Contributions to a History of Photography in Austria, volume 13

Edited by Monika Faber for Photoinstitut Bonartes, Vienna, and Walter Moser for the Photographic Collection of the Albertina, Vienna

Within decades of its invention photography was playing a defining role in documenting technological progress. In the course of the pioneering achievements in railway construction in particular, engineers and their clients used the innovative medium to showcase their structural designs, e.g. bridges, railway stations, factories as well as locomotives and entire railway lines. The activities of the Imperial & Royal Privileged Austrian State Railway Company ranged from initial product photographs to the comprehensive documentation of large-scale industrial projects borne by financial investors. The Banat mining region was acquired from imperial ownership in 1855 and, under the aegis of the State Railway Company, briefly developed into one of the most advanced and profitable industrial regions in Europe. The photo albums produced for shareholders made the major structural and social upheavals triggered as a result all the more palpable.

Monika Faber is head of the Photoinstitut Bonartes in Vienna.
Martin Keckeis is head of collections at the Photoinstitut Bonartes in Vienna.