Swiss photographer René Groebli self-published only 1000 private copies of Das Auge der Liebe (The Eye of Love, 1954), a small collection of photos he took of his wife Rita on their honeymoon in Paris. Most of the images were simply intimate snapshots taken in a hotel room.

In the same year, at age 26, Groebli visited Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City and immediately decided to participate in what was to be an historic traveling exhibition: The Family of Man (1955). This led ten years later to his inclusion in another MoMA show, The Photographer’s Eye (1966), where photography curator John Szarkowski placed Groebli’s Nude Dressing (1952) in the “time” category. In Szarkowski’s words, the image exemplified “a visual climax” such as only photography can achieve.

In a world dominated by major political frameworks, a small group of young photographers with very personal viewpoints made their mark. Even casual shots that previously would have been discarded were declared worthy of exhibiting for their “viewpoint” and idiosyncratic aesthetic. Thus, a modest volume like Das Auge der Liebe became a beloved and timeless symbol of many different ways of seeing.

René Groebli
Born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1927, René Groebli entered the Kunstgewebeschule, Zurich (now Zürcher Hochschule der Künste) in 1945, but quit after only half a year to begin an apprenticeship in filmmaking. In 1949 he published his first photobook, Magie der Schiene (Rail Magic), followed in 1954 by Das Auge der Liebe (The Eye of Love). His international fame increased after he participated in Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man (1955) and The Photographer’s Eye (1966), both at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.