Michel Auer

{{Short description|Swiss photographer, encyclopediast, and historian (1933–2024)}}

{{Infobox person

| image = Autoportrait Michel Auer.jpg

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption = Self-portrait by Michel Auer, 1985

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1933|05|30}}

| birth_place = Zurich, Switzerland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2024|10|22|1933|05|30}}

| death_place = Hermance, Switzerland

| resting_place =

| burial_place =

| burial_coordinates =

| education = rural education boarding school at Glarisegg Castle, Steckborn

| occupation = photographer, collector, historian, encyclopedist

| years_active = 1960–2024

| organization = Fondation Auer Ory

| known_for = Illustrated History of Photographic Cameras; Encyclopedia of International Photographers from 1839 to the Present Day

| notable_works =

| style =

| spouse = {{ubl

| {{marriage|Françoise Guerin|1955|1968|reason=div}}

| {{marriage|Michèle Ory|1980}}

}}

| children = Martine, Laurence, Georges Nicéphore

| parents = Victoire (née Frontaid) and Jules Auer

| awards = 1986 Kraszna-Krausz Award for Encyclopedia of International Photographers from 1839 to the Present Day

}}

Michel (Micha) Auer (30 May 1933 – 22 October 2024) was a Franco-Swiss photographer, lexicographer, encyclopaedist, collector and historian of photography, known for his publications on vintage cameras and a comprehensive encyclopaedia of international photographers.

Education and training

Son of Victoire (née Frontaid) and Jules Auer, Michel was born in Zurich in 1933. After primary school from 1941 to 1945 in Geneva and secondary studies from 1946 to 1951 in the rural education boarding school at Glarisegg Castle near Steckborn in German-speaking Switzerland, he was apprenticed as an advertising photographer in Zurich.

After his recruit training in the Swiss military service in 1954, Auer started an advertising studio in Geneva in 1955. He married Françoise Guerin, whom he divorced in 1968 after having three children together (Martine, Laurence and Georges Nicéphore).

In 1958, he obtained a federal diploma in photography (the Swiss tertiary-level diploma awarded for expert skills and enabling the holder to run a company and to train apprentices).

Collector

In 1960, Auer founded and until 1975, managed, the 'Big' laboratory in Geneva specialising in oversize enlargements in black-and-white and colour. In 1961, abandoning advertising photography, Auer devoted himself to the collection of cameras and the writing of various books on the subject and making several trips to America in the 1970s.{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Corinne |date=24 April 1974 |title=Camera quirk king. Collectors: 'they want failures' |work=Westport News |pages=5}} In 1971 in Vevey was staged a survey of the history of photography around Auer's collection, and that inspired the establishment of the Swiss Camera Museum.{{Cite web |title=Das Museum {{!}} Camera Museum |url=https://www.cameramuseum.ch/de/das-museum/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=www.cameramuseum.ch}}

In 1976 with another collector, Michèle Ory, at the Clignancourt flea market in Paris, they operated a stall specialising in cameras and photographs. They lived nearby, but later in life returned to live in Switzerland in the rue du Couchant in Hermance where they housed their collection.{{Cite web |last=Dumont |first=Etienne |date=1 November 2024 |title=Michel Auer aura vécu pour la photographie ancienne et moderne |url=https://www.bilan.ch/story/ed-michelauer-868874801675 |access-date=18 June 2025 |website=Bilan}}

In fact, Auer possessed at least three different collections of cameras. In 1973, Auer's first was sold to the Provinciaal Museum voor Fotografie in Antwerp (now Fotomuseum Antwerp), supplemented since by other collections including that of Agfa-Gevaert. In the early 1990s, the JCII Camera Museum in Tokyo added to its holdings of Japanese products examples of Western cameras purchased from Auer. Auer's personal collection of rare and significant cameras is kept at the Auer-Ory Foundation.

File:Eynard4.jpg

Amongst photographs sold to museums, the J. Paul Getty Museum has eighty-nine vintage daguerreotypes, the majority by Jean-Gabriel Eynard, purchased in the 1980s from Michel and Michèle Auer.{{Cite web |title=Michel Auer |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/104Q35 |access-date=18 June 2025 |publisher = J. Paul Getty Museum}}

Historian

Auer's Illustrated History of the Camera: From 1830 to the Present was widely reviewed,{{Cite news |last=Birch |first=Lionel |date=14 December 1975 |title=Make it snappy! |work=The Sunday Telegraph |pages=11}}{{Cite news |last=Holloway |first=David |date=4 December 1975 |title=Christmas books: In wide focus |work=The Daily Telegraph |pages=13}} and frequently cited.{{Cite journal |last=Condon |first=Richard G. |date=1989 |title=The History and Development of Arctic Photography |journal=Arctic Anthropology |publisher= University of Wisconsin Press |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=46–87}}{{Cite book |last1=Sarvas |first1=Risto |title=From Snapshots to Social Media-The Changing Picture of Domestic Photography |last2=Frohlich |first2=David M. |publisher=Springer |year=2011 |isbn=9780857292469 |location=New York |pages=23–45 |chapter=The Portrait Path (ca. 1830s–1890s)}}{{Cite book |last=Citrini |first=Matteo |url=https://tesidottorato.depositolegale.it/bitstream/20.500.14242/185609/1/TESI%20CITRINI_Un%27archeologia%20dello%20sguardo%20panoramico_VOL.%201.pdf |title=Un'archeologia dello sguardo panoramico. Tecnologia, media e cultura visuale tra Otto e Novecento (1870-1918) |publisher= University of Florence |year=2022 |edition=Dissertation |location=Florence |pages=10 |language=it |trans-title=An archeology of the panoramic gaze. Technology, media and visual culture between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (1870–1918)}} Michael McNay in The Guardian welcomed it as "a detailed exposition of the development of the techniques of photography";{{Cite news |last=McNay |first=Michael |date=15 January 1976 |title=Speaking likeness |work=The Guardian |pages=9}} Judith Hoffberg noted that "since camera technology changes constantly, the book becomes a historical, visual survey of a machine which has changed the world..." and considered that the only comparable book was A Century of Cameras (1973) by Eaton S. Lothrop Jr. which she regarded as "a less sumptuous work that is limited to the cameras in the George Eastman House".{{Cite journal |last=Hoffberg |first=Judith A. |date=December 1975 |title=Review: Illustrated History of the Camera: From 1830 to the Present by Michel Auer |journal=ARLIS/NA Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 1 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of North America |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=12|doi=10.1086/arlisnanews.4.1.27945545 }} Auer was to collaborate with Lothrop on The Invisible Eye: Espionage Cameras (1978).{{Cite web |last=Pritchard |first=Michael |date=10 November 2024 |title=In passing: Michel Auer (1933–2024) |url=https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/in-passing-michel-auer-1933-2024 |access-date=18 June 2025 |website=British photographic history}}

Auer became accepted as a world authority on historic cameras,{{Cite news |date=5 May 2007 |title=London Lots: Daguerreotype Camera |work=Irish Independent |pages=25}} presenting, for example, in October 1985 at a symposium for the Photographic Historical Society at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York.{{Cite news |date=22 September 1985 |title=Photo exhibit celebrates NEA |work=Press and Sun-Bulletin |pages=89}}

Encyclopaedia

Auer married Michèle Ory in 1980 and with her published in 1985 the Encyclopédie internationale des photographes de 1839 à nos jours (Photographers Encyclopaedia International 1839 to the Present) a two-volume set that includes biographies of 1,600 photographers in French and English.{{Cite journal |last1=Rodger |first1=Andrew C |last2=Guay |first2=Louise |last3=Rowat |first3=Theresa |last4=Stone |first4=Gerald |date=1986 |title=Collections and Collectors: Photo History VI |journal=Archivaria |volume=22 |pages=252}} In 1997, the encyclopaedia was updated and published on a CD-ROM{{Cite journal |last=Polowy |first=Barbara |date=1998 |title=Encyclopédie internationale des photographes des débuts à nos jours — Photographers encyclopedia international from its beginnings to the present, ed. by Michèle Auer and Michel Auer. Neuchatel [Switzerland]: Ides et calendes, 1997 (distr. in North America by Andrew Cahan: Bookseller, Ltd., 3000 Blueberry Lane, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA). 1 computer laser optical disc: sd., col.; 4¾ in. + 1 guide. $285.00. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0307472200011299/type/journal_article |journal=Art Libraries Journal |language=en |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=37–38 |doi=10.1017/S0307472200011299 |issn=0307-4722|url-access=subscription }} to include entries, as noted by reviewer Peter Blank, on "3,135 individuals and less-complete information on an additional 3,000, from seventy-one different nationalities," in a format that he considered "visually pleasing and well organized".{{Cite journal |last=Blank |first=Peter |date=Fall 1998 |title=The Review Section: Reference Points: PHOTOGRAPHERS ENCYCLOPAEDIA INTERNATIONAL Michele and Michel Auer.-Neuchatel: Editions Ides et Calendes, dist. by Andrew Cahan: Bookseller, Ltd. [3000 Blueberry Lane, Chapel Hill, NC 27516], 1997.-1 CD-ROM: $285.00. |journal=Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America |publisher=The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of North America |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=53–54}}{{Cite journal |last=Meyer Stump |first=Ulrike |date=September 1998 |title=The Auer and Herzog collections: Two encyclopaedic projects in Switzerland |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03087298.1998.10443894 |journal=History of Photography |language=en |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=290–292 |doi=10.1080/03087298.1998.10443894 |issn=0308-7298|url-access=subscription }} However, historian of 19th-century photography Larry Schaaf in reviewing the CD-ROM version found some errors of fact and others made in translation from the French, but considered that despite them "one can only admire and encourage the effort made by the Auers to make the mass of information they have gathered accessible to the public."{{Cite journal |last=Schaaf |first=Larry |date=5 November 1998 |title=Review: Michel et Michèle AUER, Encyclopédie internationale des photographes des débuts à nos jours, CD-Rom français-anglais compatible Macintosh et Windows, Neuchâtel, Éd. Ides et Calendes, diffusion Hazan, 1997, 1440 F. |url= |journal=Études photographiques |language=fr |eissn=1777-5302 |via=Open Edition}}

Foundation

In March 2009, the couple created the [https://auerphoto.com/fr/auer Fondation Auer Ory] through which they exhibited their collection of more than 10,000 photographs as well as objects related to photography. In addition to the generally single-artist exhibitions held in their foundation, they initiated numerous off-site showings of their collections which cover aspects of photography since its beginnings.

Loans from the collection, of works by photographers as diverse as Nadar, Weegee and 19th-century Swiss-French pioneers, were made to curators of exhibitions such as:

Roland Leboye for New York, Weegee the Famous at Le Pavillon Populaire, Montpellier, from 15 September 2008 (281 original large-format prints of the 1930s–1960s, including the Coney Island series (1940) and Heatspell of 23 May 1941){{Cite journal |last=Chastagner |first=Claude |date=January 2008 |title=New York, Weegee the Famous |url=http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/4103 |journal=Transatlantica: Revue d'études américaines |issue=1 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.4000/transatlantica.4103 |issn=1765-2766 |via=Core}}
Michel Bépoix for Nadar: Michel and Michèle Auer collection, at the Art Gallery of the General Council of Bouches-du-Rhône (2001){{Cite book |last1=Bouches-du-Rhône |title=Nadar: Collection Michel et Michèle Auer |last2=Bépoix |first2=Michel |publisher=Actes Sud |year=2001 |isbn=9782742732920 |location=Arles |language=fr |oclc=48754586}}
Alexandre Fiette directing the Maison Tavel in Geneva, 27 November 2019 – 29 March 2020, a body of work related to French-speaking Switzerland that they had been building since the early 1960s.{{Cite journal |last=Fiette |first=Alexandre |date=2020 |title=Pionniers de la photographie en Suisse romande – Collection Auer Ory: 27 septembre 2019-29 mars 2020, Maison Tavel |url=https://journals.openedition.org/artefact/5957 |journal=Artefact |volume=12 |pages=285–291 |doi=10.4000/artefact.5957 |issn=2273-0753}}

Known also for their foundation's collection of photographers' books,{{Cite book |last1=Auer |first1=Michèle |title=Photo books: 802 books from the M.+M. Auer Collection |last2=Auer |first2=Michel |publisher=Editions M. + M. |year=2007 |isbn=9782970057406 |location=Hermance, Switzerland |language=en |oclc=1152235816}} Auer presented in a session with Gerry Badger at the Vienna PhotoBook Festival in 2015.{{Cite web |date=20 June 2015 |title=EMoP presence at Vienna PhotoBook Festival {{!}} EMOP - European Month of Photography |url=https://www.europeanmonthofphotography.org/?p=1652 |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=European Month of Photography |language=en-US}}

Death

Michel Auer died in October 2024 at the age of 91.{{Cite web |last=Dumont |first=Etienne |date=1 November 2024 |title=Michel Auer aura vécu pour la photographie ancienne et moderne |url=https://www.bilan.ch/story/ed-michelauer-868874801675 |access-date=18 June 2025 |website=Bilan}}{{Cite web |title=In Memoriam 2024 |url=https://sub.photographydatabase.org/memoriam2024.html |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=Photography Database}}

Books

{{Cite book |last1=Auer |first1=Michel |title=The Illustrated History of the Camera from 1839 to the Present |last2=Tubbs |first2=D. B. |publisher= New York Graphic Society |year=1975 |isbn=9780821206836 |edition=1st |location=Boston |oclc=2212746}}
{{Cite book |last1=Auer |first1=Michel |title=L'Oeil invisible: les appareils photographiques d'espionnage |last2=Lothrop |first2=Eaton S. |publisher=Éditions EPA |year=1978 |isbn=9782851200686 |edition=1st (French) |location=Paris |language=fr |trans-title=The Invisible Eye: Spy Cameras |oclc=6145330}}
{{Cite book |last1=Auer |first1=Michel |title=Histoire de la caméra ciné amateur |last2=Ory |first2=Michèle |publisher=Les Editions de l'Amateur |year=1979 |isbn=9782859170110 |language=fr |trans-title=History of the amateur movie camera |oclc=8480067}}
{{Cite book |last1=Auer |first1=Michèle |title=Encyclopédie internationale des photographes de 1839 à nos jours = Photographers encyclopaedia international 1839 to the present |last2=Auer |first2=Michel |publisher=Editions Camera obscura |year=1985 |isbn=9782903671044 |location=Hermance, Switzerland |language=fr, en |oclc=12635510}}
{{Cite book |last=Auer |first=Michel |title=Guide Michel Auer: index et prix pour plus de 7000 appareils 1993–1995 |publisher=Editions Camera Obscur |year=1993 |isbn=9782903671112 |edition=1993–1995 |language=fr |trans-title=Michel Auer guide: index and prices for over 7000 cameras : 1993–1995}}
{{Cite book |last1=Auer |first1=Michèle |title=Photo books: 802 books from the M.+M. Auer Collection |last2=Auer |first2=Michel |publisher=Editions M. + M. |year=2007 |isbn=9782970057406 |location=Hermance, Switzerland |language=en |oclc=1152235816}}

Exhibitions from the Auer collections

2001, 5 July – 30 September: Nadar: Michel and Michèle Auer collection, Art Gallery of the General Council of Bouches-du-Rhône, Aix-en-Provence.
2004, 13 January – 14 March: Collection M. + M. Auer: a history of photography, Théâtre de la photographie, Nice, then April 22 – September 12, 2004: Museum of Art and History, Geneva.

Personal exhibitions

2005, 1 October – 5 March 2006: Micha Auer photographer, Camera Museum, Vevey, Switzerland{{Cite web |title=Micha Auer Photographe |url=https://photography-now.com/exhibition/32388 |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=photography-now.com}}
2007, 10 January – 4 March: Micha Auer, Photographs in front of the camera, Maison Européenne Photo, Paris{{Cite web |title=Photographs in front of the camera |url=https://photography-now.com/exhibition/47676 |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=photography-now.com}}{{Cite web |date=2008-01-12 |title=Micha Auer, Photographes devant l’objectif, critique |url=https://www.paris-art.com/micha-auer-photographes-devant-lobjectif/ |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=Paris Art |language=fr-FR}}