Born in Switzerland in 1961, Henry Leutwyler is a self-taught photographer. After being rejected by one of Switzerland’s leading photography schools, he opened his own photo studio in Lausanne, photographing cheese, chocolates and watches. In 1985, he moved to Paris where he established himself as an editorial photographer. Ten years later he moved to New York City where he currently lives. Among many others, he has photographed Michelle Obama, Julia Roberts, Tom Wolfe, Iggy Pop, Rihanna and Martin Scorsese. Art Vista Magazine spoke to Leutwyler following his exhibition Humanity with the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and on the opening of his project Philippe Halsman: A Photographer’s Life, at Images Vevey.

Art Vista: Tell me about the exhibition titled Humanity that you created with the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. You had carte blanche with all the items in the museum. How did this project begin?

Henry Leutwyler: I was interested in attempting to portray the history of the Red Cross through its objects. I remembered that I visited the museum the first time probably the year it was founded and opened. Twenty-five years later I got the opportunity to meet Pascal Hufschmied (Director of the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent) through a friend of mine, Nathalie Herschdorfer, who is the Director of Photo Elysée. She gave me my first museum exhibit when she was the Director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts Le Locle which was fantastic. That was the beginning of this project. 

Art Vista: How did you choose the items that you selected from the museum’s collection?

HL: Anything that spoke to me and that was visually relevant. In the beginning you have to figure out how you are going to tell the story. The purpose was not to do it in an historical way from A to Z or from 1 to 100, but it had to be visually interesting. An archive is usually dusty, air-conditioned, and could be boring and under-lit, and I wanted to try to do the opposite.

Art Vista: What story did you tell?

HL: I think we need the Red Cross now more than ever, and humanity more than ever, and the United Nations more than ever, and the International Court of Justice more than ever. Often, people look at images more than they read. So it had to be visual with a limited amount of text. The book of the exhibition was published by one of the best art photography publishers in the world today; Steidl. I think this might be my 9th or 10th book with them in the past 14 years. And I had fun because I was really given carte blanche. It was an ideal collaboration. The Director of the museum, Pascal Hufschmied, understands photography 100% and I enjoyed the process. There was a little photo studio that we took over in the museum next to his office during Covid. Jazz was playing every day and we made the best out of the difficult times of Covid.

I opened every drawer, every box and I found things they didn’t even know they had. For example, I found the pocket-sized bible of Henry Dunant. Instead of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it was me in the Red Cross archives. 

Art Vista: How long did it take you to go through all the archives?

HL: I tried to get an understanding prior to the beginning of the project, maybe for a week. I started editing after that. I think they have 15,000 posters pertaining to the Red Cross. I looked at every single one. I think I drove them crazy. When they had two or three duplicates I picked the one I wanted because they don’t all look the same. 

Art Vista: Where was the exhibit of these photographs?

HL: The exhibit was on the Quai Wilson in Geneva in front of the High Commissioner for Human Rights building from July 3rd to August 5th. The purpose of the exhibition was to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Convention. It should probably travel to other places. Images talk and I have been doing it for forty-plus years professionally. I was married to a graphic designer for many years. I understand negative space. My father and grandfather were printers, and I grew up with paper. I have an understanding of how it should look. It actually looked better when it was up than it looked on paper. I hope it will have a longer life than just the exhibition on the lake because the subject is poignant and humans haven’t learned much from history. So we have to repeat it over and over until it hits the brain and the heart. 

Art Vista: At Images Vevey you are are telling the story of the life of Philippe Halsman, a major figure in photography, by documenting his possessions. Could you tell me more about this project? 

HL: The project in Vevey just opened on September 7th. There are 50 artists and 50 exhibitions and it is fantastic. I have to say that even Arles, Perpignan, and Paris Photo to me are less exciting than what is happening in Vevey. It is done with intelligence and they work very hard to make it beautiful, and it is free. My exhibit is at the Camera Museum during the three weeks of Images Vevey but the museum is carrying it over until January 9, 2025.

Let me track back. I am a portrait photographer, also editorial and advertising. At some point I realised that I am more interested in objects than people, which sounds terrible. If you look at objects properly they can’t lie. People can lie, get retouched, have plastic surgery etc. 20 years ago I did a book with the Presley family about Elvis which was a portrait of Elvis through his objects. It was a best seller. Then on another assignment I found the .38 Special which was used to kill John Lennon. No photographer had photographed it, and I did that. After that I did a Frank Sinatra book, a Michael Jackson book, and Document, which is a 12-year adventure about objects belonging to my heroes and a few villains. 

For the Images Vevey project I am focused on Philippe Halsman, a legendary photographer with 101 covers of Life Magazine. I went to New York for the first time in 1979 when I was 17 years old and I insisted on going to the International Center of Photography (ICP) and saw the first exhibit of Philippe Halsman’s work. At Images Vevey, 40 years after discovering Philippe Halsman’s work in New York, I have done this project as an homage to his life, as told through his possessions.

Art Vista: What other projects are you working on?

HL: It is always difficult to do something new. Let’s assume that everything has been done, the wheel exists. So I think I found a niche for myself which has so far been working. The next book has been commissioned by LVMH. I did a portrait of Tiffany through the archive. And I just got hired again for the history of Birkenstock for their 250th anniversary. So this has become my photographic signature above and beyond my portraits. They are photographed the same as my portraits. If you pay attention, the light is always from the left, the shadow is on the bottom right. I also just went to London to do a portrait of Lee Miller because the movie is coming out. She was the female war photographer, and it was a fun project, I loved doing it. I would also love to photograph the Caran d’Ache building before they move. I am going to the Issey Miyake show in Paris and I have an exciting book project in the works with them. 

Hopefully I can be in Japan for the Miyake project and that is connected to another project. I have been attempting for the past year and a half to do a project at the Hiroshima Nagasaki Museum for the anniversary coming up. It is an incredible museum and I love Japan, I have lived there and worked there. We are still talking about it and time is running out. I would love to publish this book. 

I am happy. I have had a happy photographic life, I was often at the right place at the right time, and with luck on my side and talented people watching over me. May it never end…

Images Vevey takes place until 29 September. 

For more information about Henry Leutwyler click here. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.