Austrian photographer Elfie Semotan became internationally known for her fashion and advertising photography. Her photographic approach is guided by the idea of capturing the personality of a person. Elfie Semotan stages and constructs multilayered stories within the image format. In doing so, visual art often serves her as a source of inspiration. In addition to art historical quotations, this passion is reflected in her many portraits of artists and studio photographs. On the occasion of her 80th birthday, KUNST HAUS WIEN honored Elfie Semotan with a comprehensive retrospective. The publication accompanying the exhibition, Position and Pose, spans six decades of her diverse artistic oeuvre and makes Semotan’s photographic cosmos tangible as a multi-layered mesh of specific approaches to the medium of photography. On display are some 150 works, ranging from the well-known fashion and advertising photographs to haunting portraits, poetic landscapes, and still lifes.

Elfie Semotan, *1941 in Wels, Austria. Lives and works in New York, Vienna and Jennersdorf, Austria.