A Geneva Eleven, 1920

Geneva, 1920, photographed on a panoramic plate: not a portrait of eleven men but of a whole club and the ground it played on, laid out in a strip almost three times wider than it is tall. Swiss football in 1920 was among the best organised in Europe — neutral through the war, playing continuously while every neighbour stopped — and four years later Switzerland would reach the Olympic final. The format is the point here. Hung, it is a horizon. Some photographs are portraits of people; this one is a portrait of a Sunday.

Maker

Unknown photographer

Date

1920

Medium of the original

Photograph

Original held by

Unknown photographer, 1920 · Wikimedia Commons

Credit

Unknown photographer, 1920 · Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-01114