Franz Gertsch, born in 1930 in Möringen (in the canton of Berne), has spent his life exploring reality as it is perceived by the camera's lens, primarily in very large formats. From 1969, he turned his hand to hyperrealist painting and portraits of his artist friends. In 1986, he tried his hand at wood engraving, a technique he revolutionised by his "piquage" method and which is illustrated by the Schwarzwasser triptych. In 1994, he took up his paintbrush again to create monumental portraits and prints, including immense virgin forests of grass, magnified to abstraction.