“I photograph the light.” This principle guided Roger Humbert (1929 – 2022) through 70 years of artistic practice, ranging from analogue experiments to digital light compositions. Images to Engage the Mind, a new survey, is a comprehensive view of his career. The show is ambitious – fitting for someone who continued to break new ground into their 90s – and a tribute to an artist who defined and redefined the medium.
The exhibition is anchored in Humbert’s photograms and luminograms, techniques that defined his early career. The artist operated exclusively in the darkroom until 1974, experimenting with templates, grids, prisms and filters to uncover alternative ways of creating. His aim, as he once said, was to “completely abandon the representational aspect of photography and thus introduce a new chapter.” This is brought up-to-date with more recent projects, where Humbert incorporated digital processes to produce bright, colourful abstract compositions. The evolution of his practice mirrors broader shifts in photography.
Humbert’s work outside the darkroom is an unexpected highlight, revealing a lesser-known but equally rigorous aspect of his output. He produced several series whilst travelling the world, steering away from tourist hotspots and motifs to play with sharpness and blurriness. His black-and-white pictures, made in Basel in the 1950s and 1960s, display a characteristic mastery of light and shadow, whilst later shots, particularly ones taken in China, are distinct for their targeted use of colour. In today’s age of technological innovation and artificial intelligence, Humbert’s dedication to adaption and boundary pushing feels relevant. This is a timely tribute to a man who constantly pushed the envelope.
Images to Engage the Mind is at Fotostiftung Schweiz, Winterthur until 15 February: fotostiftung.ch
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. Roger Humbert, Ohne Titel, 1948 © Roger Humbert / Fotostiftung Schweiz.
2. Roger Humbert, Ohne Titel, 2021 © Roger Humbert / Fotostiftung Schweiz.
3. Roger Humbert, Ohne Titel, 2021 © Roger Humbert / Fotostiftung Schweiz.
4. Roger Humbert, Ohne Titel, 1950 © Roger Humbert / Fotostiftung Schweiz.
5. Roger Humbert, Ohne Titel, 1968 © Roger Humbert / Fotostiftung Schweiz.
