"Avec Richard de Tscharner", interview with Richard de Tscharner about the exhibition Le chant de la Terre, by Nicolas Lieber (2021, 6 min)
Richard de Tscharner was born in Bern in 1947. After his high school years in the Swiss capital, he enrolled at Geneva University to study economic and social sciences. Following his graduation in 1973, he joined the renowned private bank Lombard Odier & Cie, where he worked for the next 34 years. As he approached the age of 60, with a fulfilling career behind him, he retired to devote himself to a passion of his youth: photography.
Although he had often travelled eastward to the Orient and westward to the Americas, Mr de Tscharner had mainly visited major capitals for business purposes. His eagerness to encounter “the other world” led him to undertake a tour of the planet far from the beaten track. This journey, where he discovered what he calls the “Gardens of the Gods”, changed his vision of the world forever.
“Cols”, film presented during the launch of the book “Alpine Passes”, by Nicolas Lieber (2023, 8min)
“de Profundis”, film presented at the de Profundis exhibition, by Nicolas Lieber (2015, 11 min)
This life-changing experience was the prelude to his first photography book, Our World, published in 2009 and followed by an exhibition in Geneva. He continued to travel to distant places far removed from civilisation, in search of the legacy of our planet’s journey through time. Mr de Tscharner sought out landscapes untouched by man – landscapes that are able to convey the beauty of our planet as well as the mysteries of life and time. The resulting photographs featured in the de Profundis exhibition held in Versoix in 2015 and in a solo exhibition at Sotheby’s in Geneva in 2017.
These days, Mr de Tscharner lives in Dubai. When he returns to his home country, he spends much of his time compiling a collection of photographs on Swiss alpine passes, a project he intends to complete by the end of 2021. A book on the subject is planned for 2023.
While remaining faithful to traditional black-and-white silver photography, Mr de Tscharner has taken advantage of his stay in Dubai to incorporate digital photography into his work. He normally produces an edition limited to four prints, plus one artist’s proof for each of the formats.
Mr de Tscharner is a board member of Carène, a charitable foundation he set up in 2008 to promote education and the preservation of cultural roots. The foundation acts as custodian of the photographic archives of its founder and receives all revenues derived from the sale of his photographs.