54 local life Crans-Montana’s renowned photographer, Charles Dubost, was born in Villefranche near Lyon in 1896 but spent part of his life in Tunisia before capturing the avant-garde essence of the resort. He arrived in Montana in 1917 with a group of World War I internees, serving as a captain in the French army. Dubost was welcomed by Dr. Théodore Stephani (1868-1951), who had been in Montana since 1896. Dubost arrived in Sierre with the second wave of interneesandwashousedat thePalacedeMontana, formerly the Beauregard Sanatorium built by Dr. Stephani with Geneva financiers, now the Bernese Clinic. During his stay, Dubost collaborated with Dr. Stephani, who often commissioned photographers or took photos himself. While recovering from his own ailments, Dubost began using his grandfather’s camera, and gradually became Crans-Montana’s official photographer. A LEGACY OF FIVE GENERATIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHERS Charles Dubost’s family had a long tradition of photography. His father, Gabriel Gaulis (1828-1911), was a judge and colonel in Lausanne, married Germaine, who had been married to a man named Dubost when Charles was born. Gabriel’s sister Mathilde, married Dr Gonin, a collaborator of Dr Stephani in Montana. Charles Dubost’s grandfather, Edouard Gaulis, was a photographer in Tunisia, explaining the family’s North African ties. According to our interview with Daniel Dubost in October, 2024, the family’s photographic tradition skipped a generation but continued with Charles’ son, Yvar, who also became a photographer. Yvar married Eliane Barras in 1961, daughter of JosephLouis, a contractor who built the Christ the King statue base in Lens in 1935. They had a son, Daniel, who generously donated his grandfather Charles and father Yvar Dubost’s (1930-1983) photographs. Yvar’s sister Renée, born around 1929, married a Mr. Sand in the USA. Charles Dubost inherited sophisticated cameras from his grandfather Edouard Gaulis, and began capturing the beauty of Valais, especially Zermatt, and Vaud. His children, Renée and Yvar, often featured in his snowy photos, showcasing their cherubic faces beside enormous wooden skis. Yvar followed in his father’s footsteps, immortalising life in Crans-Montana, and Daniel continued the family Théodore Stephani, Skiers and the Weisshorn, circa 1920, coll. S. Doriot, AEA exhibition at Hôtel Guarda Golf
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