Tell Me What You See – Skrein Photo Collection

Christian Skrein (born in Vienna in 1945) lives today in the Salzkammergut. He began his career as a photographer in 1963 and dates the beginning of his collection to 1968. Today this collection is known worldwide for its pioneering role in the reception of amateur photography. Over the years Christian Skrein has developed a collecting practice that, for subjects such as compositional formation, the play of shadows, the securing of traces and the portrait, also draws on first-rate artistic as well as documentary works. His gaze reaches back into the 1920s and 1930s and, certainly also on account of his own photographic practice, includes contemporary reportage photography. In the 1960s he was the youngest photographer working for Vogue and became known for his portraits of the Viennese bohème of the day, which grew out of immediate personal contact and for which names such as Christian Ludwig Attersee, André Heller, Hermann Nitsch, Walter Pichler, Arnulf Rainer and Oswald Wiener stand. Exhibition and publication, however, direct their chronologically calibrated focus towards photo-historical and formal criteria, resulting in a short history of photography in iconic images and anonymous snapshots.

Exhibition:
Museum der Moderne Salzburg, 12/6 – 17/10/2021