Karl
Werner Thomas Trutmann known as Béni Trutmann
was born 26 November 1935 at Locarno in Switzerland.
BÉNI
was his nickname as a child.
His father, Friedrich
Aloïs Trutmann was a surveyor. Due to his profession he had to
make many trips
abroad, particularly to Venezuela where the Trutmann family settled.
Béni was
just 4 years old. His infancy (from the age of 4 to 10 years old),
spent in a
wild environment, was a determining factor in building his character as
an
artist.
As
a child, Béni was dyslexic but his teachers
recognised that he "is gifted with an emotional capacity, he prefers to
express himself with pictures rather than words". His exercise books
were
filled with minutely detailed drawings; his landscapes were already
true
perspective studies (Illustration No 33).
Béni’s
paternal grandfather(Wilhelm Schwerzmann), a generous man, was a
sculptor having a dominating place in the Trutmann family. (illustration N°25)
Béni Trutmann was a "fighter". He was very fond of sport and
proved
to be particularly gifted for swimming. When he was 17 years old, he
won the
backstroke event in Locarno. From 1952, he won time and time again, and
in 1957
in Zurich he became the Swiss swimming champion for 2 events:
men’s 200 metre
crawl and the 200 metres individual medley.(illustration No 13)
While his brothers started advanced scientific studies, Béni
Trutmann entered
the Zurich Art College. During these years, he learned to develop his
artistic
capacities and refine his aesthetic sense, but above all he discovered
his real
passion and his calling: photography.
He
finished his studies in 1956, waited for the 1957
swimming championships then took off for Paris where he became an
assistant to
the famous photographer Harry Meerson. Two years later, the student
prodigy was
an independent photographer and decided to settle in Paris.
Between
1961 and 1964, Béni Trutmann landed several
contracts with the French fashion magazine "Jardin des Modes". His
first photographed reports were for big national dailies (Parade 5th
Avenue -
Bob Kennedy - New York).
In 1958, Béni went through Spain (first photos on
bullfighting), visited the
Balearics and had his first encounter with Formentera. He was 23 years
old and
dazzled by the island’s beauty. (illustrations 18 to 24)
1965/1984:
advertising – the golden years:
Avant-gardist
and perfectionist right from the outset,
for Béni Trutmann: "the important thing in a photo is the
composition"
(illustrations 26-27-28-29-30)
Very
quickly noticed by advertising agencies in the
French capital, Béni stood out because of his original style
as he didn’t make
do with just taking photos, he created a whole production (2CV). He
became the photographer for famous trade names (Chanel, Cacharel, Guy
Laroche,
Fiat, Mercedes, Kodak, Grundig, Canon, Air France, Air Afrique, etc.)
for which
he produced many advertising campaigns, and published in "Elle" and
"Marie Claire" magazines. He was 30 years old.
Unremitting worker, interested in everything, nothing stopped him. His
excellent physical potential enabled him to carry out his work under
the most
extreme conditions:
Greenland
(1965
Illustration No 6)
Norwegian
countryside
Fjords
and sawmills in Finland
North
Sea fishing on Irish trawlers
Carrara
quarries (Italy)
Atlas
Mountains (Morocco) and Oasis
(South Tunisia)
Climbing
Mont Blanc
Aerial
views – Swiss mountains
Surfers
in South Africa
Diving
in the Red Sea
The
Seychelles (1982)
Fish
and corral of the Maldives
Specialist of under-water photography, Béni Trutmann knew
that attractiveness
is useless without the technical content. He produced a
“protection area” for
the conception of his photos called “half-air, half-water".
(Illustrations
No 5 and 31). In 1978, he no longer had to prove anything. Due to great
demand
from young assistant photographers, he opened his workshop,
“Villa des Arts” -
Rue Hégésippe Moreau in Paris. Béni
Trutmann remained an independent
photographer till the end of his life.
1984/1995:
the mature and humanist years:
Aware
of ecological disaster, the ethnologist
and photographer produced 3 photo-reportages in quick succession:
Senegal and
Gorée Island, Ivory Coast villages and the Bahamas. In 1990,
he took part in
the Surcouf expedition off
Mauritius.
This expedition, being more than photos of shipwrecks, gave
Béni Trutmann the
opportunity to photograph the human countryside and the beauty of the
island.
These
years were those when he
exhibited his photographic works, and also those of his ecological
commitments
with environmental protection associations including Greenpeace.
In 1995, at 60 years old, he set off for north India. This last
reportage is a
masterpiece. Béni Trutmann was undoubtedly the master of
light. Scenes of daily
life and vast landscapes, all his photos make you want to travel, the
perspectives are staggering. (Illustration No 17)
This was to be his last big journey, as Béni wanted to
consecrate his life’s
work to Formentera.
Formentera was his secret garden. He had to wait until 1969 to begin
building
his house on the hills above la Mola. He dreamed up and designed this
house
with a photographer’s eye, ten years of work for a single
architect and an
exceptional view over his beloved island. He needed this private space
to
recharge his batteries living here 6 months of the year.
Madly in love with the island, he knew every facet and photographed it
for 44
years. Formentera was most certainly his life’s photographic
work with more than
30,000 photos.
He felt first and foremost a citizen on Formentera. Festivities,
marriages, religious
and traditional processions, Béni was always there for those
once in a lifetime
moments. He loved the men and women of the island, it was important to
“preserve the cultural heritage for future
generations”. The 98 clichés of
"la Matanza" is a good example of a didactic reportage.
The
photographer took great care to scrupulously date
and file all the events.
He conveyed his respect for this island’s country people in a
series of
portraits, which he began in 1976. The photographer’s eye
knew how to grab that
instant when the expression of a face brought another dimension to
photography,
a deeply human dimension. The feeling is well and truly there. We
discover the
internal beauty, modesty and simplicity of the people he photographed,
so as
not to forget them.
Artists are also a part of Formentera’s history and he kept a
place for them in
his photographic work. Being a generous and friendly man, he worked
with them
on their creative projects (illustrating the collection of Alfred
Tardy’s "Formentera"
poems)
But Formentera is fragile. Béni Trutmann knew this, and
worried about the
"drifts" and urban changes he took the time to photograph them year
after year. Aware of the ecological disaster linked to the incapacity
of being
able to manage the flow of tourists, he put his talent to the services
of
ecological associations including the GOB. In 1987, his photographic
works
documented the "Beauty and Destruction of an Island" exhibition
organised on Formentera, then in Paris in 1988.
Béni Trutmann had that humbleness it takes when faced with
the beauty of nature
of Formentera and its landscapes. From 1985, the project of his book
took shape.
He made every effort to develop 3 themes: air, water and land. The
landscapes
called "the 4 Seasons" are similar to impressionist paintings. It
took him 10 years to finish the book in this way:
"Thanks
to God and His friends for having helped
and guided me
Without
whom I perhaps would never have had the
strength to finish this book,
Simple
account of the beauty nature has to offer us."