New show in Hartberg

The great portrait art of Elfie Semotan

Elfie Semotan is one of the few international superstars of the Austrian photography scene. The Museum Hartberg has now pulled off the coup of securing the 81-year-old artist for a solo exhibition. Until May 26, 40 of her "portraits" can be seen there.

Elfie Semotan is one of the few international superstars on the local photography scene. She became known primarily as a fashion photographer with her shots for magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Esquire, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar and The New Yorker. She has worked closely with designer Helmut Lang since the 1980s and has been friends with him for many years.

"Capturing the authentic"
But the 81-year-old has also made a name for herself outside of fashion photography - with her portraits, among other things: "Portrait photos are successful when the images reflect the character. I want you to be able to read in my portraits what kind of person they are. I try to capture the authentic, but at the same time I know that photos are always manipulated, simply by the presence of the photographer," says Semotan herself about her art.

How this art is shown in pictures can currently be seen at Museum Hartberg: Simply "Portraits" is the name of the exhibition curated by Michaela Leutzendorff-Pakesch curated by Michaela Leutzendorff-Pakesch with 40 pictures that show Semotan's versatility in the art of portraiture: She pays just as much attention to celebrities such as Birgit Minchmayer, Hollywood star Clive Owen or star director Roman Polanski as she does to unknowns. It is more important to her to show the strength, but also the vulnerability of those she portrays and to draw them out of themselves. 

The exhibition, which is well worth seeing, is on display at Museum Hartberg until May 26 and is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm.