Stefan Rüesch / Albert Steiner

On view at Galerie Carzaniga Basel, is an exhibition devoted to the work of Stefan Rüesch and Albert Steiner. Rüesch’s work can be characterized by the elementary handling of geometric elements and figures, proportion, balance and sensitive sobriety. In his paintings, the principles of order borrowed from geometry serve to illustrate certain ideas and to apply them as instruments of personal insight. When looking at the paintings, the viewer gets the impression that the hectic everyday life has been stopped and eased for a short time. The exhibition also features Steiner’s series of landscape photographs from the Engadin, portraying Switzerland as an Alpine country of timeless beauty. Steiner’s photographic oeuvre ranges from pictorialist-inspired, painterly-looking pictures from the period before the First World War to the objective, modern-looking photographs of around 1930. Inspired by painters such as GiovanniSegantini and FerdinandHodler, Steiner created pictures that not only meet the highest standards of craftsmanship and technical demands, but also have impressive aesthetic qualities.