By tracing the career of the ethnographer and art historian Eberhard Fischer, a key figure at Zurich’s Rietberg Museum, the Indian filmmaker Amit Dutta sheds light on the tensions between ethnographic research, colonial legacy and the search for a fair perspective on India’s traditions.
Before becoming an institutional figure, however, Fischer was a field researcher. From the 1960s onwards, he travelled across Africa and Asia, especially in India, focusing on ritual and traditional practices, with a particular interest in craftsmanship, such as pottery-making and weaving techniques.
Courtesy Eberhard Fischer
Together with his wife, Barbara Fischer, he regularly filmed these practices using a small camera. In recognition of his work, Fischer was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri by the Indian government in 2012.
The project originated with the filmmaker, but discussions were long and difficult. For years, the art historian refused to be the central subject of a film. It was only after the death of a colleague that both men realised how cinema can preserve memory, voice and a person’s individuality. Faced with this realisation, the project finally began in 2024.
Fischer recounts the story of their collaboration. After handing over copies of his entire archive, he recorded an interview lasting more than eight hours, in which he revisited in detail each of his many books, the ideas they develop and the works they discuss.
