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Zarte Wucht / Delicate Force 

by Dr. Matthias Harder, Director Helmut Newton Foundation 

     Solo Show and Catalog Book / Jaeger Art / 2025
 
Many of the images in this book seem to have been gently breathed into existence, appearing timeless, weightless. At first glance, they may resemble delicate ink or pencil drawings, yet they are photographs – crafted in the most classical of ways, in front of and, indeed, with the objects themselves. Their atmosphere – at once metaphysical and suspended – reveals itself fully only through the platinum printing process on thin, sometimes waxed paper. Gregor Törzs has rediscovered this historical technique and brought it to a rare level of mastery. Still, he refers to it modestly as a “means to an end,” one that allows him to remain independent of external labs and to approach each final image through dozens of meticulously staged trials in his own studio.
 
Törzs follows a deeply personal thematic path, one shaped by a sustained engagement with nature and, without any trace of pathos or religious overtones, with creation itself. We sense his deep, unaffected reverence for creatures that once lived – fossilized or taxidermied animals, as well as snails and butterflies – as well as for those still living, like coral, trees, and grasses. All of his photographs are portraits, he says. And yet humans, with whom we traditionally associate the idea of portraiture, are nowhere to be found.
 
His first significant image was made in 2006 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It captures a close-up of antlers from mounted wild animals, taken with a simple Bilora box camera – a model first sold in the 1930s, loaded with roll film. This initial image led to further visits to natural history dioramas around the world, culminating in the ironically titled series Boy on Safari, a nod to his “Bilora Boy” camera. Back in his studio, Törzs continued to experiment, evolving from the traditional development of black-and-white negatives as silver gelatin prints on Oriental paper to platinum printing and the use of inter-negatives. These enable him to produce editioned works in alternate formats, each derived from the singularity of the platinum original. The resulting pigment prints, soaked and dried in repeated cycles, become tactile echoes of the original motif – objects that verge on the sculptural. Though issued as editioned works, each is once again unique; no two are ever quite the same. In Törzs’s process, the negative – placed directly onto the paper during the platinum exposure – typically extends beyond the coated surface. As a result, his final images do not display the frayed edges often left by the brush-applied emulsion. 
 
Later, Törzs devoted hundreds of hours to diving with his Bilora camera, which was enclosed in a sophisticated, custom-built underwater casing. He photographed coral reefs and fish in close-up, always in natural light. Once again, the richness of tone and precision of detail in both the platinum and edition prints are remarkable – as is the stillness they convey. Even though the exact locations of these mysterious underwater scenes remain undisclosed – likely somewhere in the Red Sea – the pictorial space they occupy becomes vivid, almost tangible. In other works, the objects appear to hover gently against a diffuse background. Nothing distracts from the central motif: no narrative scaffolding, no didactic subtext. Törzs directs his full attention to the chosen subject, and in doing so, compels us to do the same – to observe and experience its presence, its grace.
 
In his artistic practice, Törzs plays not only with temporality – or rather, the timelessness – of representation, but also with the associations and emotions it stirs. He speaks of an “emotional web” in which he feels entangled, and into which we too are drawn. At the heart of his work lies a desire to sharpen perception – his own, and ours. The memory of beauty is often tinged with melancholy, accompanied by an unconscious longing to relive those moments of joy in the future. Törzs sees this as the underlying rhythm of his photography: a temporal triad that moves between past, present and future, while subtly expressing an inner emotional topography. Still lifes – regardless of whether they include vanitas motifs – are, after all, nature morte. Death, the inevitable end of all being, is ever-present alongside the beauty of these images, confronting us both personally and universally. The artist becomes a kind of intermediary, opening a door into this parallel realm.
 
Törzs also explored the theme of clothing in a distinct series, featuring semi-sheer dresses from a collection by Berlin-based designer Nobi Talai. These images drift between figuration and abstraction. Through the layering of gossamer fabric, they create illusions of depth on a flat surface – not dainty, but imbued with a mysterious, fairytale aura. They, too, embody an emotional and delicate force.
One recent series must also be mentioned: photographs of uranium glass vases and other objects, which, illuminated from within, appear to inscribe themselves into the image. Törzs works with a range of once commonly produced glassware, tinted yellow or green with uranium oxide since the late 19th century, which glows under UV light. He captures this fluorescent effect and transforms the transparent glass bodies into luminous, spherical presences – not merely resting on, but seemingly embedded within, the photographic paper. Vases – once overlooked household items – are revealed in a new, otherworldly light.
 
Finally, his most recent series, once again poetic in tone: larch trees, which also grow in our region at altitudes of around 1,000 meters and undergo a dramatic shift in color over the course of a single autumn week. Törzs photographed them at the height of this transformation, filling each frame with their fleeting form. In the studio, he inverted the tonal values, rendering the golden larches as photographic negatives. They reappear as dark conifers, as if restored to their “normal” state. This double reversal unfolds as a tableau of eight sequential images, all captured on site. Together, they expand this small corner of the world with striking effect – though it remains, of course, just a fragment. Once more, the prints recall fine ink drawings at first glance. Yet under closer scrutiny, they reveal photographic detail articulated with exacting precision. Törzs surprises us again with his disorienting, dreamlike play with the representational possibilities of photography – stretching them toward an ambivalent abstraction.
Gregor Törzs never seems concerned with mere mimesis. His photographs trace a more enigmatic path: the transformation of the object into an image of itself. What emerges is a fascinating visual cosmos of diverse natural forms – shaped by a singular voice that quietly asserts its place within the landscape of contemporary photography.
 
Dr. Matthias Harder 

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