Summary
Zurich-based photo artist Christian Scholz (*1951) is donating a complete edition of his long-term project «501 – Portrait Work Switzerland» to the Swiss National Library. The donation comprises 501 analog black-and-white portraits (30 × 40 cm), compiled in 15 portfolios and 50 thematic series. Created between 1990 and 2020, the work documents Swiss citizens from all social classes and regions according to an egalitarian approach. The collection will become part of the nation's cultural heritage in the Graphic Collection and will henceforth be available to the public and researchers.
People
- Christian Scholz (Photo artist; *1951)
- Tobia Bezzola (Art historian)
- Isabelle Kirgus (Head of Graphic Collection)
Topics
- Cultural heritage and archiving
- Swiss photography
- National identity and portrait art
- Cultural documentation
Clarus Lead
The donation strengthens the Swiss National Library as a central memory institution in an era of growing digitization of analog art collections. The portrait work offers a rare systematic documentation of Swiss society beyond prominence – a democratic counterpoint to classical portrait collections. With the public presentation on June 3, 2026, the federal government signals continuity in securing cultural heritage and opens new sources for researchers to analyze identity and society.
Detailed Summary
The «501 – Portrait Work Switzerland» emerged over three decades as an artistic program for the visual documentation of the country. Scholz chose a consistently egalitarian approach: the 501 portraits depict not only well-known Swiss personalities, but deliberately also unknowns – young people, architects, farmers, bankers, and athletes from all parts of the country. This thematic organization in 50 series makes it possible to capture social diversity and plurality as a coherent «face of Switzerland».
Scholz's photographic works are internationally established: his works are held in the National Portrait Gallery London, the Centre Pompidou Paris, and the Kunsthaus Zurich. Beyond the portrait work, he has engaged with work cycles such as «Animal Bodies», which honor the Swiss cow as a cultural symbol. The Graphic Collection of the National Library focuses on photographic documentations of Switzerland – landscape and population – and already holds tens of thousands of photo portraits. The portrait work supplements these collecting priorities with a systematic artistic testimony of society and thus becomes a research tool for future generations.
Key Points
- 501 black-and-white portraits from 30 years of artistic work are transferred to federal ownership
- The work pursues an egalitarian approach without distinction based on social status or prominence
- The collection becomes part of national cultural heritage and is available to the public and researchers
- A public conversation between Scholz and art historian Bezzola takes place on June 3, 2026
Critical Questions
Source Validity: What criteria did Scholz apply in selecting the 501 portrait subjects? Are these criteria documented and reproducible for future research?
Representativeness: To what extent does an artistic selection of 501 people actually reflect the «face of Switzerland», and which population groups might be underrepresented?
Conservation: How is the long-term preservation of analog black-and-white negatives and prints secured? Are digitization plans envisioned?
Usage Rights: What rights do the portrait subjects or their heirs have to their images after the National Library's acquisition?
Contextualization: Are the portraits archived with metadata (names, professions, regions, date of capture), or do they remain deliberately anonymized?
Research Access: According to which criteria and under which conditions will researchers gain access to the originals or digital versions?
Bibliography
Primary Source: Swiss Federal Office of Culture – Press Release «Photo Artist Christian Scholz Donates His Portrait Work Switzerland to National Library» – https://www.news.admin.ch/de/newnsb/L8iAlUWbtsfU5G0mLcNdA
Verification Status: ✓ 19.05.2026
This text was created with the support of an AI model. Editorial responsibility: clarus.news | Fact-checking: 19.05.2026