Printmaking occupies an important position in the work of the Swiss artist Hugo Suter (1943–2013). His oeuvre is characterised by a playful yet profound exploration of themes and motifs that were inspired by his immediate surroundings and daily life – the view from his studio window, Lake Hallwil right outside his house, chance finds in magazines. At the same time his works are remarkable for their meticulous, sophisticated execution. Suter developed a particularly intense working relationship with glass, so it does not come as a surprise that many of his prints are hyalographs, that is to say, glass prints. This technique allowed Suter to fully realise his often multilayered, complex pictorial ideas.
During the course of a research project initiated by the Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich in collaboration with the Hugo und Mariann Suter Stiftung, Suter’s printed oeuvre has been fully investigated, researched and documented for the first time, with the findings presented in a digital catalogue raisonné: www.hugo-suter-druckgrafik.kleio.com.
Coinciding with the online publication of this catalogue raisonné, the exhibition presents a broader, intermedial perspective on Suter’s artistic practice. In addition to prints, it also includes photographs, drawings and three-dimensional objects, which will provide visitors with an insight into the internal ramifications and interconnections in Suter’s work, which is above all distinguished by the abundant “flowing and growing” of ideas, themes, reflections, and images. The exhibition, which draws both on the holdings of the Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich and on the invaluable fund of undiscovered or forgotten materials in the artist’s estate, thus reinforces a reassessment and recontextualisation of Suter’s extensive body of work.
Curatorial team: Alexandra Barcal, Conservator for 20th- and 21st-century art, and Tim Oechslin, project assistant
Publication: Hugo Suter. Bilder, die die Seiten wechseln. Images That Switch Sides, edited by Alexandra Barcal and Tim Oechslin, Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich, and Beat Wismer, Hugo und Mariann Suter Stiftung, with essays by Alexandra Barcal, Anne Bendel, Stephan Kunz, Tim Oechslin, Anouchka Panchard, Tyrone Schorrer and Beat Wismer, St. Gall: Jungle Books, 2026.
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