Josef Dapra in Carinthia

Born in Lienz, Josef Dapra (1921-2018) was an important documentarian of Salzburg in the post-war period, publishing numerous photo books and thus helping the picturesque views of this city to gain international recognition. In cooperation with the FOTOHOF in Salzburg, the Bruck Castle Museum is dedicating this year to his photographic life’s work, which also identifies him as a distinguished modernist.

Dapra studied history and psychology in Innsbruck and attended the renowned Adolf Lazi Master School of Photography in Stuttgart, which set stylistic and technical quality standards in photography at the time. In Salzburg, he formed a lifelong friendship with the founder of the Residenzverlag publishing house, Wolfgang Schaffler, and worked on numerous illustrated books for the publishing house, including with the writer Karl Heinrich Waggerl and the architect Raimund Abraham. He not only had his house in Salzburg built by him, but also photographed the book “Elementare Architektur” (1963, new edition 2001) with him, an artistic legacy of the work of Abraham and Dapra. The exhibition focuses on this tension between classical documentation and the modernist aspirations of his photographic work.

Of particular importance for Lienz is not only the collaboration with Raimund Abraham, but also his touching insights into the town for the first town book in 1966, to which Max Dellacher and Pepi Stiegler also contributed pictures.

Josef Dapra »The photographic work«
curated by Stefanie Pirker
Exhibition: 22.06.-15.09.2024
Bruck Castle. Museum of the City of Lienz | West Wing | Schlossberg 1 | 9900 Lienz
www.museum-schlossbruck.at