Schwizgebel was born on 28 September 1944 in Reconvilier, Canton of Bern (Bernese Jura), in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.[1] From 1960-65 he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts et des Arts Décoratifs at Geneva. In 1970 he founded Studio GDS with Claude Luyet et Daniel Suter, where he produced and directed animated films as well as working in graphic design. From 1986 to 1995 he worked on retrospectives and exhibitions, among others, in Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Osaka, Paris and New York.
In 2012, the artist donated some drawings on paper, paintings on cellulose (the customary technique of Schwizgebel) and pastels to the Swiss Film Archive, thus constituting the Georges Schwizgebel Papers.
A recreation of a still from Schwizgebel's 1982 short film Le ravissement de Frank N. Stein by Robert Beatty is featured on the front cover of Oneohtrix Point Never's 2013 album R Plus Seven,[5] recreated with permission from the artist. In the video for his 2020 single, "Long Road Home", Oneohtrix Point Never once again pays homage to Le ravissement de Frank N. Stein. A still image of the film was also uploaded to Instagram by musician Kanye West in 2021.[6]
Personal life
Schwizgebel lives in Geneva, is married and has two children. His son is classical pianist Louis Schwizgebel-Wang (b. 1987).[7]