In the mid 1960s the police department was having difficulty attracting new members, and turned to Odermatt to create a portrait of the exciting life of the swiss police force as a tool to bring in new recruits. Armed with his Rolliflex and color film, he sent his colleagues to the barber, then documented them in their daily routines. Actors playing themselves, they are carefully posed training for water rescues, setting speed traps, typing up reports.

 

The work stands in contrast to his earlier forensic work, where the photograph attempted a scientific detachment. The juxaposition of the brightly colored and obviously posed scenes of policemen at work with the images of accidents calls into question the reality of both, and presages the constructed photography of artists such as Jeff Wall or Gregory Crewdson. However, there is an undercurrent of humor in the precision of Odermatt’s photographs, as a rosy-cheeked young officer in a newly pressed shirt holds his colleague’s disembodied hand over the fingerprint blotter, or an earnest policeman in starched uniform and cap carefully poses with his stack of license applications, the drapes behind him perfectly color-coordinated with his rack of official rubber stamps.

 

Originally a baker, Odermatt joined the police force in the Swiss canton of Nidwalden in 1948 at age 23. Never trained as an artist, he served as the official police photographer for more than 40 years, retiring with the rank of First Lieutenant Head of Traffic Police and Deputy to Commander of the Nidwalden Police. His images were discovered by the curator Harald Szeeman, who featured Odermatt’s photographs in the 49th Venice Biennale. In 2002, the Art Institute of Chicago curator James Rondeau mounted a solo exhibition of his work. In 2008, “On Duty,” published by Steidl, received the prestigious German Photobook Prize.