Background
Hans Finsler was born in 1891 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Hans Finsler was born in 1891 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Finsler taught art history at Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, Germany, in 1922, where he was also librarian. Later he taught a course in the photography of objects at Zurich's School of Arts and Crafts, although he had no background in photography. This was during the time of the Bauhaus. He was himself the mentor of René Bum, Emil Schulthess and Wemer Bischof, among others.
He worked on the rules which determine how photographs affect the eye, and through it the intellect and emotions. This he accomplished in his "object" studies. He is considered one of the medium's more cogent philosophers.
Quotes from others about the person
A. D. Coleman of The New York Times wrote that "Finsler is one of the handful who have reached the frontier of photographic psychology."