Nearly a Century of Memories: Sabine Weiss, Pioneer Female Photographer Shines at the Loveliest Exhibition Space in Venice, Casa dei Tre Oci

Palazzo Ducale - 1950. Venezia, Italia © Sabine Weiss

(Venice, Italy) Sabine Weiss died last year on December 28th at the age of 97, as the tumultuous year of 2021 cranked to a close. Till the very end, she helped to bring her current exhibition at Casa dei Tre Oci here in Venice alive. Sabine Weiss. La poesia dell'istante celebrates her life-long devotion to photography. Through her images, we are privileged to witness nearly a century of human life caught on camera. What a great way to go!

"To be powerful, a photograph must speak to us about an aspect of the human condition, make us feel the emotion that the photographer felt in the presence of her subject."

                                                                        ---Sabine Weiss

1950. Porte de Saint-Cloud, Parigi, Francia © Sabine Weiss

Sabine Weiss was born Sabine Weber in Saint-Gingolph, Switzerland on July 23, 1924, and took her first photos at the age of 11. Her father was a chemist and inventor, and encouraged the young Sabine to pursue her passion to capture human emotion with her lens, even though she was a girl. After her studies in the prestigious Boissonnas studio in Geneva, in 1945 she produced her first news story featuring American soldiers on leave, which was immediately published in a Swiss newspaper.

 

Hugh & Sabine, Hotel de Nice, Paris, 1949

Emboldened by the fruits of her talent, Sabine journeyed off to Paris and presented herself to the German fashion and portrait photographer, Willy Maywald, who employed her as an assistant for four years and opened the doors to Parisian social circles. In 1949 she met her great love, the American artist Hugh Weiss, who became her husband and creative partner in life and work.

"Whether she is photographing a dress by Dior or a gang of kids, what is important for her is the struggle with and the control of all the elements in her picture."
                                                            ---Hugh Weiss

1958. Yves Saint-Laurent, prima collezione Dior, for Life © Sabine Weiss

Throughout the years, Sabine photographed everything from the extreme post-war living conditions in Paris, to cigarettes and babies and perfume. Her documentation of the human condition earned her a reputation as a humanist photojournalist, but she was just as comfortable snapping fashion, advertisements and portraits of celebrities -- she didn't like being put into a category. "I could photograph different worlds with very different people -- wealthy people in the morning, outcasts in the afternoon." 

As a pioneer female photographer in a field dominated by men, Sabine always kept her sense of humor even while documenting the darker side of humanity. She worked in every photographic genre, from reportage to artists' portraits to fashion to street photography. The images she captured of the faces of children are riveting. Of all the photographs that she took, the one that haunted me the most was one she took in Paris in 1953 of young children chained to a barge.

 

Children chained to a barge, Paris, France 1953 by Sabine Weiss - Photo: Cat Bauer

 

Last year, Nicolas Berggruen, the US-based, Paris-born billionaire investor and philanthropist made headlines when he signed an agreement to purchase the Casa dei Tre Oci on the island of Giudecca from the Fondazione di Venezia and turn it into the headquarters for his cultural thinktank, the Berggruen Institute. Berggruen has dual US and German citizenship, and is the son of Heinz Berggruen, the late German art dealer and collector whose funeral in 2007 was attended by both Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Horst Kohler.

 

A couple days ago, Nicolas Berggruen hit the news again when it was announced that he had bought another important property here in Venice, Palazzo Diedo, this time in the Cannaregio district. The property is set to be transformed into an exhibition venue and artist-in-residence space as part of the new Berggruen Arts & Culture, kicked-off with an installation by American artist Sterling Ruby. 

 

In the catalog of Sabine Weiss. La Poesia Dell'Istante, Nicolas Berggruen states: 

"As an institution whose goal is to develop ideas centered on the great transformations of the human condition brought about by changes in the economics of technology and politics, we are very pleased that Sabine Weiss's work is being celebrated at Casa dei Tre Oci.... It is our hope that the exhibition will draw wider attention to her way at looking for the spark in humanity."

Venice Through the Window of Casa dei Tre Oci - Photo: Cat Bauer

Sabine Weiss, The Poetry of the Instant, La Poesia Dell'Istante runs at the Casa dei Tre Oci through October 23, 2022. Curated by Virginie Chardin, the retrospective is sponsored by the Fondazione di Venezia, realized by Marsilio Arte in collaboration with the Berggruen Institute, and produced by the Sabine Weiss atelier Laure Delloye-Augustins, with the support of the Jeu de Paume and the International Festival Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles under the high patronage of the Switzerland Consulate General in Milan. Go to Tre Oci for more information.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog