Swiss Foundation of Photography, Art museum and photography archive in Mattenbach, Winterthur, Switzerland
The Swiss Foundation of Photography, officially the Schweizerische Stiftung für Photographie, is based in Winterthur and shares the Zentrum für Fotografie with the Fotomuseum Winterthur. Its collection holds around 50,000 exhibition prints, 250,000 archive prints and over one million negatives and slides, focused on Swiss photography from 1840 onward. It also manages photographers' estates on behalf of the Federal Office of Culture.
The institution was established in 1971 as Switzerland's primary center for preserving photographic heritage and history. Since its founding, it has systematically collected photographs from the 19th century forward, making it a major repository of the country's visual past.
The foundation presents exhibitions that explore Swiss photography and its creators through different artistic perspectives. You can see how photographers have used their medium to document life, relationships, and visual stories over time.
The foundation's own rooms in Winterthur host three exhibitions a year; the public specialist library on photography is run jointly with the Fotomuseum Winterthur. The collection and archive are consulted on site, and selected holdings are published online. The institution is listed as a cultural property of national significance.
The founding circle of 1971 included Rosellina Burri-Bischof, who had managed the estate of her first husband Werner Bischof since 1954 and directed Magnum Switzerland, alongside photographer Hans Finsler and publicist Manuel Gasser. The foundation's first president was Manuel Gasser, co-founder of Die Weltwoche and editor-in-chief of Du.
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