Dominik Bachmann is a graphic designer from Zurich, born in 1985. Besides his daily work, he has an unusual side job: managing the archive of his uncle Eric Bachmann, who passed away in 2019. His uncle, born in 1940, was one of Switzerland’s most renowned photographers in the second half of the 20th century. The archive contains 200,000 photos, including portraits of over 2,000 figures from politics, society, and culture. Among those he photographed are the writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt, the musician Jimi Hendrix, the artist Andy Warhol, the crime writer Patricia Highsmith, the musician Kim Wilde, and the Latin American priest Ernesto Cardenal. Eric Bachmann was closely connected to Swiss television and photographed many guests and presenters, including Kurt Felix, Heidi Abel, and Dietmar Schönherr.

Dominik Bachmann has used some of these photos as an opportunity to design his own books. In the case of Muhammad Ali, there are even three books, one of which focuses solely on the world-class boxer’s stay in Zurich. The 2025 book about punk rocker Patti Smith became an international bestseller, and Bachmann is currently planning a book about the popular TV presenter Heidi Abel.

As an archivist, Dominik Bachmann also created a comprehensive Wikipedia page. He quickly encountered difficulties, as he had no experience in this area. A Wikipedian helped him, and over the years, a detailed, richly illustrated, and informative entry has emerged. Bachmann initially hesitated to illustrate the article, as income from managing the images is part of his livelihood. However, his Wikipedia tutor encouraged him to upload a selection of photos. These would also serve as a showcase for his vast archive. He also limited the file sizes to images primarily intended for use on the internet, such as on other Wikipedia pages. He was further encouraged by Isabelle Kirgus, head of the Graphic Collection at the National Library, who emphasized the central importance of uploading to Wikimedia Commons for her collection’s visibility.

Bachmann knows from personal experience that older photographers are often very distrustful of uploading photos to Wikimedia Commons—unjustly so, as he adds.

Today, 30 photos from his archive can be found on Wikimedia Commons. They show the photographer Eric Bachmann as a young professional at work, as well as some of the most important personalities he photographed during his life: Muhammad Ali during his Swiss visit in 1971, Patti Smith before her Zurich concert in 1976, or Cat Stevens, who gave a concert in Zurich as early as 1967. There are also photos from his numerous trips abroad to Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Vietnam, and Israel.

Naturally, Dominik Bachmann was also interested in the feedback on the upload of his archive photos. Here, he experienced a big surprise: The absolute hit is the photo of Patti Smith at the Engimatthof Hotel in Zurich from 1976. It has been clicked no fewer than 390,000 times, even though it has only been online since mid-2025. When Patti Smith’s new book “Bread of Angels” was released on November 4, 2025, the views on Wikimedia Commons exploded, reaching a peak of 30,000 requests in a single day. The photos of Muhammad Ali and Heidi Abel are also very popular.

What else has the upload of the images brought the graphic designer? “I receive significantly more inquiries and can also sell images for publications,” explains Dominik Bachmann. Unlike the ETH Library, he cannot offer print-ready data.

By the way, one of the most important Swiss image providers is the ETH Library’s image archive. It has now uploaded tens of thousands of images. The absolute top performer is a photo of Carl Gustav Jung, which is clicked 24,000 times a day.

Text by Dominik Landwehr


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Wikimedia Commons Category:Eric Bachmann (photographer)

Wikipedia article about Eric Bachmann

 

Photo: Eric Bachmann Fotoarchiv – Eigenes Werk, Muhammad Ali 1971, CC BY-SA 4.0