Origins of Historical Memory
Lausanne, Graf Zeppelin is a composition establishing the inclusion of historical reference within the framework of attribution, reinforcing the role of structured inscription in recording overlooked or unrecorded moments.
Part of the Six Origins Corpus, this entry preserves the arrival of the Graf Zeppelin over Lausanne, a moment largely surviving through photographic traces alone. Through composition, the event is given formal continuity within the recorded body of the Maison.
Six Origins Corpus
50 total attributions
Format I
42 × 59 cm
Format II
59 × 84 cm
Format III
89 × 128 cm
Composition Characteristics
Additional Details
The composition returns to an extraordinary episode of the early 1930s, when the Graf Zeppelin appeared above Lausanne and crossed the visual field of the Cathedral, joining one of the most advanced machines of its era with one of the principal monuments of the canton of Vaud.
At the time, the airship represented a new horizon of technical ambition and transcontinental movement. Its passage over Lausanne drew large crowds and remained in local memory for decades, with several collectors later recalling direct or inherited connection to the event. By translating that fleeting apparition into a formal composition, the work preserves a moment that had largely remained outside recorded cultural inscription.