Eugène PITTARD at COD – “Albania 1921”

In the fragile year of 1921, Eugène Pittard, together with his wife Hélène — also known as the writer Noëlle Roger — undertook a journey through Albania, following his first stop in Shkodër in 1910.

Eugène Pittard was a Swiss anthropologist, archaeologist and humanist known for his important work on Albanian prehistory and culture in the 1920s. He was a professor at the University of Geneva and is renowned for founding the Albanian Red Cross in 1921. Pittard is also the author of the influential 1924 book Les Races et l'Histoire.

Press on the exhibition: The exhibition at COD, Albania in 1921 through the eyes of the well-known Swiss anthropologist Eugène Pittard

Pittard was also an artist, a rare and singular photographer. His whole body of work becomes an example of a form of resistance against forgetting; the mirror of his camera reflects our recent history, and at the same time these photographs from the 1920s invite us to rethink our identity, our heritage and our history. They are an example of how art and humanism can come together in a language that outlives its time, to show us not only who we have been, but also who we might be.

Press on the exhibition: “Albania 1921” at COD

Moments from the opening of the exhibition:

Press on the exhibition: Rare photographs of Albania in 1921 go on show! The testimony of the well-known Swiss anthropologist Eugène Pittard

Press on the exhibition: 237 photographs by the Swiss anthropologist Eugène Pittard exhibited in Tirana for the first time