– The BGE looks at the “Grand Tour” in Switzerland
The Corridor of Glimpses based on the story of an intrepid English traveler in 1863. It is illustrated with period facsimile images.
Posted today at 5:48 p.m.
An image by Auguste Garcin. In 1863, Europe was just emerging from the “Little Ice Age” where Alpine glaciers had reached their maximum size since prehistoric times.
BGE, Geneva 2024.
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Is “Grand Tour” worth the detour? This is the question we can ask ourselves after seeing the modest exhibition adorning the Corridor of Glances of the Geneva Library since September 3. As always here, the (free) catalog ultimately turns out to be more interesting than the display itself. Or, to be more exact, the latter simply reproduces what is printed. Old images in fact remain facsimiles. However, the demonstration lasted little more than three months and three weeks. So where is the famous “little extra” of direct vision located?
With the eyes of Jemina Morrell
The subject this time revolves around the journey through Switzerland in the middle of the 19th century, with a strong preference for the Alps. The higher you go, the more beautiful it is. There are endless seas of ice, mule paths and, on the lakes, the very first motorboats (the first having been launched in 1823). Everything therefore to cause a change of scenery, the bulk of the clientele remaining English. The current presentation is based on the first Swiss “trip” organized by the Cook agency (which went bankrupt in 2019) in 1863. We know everything about it thanks to the diary of one of the participants, Jemina Morrel. The woman was then 31 years old and apparently possessed the energy of a horse. The course was like a marathon, in difficult conditions. The price paid, however, turned out to be considerable. His family had spent 680 gold francs at a time when you could eat properly for twenty cents. I know all this thanks to the very well-written note on the lady, published in English in Wikipedia. The authors of the Geneva booklet unfortunately do not mention a word of it, undoubtedly too busy with their idle considerations on “Alpine tourism seen as a subversion of images”. We have the interests we can.
Jemina Morrel around 1860. She was then in her thirties.
Wikipedia.
Both the brochure and the walls are adorned with photos by local talents such as those of Auguste Garcin (1816-1895), John Jullien (1818-1887) or Florentin Charnaux (1819-1883). This is very decent photography. But it is not located at the same summit as the Alps. It is enough to see in parallel in the booklet a single image of the Alsatian Adolphe Braun (1812-1877) to make the difference. There is no photo, if I dare say so. Braun creates art, where our Swiss artisans make the tourism industry.
Arriving a little later on the tourist map, the Matterhorn quickly became iconic. Here it is seen by Auguste Garcin.
BGE, Geneva 2024.
I will end this little paper by pointing out that the Espace Ami Lullin on the ground floor, closed for years, is currently housing the “Poster World” project between a few black curtains. These are random projections on a screen of digitized posters, presented three by three. Everything runs not on gas but on artificial intelligence. The thing hurts the eyes without necessarily doing any good to the head. It is of course a co-production with EPFL and ECAL, which is never a good sign. There must not be more than 50 people in the room, where of course there is no one. It is naturally positive to digitize such fragile heritage. But what is the point of this little game, which actually achieves nothing?
Practical
“Grand Tour”, Bibliothèque de Genève (BGE), promenade des Bastions, Geneva, until January 25, 2025. Tel. 022 418 28 00, website https://bge-geneve.ch Open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
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Born in 1948, Etienne Dumont studied in Geneva which were of little use to him. Latin, Greek, law. A failed lawyer, he turned to journalism. Most often in the cultural sections, he worked from March 1974 to May 2013 at the “Tribune de Genève”, starting by talking about cinema. Then came fine arts and books. Other than that, as you can see, nothing to report.More info
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