Helen Keiser

Helen Keiser (27 August 1926 in Zug – 20 December 2013 in Zug) was a Swiss writer, painter and photographer. Between 1950 and 1990, she travelled to all Arab countries and had the reputation in the 1970s and 1980s as one of the most profound experts on the region.

Life Helen Keiser was the daughter of a teacher who took her on mountain tours and river trips at an early age. After finishing school in Zug, she attended the Zurich School of Art and Crafts in the early 1940s and completed various internships as a graphic designer and decorator. An art historical study tour of the école du Louvre in Paris in 1952, which led to Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria, was pathbreaking for her.

In 1954, Helen Keiser travelled with her friend Margarit in the footsteps of Sven Hedin’s "Overland to India" and spent twelve months in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Sri Lanka.

In the mid-1950s, she worked as a journalist for various magazines. In 1956, she travelled to Morocco and in 1957 wrote the first of 13 books entitled "Salaam. Logbook of a voyage to the Orient". In 1995, she ended her work as a publicist with the book "The Oasis". In 1998, a video portrait by Christoph Kühn was released: “Salaam. Helen Keiser – Nomad from the Occident.” In 2002, the Ethnological Museum of the University of Zurich took over a part of Keiser's photographic work. In 2003, she exhibited her watercolours and acrylic pictures for the last time in Zug. In the same year, she travelled to Damascus, where the Syrian National Museum showed her photo exhibition "Salaam". In Syria, she also travelled to Palmyra. In 2004, Keiser's photo exhibition "Salaam" was shown in Sofia University and Plovdiv Art Galerie in Bulgaria. In 2007, she travelled to Bulgaria, where another book of hers was published.

In 2016, Keiser's watercolours and acrylic paintings were on display in Zug's Old Town Hall. The exhibition was called "The Dream of Peace".

Achievements The Neue Zuger Zeitung reported, "Helen Keiser has travelled, gotten to know and explored the Arab countries from Lebanon and Syria to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen for more than four decades. She passionately and tirelessly pleads for understanding and respect between the Orient and the Occident. In her books, Helen Keiser repeatedly describes the change of entire societies and the abandonment of ancient traditions in favour of a modern, western standard of living. Her literary work and the articles that Helen Keiser has written over a good 50 years, as well as the numerous lectures that she also has given beyond the Switzerland’s borders, represent documents that are of particular value as a contemporary historical source".

Exhibitions

Watercolors and oil pastels, gallery unknown, Zug, 1958 Watercolors and oil chalk paintings, Gallery unknown, Zug, 1968 Watercolors, Gallery unknown, Zug, 1975 Watercolors and acrylic paintings, Galerie Goldgasse, Zug, 1981 Acrylic Paintings, Galerie Kolin, Zug, 1985 Watercolors, Reto Locher, Hausen a. Albis, 1991 Watercolors and acrylic paintings, Galerie zur Münz, Zug, 1997 Watercolors and acrylic paintings, Galerie zur Münz, Zug, 2003 Watercolors and acrylic paintings, Altstadthalle, Zug, 2016 Photo exhibition Salaam – Der fotografische Schatz von Helen Keiser aus dem verschwundenen Arabien 2002: Altstadthalle, Zug; Galerie Schmukuku, Zug; Helferei, Zürich 2003: National Museum, Damascus 2004: Biblioteca Cantonale, Bellinzona; Art Gallery Plowdiw, Sofia University

Works

Photographs

The Ethnological Museum Zurich owns a part of Helen Keiser's photographic works.

Books Salaam. Bordbuch einer Orientfahrt. Illustrationen und Fotos von Helen Keiser. Schweizer Verlagshaus, Zürich 1958. Vagabund im Morgenland. Illustrationen und Fotos von Helen Keiser. Schweizer Verlagshaus, Zürich 1961. Sie kamen aus der Wüste. Mit Beduinen auf den Spuren der alten Nabatäer. Erlebnisse und Entdeckungen in Petra. Illustrationen und Fotos von Helen Keiser. Walter Verlag, Olten 1964. Die Stadt der Grossen Göttin. 4000 Jahre Uruk. Mit Archäologen zwischen Euphrat und Tigris. Fotos und Zeichnungen von Helen Keiser. Walter Verlag, Olten 1967. Arabia. Die Länder der arabischen Halbinsel. Fotos Helen Keiser. Silva Verlag, Zürich 1971. Geh nicht über den Jordan. Schicksal Palästina. Rex Verlag, Luzern 1971. Die kleine Beduinenfrau. Wege zwischen Wüste und Paradies. Rex Verlag, Luzern 1975. Abenteuer schwarzes Gold. Erlebnisse und Begegnungen in Saudi Arabien. Fotos Helen Keiser. Rex Verlag, Luzern 1977, Die Söhne Nabayots. Beduinen, Forscher und Abenteurer in der Felsenstadt Petra. Walter-Verlag, Olten 1977. Suche nach Sindbad. Das Weihrauchland Oman und die altsüdarabischen Kulturen. Illustrationen und Fotos von Helen Keiser. Walter Verlag, 1979. Ruf des Muezzin. Eine schwierige Liebe zwischen Orient und Okzident. Rex Verlag, Luzern 1981. Sohn der Beduinin. Rex Verlag, Luzern 1983. Wolken über Korsika. Memoiren eines Eseltreibers. Rex Verlag, Luzern 1986. Die Oase. Verlag Giger & Kürz, Zug 1995. Der blaue Esel. Eine Bildergeschichte aus der Wüste. Bilder Helen Keiser. Verlag Helen Keiser, 1997. Salaam. Verschwundenes Arabien. Fotografien und Texte. Hrsg. von Christoph Kühn. Scheidegger & Spiess Verlag, Zürich 2002.

Pictures Helen Keiser was keen to document her travels to be able to convey the magic of the Orient to those back home as unbroken as possible. Consequently, she not only took photographs and made notes but also drew and painted with watercolours. She always carried drawing paper and colours in her backpack, which weighed ten kilograms. Back in Zug, she created her pictures, first aquarelle, later with acrylic paints.

Literature Schweizer Stiftung für Photographie (Hrsg.): Photographie in der Schweiz von 1840 bis heute. Benteli, Bern 1992. Arnold Hottinger: Die arabische Welt in Bildern. In: Helen Keiser: Salaam. Verschwundenes Arabien. Fotografien und Texte. Hrsg. von Christoph Kühn. Scheidegger & Spiess Verlag, Zürich 2002, , S. 7–11. Christoph Kühn: Die einsame Wölfin – Helen Keiser: Reisende, Schriftstellerin, Fotografin und Malerin. In: Helen Keiser: Salaam. Verschwundenes Arabien. Fotografien und Texte. Hrsg. von Christoph Kühn. Scheidegger & Spiess Verlag, Zürich 2002. Christoph Kühn: Bilder und Begegnungen. In: Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft des Kantons Zug (Hrsg.): Grenzen. Zuger Neujahrsblatt 2002. Kalt-Zehnder-Druck, Zug 2001. Lehrmittel der interkantonalen Lehrmittelzentrale (Hrsg.): Zeit. Helen Keiser. In: Welt der Wörter. Band 2, Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich, 1984. Markus Schürpf: Zug im Bild. Streifzug durch 150 Jahre Zuger Fotografiegeschichte. In: Tugium. Nr. 28, 2012, S. 83–128. Herman Steiner (Hrsg.): Der Kanton Zug und seine Fotografen 1850–2000. Auch ein Stuck Kulturgeschichte. Zürcher Druck + Verlag AG, Rotkreuz 2000.