge of pride. This publication reproduces a rare portfolio of these works that Weinberger designed himself in the mid-1950s.