Raymond Burnier

Raymond Burnier (6 July 1912 – 29 September 1968) was a Swiss photographer born in Lausanne.

Early life Burnier was born in a wealthy Swiss family, his grandfather was among the inventor of the condensed milk, later commercialized by Nestlé. Most of his childhood was spent in a farm in Algeria.

Career A follower of the Leica, he was interested in Hindu sculpture from the medieval period (9th to 14th centuries).

After visiting Afghanistan they decided in 1936 to travel around the world, visiting China, Japan, Indonesia, the United States and then India, where they settled in 1938, Museum of the Elysee, Lausanne.

Works

Burnier illustrated among others the books L'Erotisme Divinisé, The Hindu Temple: Deification of Eroticism, Visages de l'Inde médiévale, L'Inde traditionnelle. Photographies, 1935-1955, in which Alain Daniélou, who discovered through Tantrism and Shivaism a spirituality that recognizes art as much as sexuality, opens readers up to the metaphysics of eroticism as experienced and represented in the sacred art and literature of India. Exploring India's Sacred Art: Selected Writings of Stella Kramrisch Alain Daniélou and Raymond Burnier, Faces of medieval India, Paris, Hermann, 1985, 79 original photographs