Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006) fell in love with photography in his early 20s, and spent the next six decades of his life capturing the pleasures of youth, rebellion, and the male form.
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It all began in 1958, when Weinberger met a teen named Jimmy Oechslin on a street near his home. “Jimmy was dressed like what post-war Swiss society might think of as a n’er-do-well or a ruffian,” says Bruce Hackney, US Manager of the Karlheinz Weinberger Stiftung. “Outfitted in a Lee denim jacket, a kerchief around his neck, his shirt unbuttoned to his waist and his jeans stuffed into cowboy boots, Jimmy looked more like a stylish ranch hand than a middle-class teen.”
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At the same time, they also introduced their own unique elements into their looks, from oversized pendants made with mortar shell casings to pieces of sheet metal emblazoned with words or images of matinee idols. “Weinberger took all this in and crafted his portraits to accentuate their casual yet very deliberate fashion decisions,” Hackney says. “The most provocative of his images from this time period are the close-ups of crotches featuring the exaggerated fly closures,” Hackney says.
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“As a gay man, I think Weinberger identified with the Halbstarken’s marginalization; they shared a mutual ‘other-ness.’ I’m sure he admired how a bunch of seemingly, nefarious societal cast-offs were freely expressing themselves.”
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