The Collection

While issues of transgression and awakening have shaped the face of the collection to date, connecting these individual developments to a bigger picture will now play a central role. Bauhaus and radical design, erotic and experimental photography, fine art and their highly controversial protagonists continue to be in the spotlight. But now also drawing attention to their close, yet far-reaching links of proximate areas and even subsequent movements. This broad spectrum then unveils both initial ignitions of art history and the holistic interconnectivity within the cultural and social landscape. Therefore, the collection of NEUMANN-HUG SA acts as an X-Ray image for revolutionary developments and as an early detector of progressive tendencies, which in turn are the catalyst for completely new directions.

Estate of Kurt Eckert

NEUMANN-HUG SA manages, documents and honours the lifetime achievement of the photographer and communication designer Kurt Arthur Eckert (1920-2004). Eckert is regarded as a visionary of visual communication and as the father of Lifestyle Advertising Photography. As early as the 1950s, he broke the boundaries between advertising, public relations and art and transformed  classic fashion and product photography into a visual language of emotional moments. During his years in the USA he developed a new form of expression by using multiple exposures which took place exclusively in the camera. Kurt Eckert was the first European to receive the Golden Eagle Award in 1970, the highest award for non-feature films in the US. Through his multi-image language 'association mechanics'  Eckert became a pioneer of modern image film and is regarded as an innovative pioneer of today's video clips.

Estate of Toby E. Rodes

NEUMANN-HUG SA is devoted to the estate of a person whose biography has been largely dedicated to German-American dialogue and which, in a crucial phase of German history, had a particular influence on the structure and formation of a democratic civil society. Toby E. Rodes (1919-2013) as Chief Information Officer immediately after the war, provided the framework on which the structures of free and democratically oriented media are still based in Germany today. He is also one of the main initiators and co-founder of the "Berlinale", the Berlin Film Festival. However, for many Toby E. Rodes is well-known as a design ambassador, who in the post-war period made Switzerland a centre of trade for internationally renowned design companies such as Knoll International.