Engadin Press – Einblicke ins Bildarchiv

The image archive of the Engadin Press publishing house from Samedan comprises over 50,000 photographs from 1880 to 1950 and is one of the largest collections of historical photographs from Graubünden. This treasure trove of images is the latest and most comprehensive addition to the Fotostiftung Graubünden. Together with the Rhaetian Museum, it provides a first insight into the pictorial worlds in this exhibition before the entire photographic collection is digitized and made accessible to the public.

The publishing house Engadin Press published postcards, newspapers and books. The photographs shown in the exhibition document people during their professional activities or in their leisure time, at social gatherings or during sporting activities. Numerous portraits were taken in the photo studio. For advertising brochures and postcards, images were retouched, designed as collages or combined with graphic elements. The exhibition gives an extraordinary insight into the working processes of the Engadine photo workshop. She takes us on a journey through time to the Graubünden mountains, which were subject to rapid change at the beginning of the 20th century with the advent of modern tourism. It raises questions about the extent to which photography documents or stages traditional and new worlds. And she invites us to work in the photo studio ourselves.