This set of twenty-one cards and one poster originated with an exhibition at Hartmann Projects, Galerienhaus Stuttgart, held from 17 November to 22 December 2023, and was subsequently shown at Galerie Neo art & culture lab von VogelART in Nice in July 2024. Its subject is narrow and exact: twenty-one Italian racing bicycles drawn from the much larger Heinrich Collection, built between 1963 and 2004 and ranging from Alan to Tommasini. Collector Karl Heinrich assembled them over years with advice from the racing-bike specialist Roland Wolbold, who curated the Stuttgart presentation alongside him. The selection was governed by Italian origin, beauty, finesse of design and technical character rather than by chronology alone.
Niels Schubert, a Stuttgart photographer who is also a cyclist, photographed and lit the machines. That double affiliation matters: these are not neutral catalogue records but portraits, made by someone who reads frame geometry, component groups and paint as a rider would. Most of the bicycles carry steel or aluminium frames with Campagnolo equipment, and their colour is part of the argument. Each is a vivid instance of how varied Italian racing-bicycle culture became across four decades, from Alan to Tommasini.
Sophia Rau designed the publication, which appears in German and English. The format is deliberately modest: roughly 21 by 15 centimetres, twenty-one cards and one poster held in a cellophane bag, closer to an exhibition keepsake than a coffee-table survey. The sequence matters more than the object’s bulk, with a single bicycle per card so that differences in tubing, lugwork, finish and equipment register cumulatively.
For collectors of photography, cycling or both, the appeal lies in that concentration. The publication takes a defined collection, a specific historical span and a coherent national tradition, and treats them with the seriousness usually reserved for larger catalogues. It offers authorship and context together, and it preserves an exhibition that few will have seen in person.
