Two young men, lads, possibly teenagers, stand in the Adriatic, stacked one atop the other. The blonder of the pair wears a chain and wraps his legs over the shoulders and around the torso of his companion, who is bare chested with a tan and striped swimming shorts. ‘I asked them to start playing where the water was low, but they decided that one would sit on the other’s shoulders. It was not my idea!’ photographer Walter Pfeiffer shares of the double portrait, shot in Rimini in the 1980s. ‘I love when the people I photograph participate in the process. I like being in good company.’
Walter Pfeiffer, Untitled, 2015
At Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin, where a major new retrospective, ‘Walter Pfeiffer. In Good Company’, has just opened, the image is blown up to movie-poster size and framed with a white border. Positioned so it’s the first standalone image visitors see upon entering the show, it makes a bold impression and, moreover, is a fitting introduction to Pfeiffer’s six-decade career (in 1984, it covered the October issue of French publication Gai Pied, once described as ‘the queen of Europe’s gay magazines’). The show’s moniker, similarly, is a strong proxy for Pfeiffer’s character. The Swiss photographer’s reputation as an enthusiastic collaborator becomes tangible at the show’s opening in Italy, where friends and admirers swarm him to say congratulations and wish him a happy birthday (he’s just turned 80).
Walter Pfeiffer, Untitled, 2004
Before you enter the show proper, a vast wall covered with pages pulled and printed from Pfeiffer’s scrapbooks provides additional context for the work that follows. It’s a practice he established in the 1960s while working at Globus department store in Zurich, where he had been hired as a window decorator following his studies at the city’s School of Arts and Crafts. ‘I was bored and had no ideas, then I started to crop images out of magazines and glue them into these notebooks,’ he recalls. ‘I don't like to look through my work, that's why I love this wall – I forgot everything, so it was again interesting for me. When we printed it as a book [2012’s Scrapbooks 1969-1985], we took only the interesting things, but here there is more to discover.’
Walter Pfeiffer, Untitled, 2007
Occupying six rooms with more than 100 images from the 1970s through to the 2020s, ‘Walter Pfeiffer. In Good Company’ highlights the broad scope of Pfeiffer’s career. In one of the smaller spaces is the series Das Auge, die Gedanken, unentwegt wandernd from 1986, featuring black and white headshots printed in strict record cover-sized squares, the portraits are situated in pairs, high up towards the ceiling. Elsewhere, colour is largely king, used to underscore the subversive vitality prevalent in the collection of still lifes, fashion images and erotic scenes. ‘Walter's very open about letting other people interpret the work,’ offers Nicola Trezzi, who, with co-curator Simon Castets, was primarily responsible for the show’s rhythm. ‘He has done so many books and exhibitions, he’s always creating a company of people that will inspire him and trigger his curiosity.’
Walter Pfeiffer, Untitled, 1975
‘In the 1970s, nobody wanted to show my work; people were not ready’
Walter Pfeiffer
One particular group of photographs stands out for its delicate sensibility: the portraits in Untitled (Carlo Joh), shot over several months in 1973, portray a young trans person reconfiguring their appearance through make-up and drag. Embracing Pfeiffer’s ongoing pursuit of beauty but with a faint ephemeral shadow (the teenager passed away not long after their final session), the close-ups appear visibly different from their neighbours, a condition emphasised by the large moat of white space and silver frames in which they’re presented.
‘It’s the heart of the exhibition,’ the photographer and Trezzi agree. ‘I knew I had to do this show [1974’s “Transformer: Aspects of Travesty” at Kunstmuseum Luzern], and I’d seen him before in the library of the art school,’ shares Pfeiffer of spotting his subject, later relaying the decision to leave Untitled (Carlo Joh) out of the book that accompanies the Turin exhibition: ‘The atmosphere of the series is completely different. It would have suffered if it was inserted in this energetic rollercoaster of images.’
Walter Pfeiffer, Untitled, 2006
Books – self-published since near the start of his career and, later, released with the Zurich publisher Edition Patrick Frey – have long been a vital component of the photographer’s work, and the new monograph, from Mousse Publishing, is a unique example that places text, including an essay by Trezzi, at its centre. ‘It’s the first book where I didn’t have to do anything. I always think about when I'm not here anymore, and it was like I wasn’t here. That's why I'm glad I'm in a state now, where if the company is really good, I don't have to worry,’ notes Pfeiffer, adding further weight to the show’s collaborative label. ‘In the 1970s, nobody wanted to show my work; people were not ready. That’s probably why it still looks so fresh, even after six decades, but I wanted people to see it!’
‘Walter Pfeiffer. In Good Company’ is at Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin, until 13 September 2026
