| Books | Authors | Artists | DVD/CD/Video | Gachnang & Springer | Out of Print Titles | German Titles |
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The History of Scheidegger & Spiess AG The history of Scheidegger & Spiess AG starts in 1962, when Ernst Scheidegger published Jean Genet’s text on the life and work of Alberto Giacometti under the imprint «Ernst Scheidegger Publishers». Over the following 30 years, Scheidegger published numerous books on Giacometti, Joan Miró, the Swiss sculptors Jean Tinguely and Bernard Luginbühl, and others, mostly originating from the publisher’s friendship with these artists and illustrated with his own photographs. Ernst Scheidegger, born in 1923, studied in Hans Finsler’s famous photography class at the former School of Art and Design Zürich. He later lived in Paris, where he was among the earliest members of the Magnum agency, and in Ulm (Germany), where he was a teacher at the renowned College of Design. After his return to Zürich he was a picture and supplements editor at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung from 1960–88. Besides, he made film portraits of artists such as Max Bill and Alberto Giacometti, and numerous documentary films for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and the former Swiss airline Swissair. He also ran an art gallery and designed books for his own publishing house and for others. In 1997, Heiner Spiess (1948–2006), joined Ernst Scheidegger Publishers. After professional training with Diogenes Publishers in Zürich and reading history at the University of Zürich, he had been one of the founder of Limmat Verlag in Zürich and a co-editor of the “dada global” inventory catalogue of the Kunsthaus Zürich, and had initiated publications on Swiss artists, such as Karl Geiser, Johann Robert Schürch and Clément Moreau ... |
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Books on Alberto Giacometti, his father Giovanni and his cousin Augusto, and on their native Swiss mountain valley Val Bregaglia form a strong backbone of our list. Its Art section also includes titles on Swiss artists, such as Johann Heinrich Füssli (Henry Fuseli), Ferdinand Hodler, Hans Josephsohn, Berhnard Luginbühl, Giovanni Segantini, and Jean Tinguely, and on artists with a close relation to Switzerland, like the German expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The Photography section includes books created in close collaboration with the artists but also monographs on imporant Swiss photographers of the past, such as Binia Bill, Rudy Burckhardt, Paul Senn and Eduard Spelterini. The Architecture section includes collections of essays and monographs on single buildings and the complete works of Swiss architects. Scheidegger & Spiess’s English-language list was launched in summer 2005 and an international sales and distribution organisation was set-up to distribute our books worldwide. With this important step for our company, we aim to provide Museums and other cultural institutions in Switzerland with an opportunity to reach a wider audience outside German-speaking Europe. And we seek to give through our new international partnerships a greater circulation to Swiss artists that are well known within Switzerland, but on whom only very few publications are available in English. In 2006, Scheidegger & Spiess Publishers took over the books and sales rights of the former Swiss publishing house Gachnang & Springer, Bern – Berlin. The published legacy of its late publisher, the extraordinary Swiss artist, author lecturer, and curator Johannes Gachnang (1939–2005), shall remain and the books he published by and on artists such as George Baselitz, Gaston Chaissac, Jean Dubuffet, Per Kirkeby, Meret Oppenheim or Sigmar Polke, who were also his close friends, shall be kept available. After the unexpected death of our publisher Heiner Spiess in May 2006, Thomas Kramer took over as Scheidegger & Spiess Publishers' managing director and chief editor to continue the work of Ernst Scheidegger and Heiner Spiess and to further develop our list. Thomas Kramer, born 1966, read history at the University of Zürich, and has been chief culture editor of Die Weltwoche, Switzerland's leading weekly newspaper, since 2005. Before that he was culture editor with the Tages Anzeiger, a major Swiss daily newspaper, from 1999–2005. Thomas Kramer has also written and edited a number of books, mainly in the fields of architecture and the history of film. Scheidegger & Spiess Publishers is a member of the association SWIPS – SWISS INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS www.swips.ch since its establishment in 2007. |
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