As part of TINGUELY 2016, previously unknown photos from the life of Jo Siffert and his friend Jean Tingely are currently on display at the Cantonal and University Library of Fribourg.
The figure of Jean Tinguely is inextricably linked to that of Jo Siffert in the memory of the people of Fribourg. Among the F1 driver's friends was the Fribourg photographer Jean-Claude Fontana, whom "Seppi" sometimes picked up at the Café du Paon to accompany him to the racetracks.
The exhibition shows a selection of as yet unknown photos from the early 1960s of the Formula Junior races and the European F1 circuits in France, Germany and Italy: shots of the various races, the pits and more intimate pictures including a series of portraits of Jean Tinguely, Tinguely and Siffert and of Tinguely in his living room in Neyruz with Jim Clark's Lotus Climax.
Born in Fribourg (1929), Jean-Claude Fontana turned to photography as a self-taught photographer. In 1959 he opened the first permanent art gallery in Fribourg, the Galerie de la Cité, and in 1987 he founded the Galerie Espace du Pertuis. Member of the Groupe Mouvement (Fribourg Artists' Group), of l'OEUVRE (Swiss Association of Artists, Craftsmen and Entrepreneurs) and also of SPSAS, now VISARTE.
A multiple winner of the Swiss Federal Scholarship for Photography, he began his career under the influence of Yvan Dalain and Jacques Thévoz before turning to abstraction. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions.
The exhibition is open from May 13 to September 10, 2016. The vernissage was on May 12, 2016. A guided tour with Jean-Claude Fontana will take place on August 23, 2016 at 18:00 in D/F.
Further information can be found on the BCU/KUB website.
