Edouard Kaiser’s L'Horloger combines realistic elements with the idealistic image of an unspoilt (craftsman’s) world. — **Edouard Kaiser’s *‘L'Horloger’* combines realistic elements with the idealistic image of an unspoilt (craftsman’s) world.** Musée des Beaux-arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds

A watchmaker: portrait of a bygone era

Edouard Kaiser of La Chaux-de-Fonds was from a watchmaking family and dedicated a part of his artwork to the trade, which was in upheaval at the time.

Barbara Basting

Barbara Basting worked as a cultural editor and currently heads the visual arts division in the City of Zurich’s Culture Department.

The old watchmaker on the painting by Edouard Kaiser (1855-1931), an artist from the Jura region, is fully engrossed in his work. His calm and concentration are almost infectious. Genre scenes depicting skilled manual work, like Kaiser’s ‘L'Horloger’ (The Old Watchmaker), were popular in the art world towards the end of the 19th century. It was not by coincidence that a young Ferdinand Hodler painted a scene set inside a watchmaking workshop in 1879. However, Hodler passed up on depicting the intricacies of the craftsmanship involved in favour of creating an atmospheric overall impression and a view of the Madrid cityscape. He was staying there at the time, lodging with master Swiss watchmaker Charles Abet.

Hodler’s Watchmaker’s workshop in Madrid, painted in 1879. — **Hodler’s ‘Watchmaker’s workshop in Madrid’, painted in 1879.** Gottfried Keller Foundation / Federal Office of Culture

The surge of interest in traditional craftsmanship was something of a reaction to a time of rapid industrialisation, which jeopardised the existence of small artisanal workshops; although artists had also displayed a certain penchant for the subject in earlier centuries. An attentive stroll through a museum is all it takes to see traditional crafts represented in older artworks, albeit usually in an ancillary capacity. One exception to that rule was Saint Joseph the carpenter, who usually appeared on the periphery of Christian Annunciation scenes. When an artist moved him to the centre of the painting, as Georges de La Tour once did in the 17th century, it defied the convention of the time.

Comparing the two artworks reveals a fundamental shift in focus. While de la Tour concentrated on creating a mystical atmosphere, Kaiser was more interested in meticulously portraying the nature of the work. Our attention is drawn to this dignified, old craftsman, regardless of what the beholder may or may not know about the more technical aspects of watchmaking. Is the old man filing, adding a hallmark, or maybe engraving?

Joseph the Carpenter at work. Georges de La Tour placed him at the centre of the scene in 1642. — **‘Joseph the Carpenter’ at work. Georges de La Tour placed him at the centre of the scene in 1642.** Wikimedia / Louvre Museum

The wealth of detail makes the viewer’s gaze wander over the picture. For example, the watchmaker’s equipment is often just as, if not more, interesting than the mysterious nature of his work. What are those tools for hanging on the wall in the background? What is hidden in the boxes and drawers? We don’t see the mechanism of the watch itself. Instead we are shown the workings of a world in which everything is ordered, everything has its purpose and fits into place. The cheerful-looking stove adds to the cosy atmosphere, giving a visual impression of warmth, which contrasts with the snow-covered landscape hinted at by the view from the window where the curtain is drawn to the side to let in the light.

**The longer we look at the picture, the stronger the impression of an idealised moment in time becomes. The stove emanates additional feelings of comfort.** Photo: SIK-ISEA, Zurich

However, Kaiser’s artistic attention to detail, which earned him the respect of Albert Anker, fails to tell the whole story. The ideal world he depicts, the self-sufficient craftsman’s idyll, had already been consigned to the past. The watchmaking industry, based primarily in Geneva since the Huguenots were driven from France in the 17th century, was already highly specialised and undergoing major upheaval by the end of the 19th century.

Watchmaking, having begun as a sideline for poor farmers in the Jura region looking to supplement their meagre income by working from home, was steadily shifting towards a quasi-industrial manufacturing base. The resulting deterioration in working conditions and growing pressure through piecework finally led to workers’ uprisings.

Small workshops found themselves increasingly downgraded to carrying out repairs, which was less profitable. Moreover, at the end of the century, the leading global position the Swiss watchmaking sector had acquired around 1870 was coming under heavy pressure from America.

The Jura watch industry found itself having to contend with competition from America in the 1870s. The American Watch Company from Massachusetts was one example. — **The Jura watch industry found itself having to contend with competition from America in the 1870s. The *American Watch Company* from Massachusetts was one example.** Wikimedia / Library of Congress

The painting tells us nothing of this wider socioeconomic context and the associated critical issues. This is all the more surprising as Edouard Kaiser knew very well what was happening in the industry from his own experience. Before becoming an artist, Kaiser had been an engraver like his father before him. He acknowledged the hardship of this work in a painting from 1892. The haggard expression of the woman at the wheel speaks volumes...

**Engraving workshop, painted by Edouard Kaiser in 1892.** Swiss Federal Art Collections

His 1893 artwork ‘Atelier de boîtiers’ (Workshop for Watchcases) also gives a more accurate representation of the economic realities of the time. In this work Kaiser depicts a partly mechanised workshop in which watchcases are produced based on a division of labour.

‘Atelier de boîtiers’ was a great success at the 1900 Paris Exposition and won a silver medal at the international art exhibition. It even featured in the official exhibition catalogue, an honour that bypassed the exhibited (albeit not prize-winning) works of Ferdinand Hodler and Cuno Amiet.

Kaiser’s work Atelier de boîtiers received a silver medal at the Paris Exposition in 1900. — **Kaiser’s work *‘Atelier de boîtiers’* received a silver medal at the Paris Exposition in 1900.** Photo: SIK-ISEA, Zurich

Kaiser hit a nerve in a milieu in which many artists painted nymphs and fauna to pander to the sultry dreams of the late Romantic period or pay homage to an insipid symbolism. That began to change at the Paris Exposition when the industrial age was finally accorded its due and began to gradually find its place in the art world.

The photographers of the day had fewer inhibitions. In some respects, uncompromisingly true-to-life paintings like the Vieil Horloger could be seen as competing with photography.

This is where Kaiser comes into his own. His painting of the old watchmaker is in many ways a photograph painted in colour. The painting mirrors a scene shot by famous Geneva photographer Fred Boissonnas around 1890, down to the finest details. Boissonnas sold his work commercially, and his photos were well known.

**This watchmaker looks familiar. Photograph by Fred Boissonnas, circa 1890.** Musée d’art et d’histoire, Ville de Genève

Another, similar photograph by Boissonnas of a watchmaking premises shows that Kaiser made very deliberate choices about what he wanted to present. A boy in a smock reminds us of child labour, which was still widespread at the time. It is this bitter reality that Kaiser conceals from us in the ‘L'Horloger’. He studiously avoids introducing any critical undertone to his representation of the milieu.

Kaiser’s transfer of a photograph to a different medium was for the benefit of his clients: bourgeois circles who saw painting as having more cachet than photography. Photographic works were exhibited alongside other craftwork as opposed to being part of the art exhibition at the Paris Exposition in 1900.

**Boissonnas' view of an engraving workshop at the beginning of the 20th century.** Musée d’art et d’histoire, Ville de Genève

Photographs of the type taken by Boissonnas would not have been seen as suitable for the walls of a bourgeois home. High-quality paintings of genre scenes on the other hand, such as Kaiser’s works which remained in private ownership until 2022, were sought after. Not only did they show the same level of detail as photographs while also being in colour, but they also held the added appeal from a cultural-historical perspective of an artwork. For those who could afford the work of artists like Kaiser, paintings were a means of distancing themselves from the unsavoury realities of a society in turmoil. An aesthetically appealing snapshot of this world became a soothing devotional image. Kaiser catered to the Biedermeieresque yearning to slow down the relentless tempo of the modern world and take a moment to enjoy the art.

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