They truly are characters. The 129 string puppets portrayed below, with their aptly staged faces, bear witness to the lively 80-year history of the Basel Marionette Theater. Handcrafted – carved and assembled – mostly by the founder of the small theater: Richard "Ricco" Koelner. He too was a true character and had discovered his fascination with puppetry and, above all, with creating expressive figures as a child. Eighty years ago – in the middle of World War II – he seized the opportunity and founded the Basel Marionette Theater in 1943 with a group of artist friends. Gilbert Mayer, a photographer and himself a characterful individual, impressively captured the eccentric, sometimes dark and mischievous sides of the puppet characters with the help of light and shadow and 122 wet plate collodion photographs. Gilbert Mayer first let the figures sink in quietly, then staged them on a chair or armchair with great sensitivity and humor. The Basel Marionette Theater is delighted that Gilbert Mayer has been able to capture the incredible diversity of the creative art of Richard "Ricco" Koelner, Faustina "Füschtli" Iselin, Christian Schuppli, Wolfgang Burn, and Madeleine Burn-Kaufmann in the form of a "portrait book" and accompanying exhibition.
May 3, starting at 5 p.m.
May 4 to May 20
Daily from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
