Karlheinz Weinberger - Vintage Prints: Belts, Jackets, Couples and More

Karlheinz Weinberger... The Jets (Basel, Black and white photograph). From the exhibition Karlheinz Weinberger - Vintage Prints: Belts, Jackets, Couples and More at Anna Kustera Gallery in New York. "...n 1958, Weinberger met members of a small band of teenagers and began photographing them both at his home studio as well as at the public parks and carnivals where they gathered. In post war Switzerland, these self-named 'rebels' (referred to by the Swiss as 'Halbstark' or 'half strong') were comprised of working class boys and girls dissatisfied with the conservative culture of the day. Inventing their own code of behavior and dress - oversized belt buckles fashioned from metal plates adorned with images of their idols, James Dean and Elvis, blue jeans employing bolts and other hardware for their fly closures, pendants made of thick gauge chain and spent mortar shells - they affected a powerful gang identity expressed by an affinity for their like-minded rebellious American imports such as Marlon Brando, Dean, Elvis, blue jeans, and motorbikes."