Paul Albert Leitner Explained

Paul Albert Leitner (born 1957 in Jenbach)^[1] is a photographer from Austria.

Biography

Paul Albert Leitner trained as a photographer from 1973 to 1976; in 1984 he moved from Tyrol to Vienna and has worked as a freelance artist ever since.His photography is strongly influenced by his travels,^[2] he is said to keep "a travel diary in the photographic medium".^[3]

For photography historian Marie Röbl, Leitner made a development from "staged photography, dedicated above all to a 'search for one’s own self-cognizance’ by means of collages, repainting, mirroring techniques, projections and shadow play”, to traditional “straight photography". Because of his pronounced drive to collect things photographically and in other ways, "he has to face an ever increasing torrent of images” and various other items he gathered while travelling,^[4] which he deals with “through an encyclopedic drive for ordering and cataloguing his inventory”. "Kunst und Leben" [Art and Life - the title of an early book by him] (still separated in the title of one of his early books) were thus interwoven from then on. His series “Exkurs über das Reisen” [Excursus on Travelling], in which he himself often took on the role of fictional characters, could be seen as a transitional phase.

Book editor Rainer Iglar describes Leitner's photographic approach (2018): When he, who always travels and for whom "photography is the adequate means for the uninterrupted work on a poetic chronicle", returns home, he goes on "desk duty", he arranges and edits his pictures, he makes small prints from his 35mm color films and sticks them on labeled, titled and numbered index cards. Leitner's picture archive - his apartments have always been more like archives - comprises more than seventy thousand pictures from all over the world. Cultural journalist Johanna Hofleitner underlines his insistence on a working process developed for analog photographic workflows.

In Leitner's travel photography, it is not "the exoticism of foreign worlds" that is decisive factor (Rainer Iglar), but rather "the recognition of the self" (Urs Stahel^[5]). In his "literary” photography, he pursues the "concept of a staged photograph that tells stories of an almost floating reality with romantic irony (and self-irony)." In his travel photographs, Leitner repeatedly appears as a protagonist. In these self-portraits, he emphatically adopts a certain pose, which he himself attributes to Gilbert and George, among others, and for which he had a so-called "travel suit" specially made.

Works by Paul Albert Leitner can be found (among others) in these public collections: Fotomuseum Winterthur, Wien Museum, Belvedere Collection, Vienna^[6]

Exhibitions (Selection)

Solo Exhibitions

• 2023 Mein Archiv wächst und ich bin 66. FOTOHOF>ARCHIV, Salzburg
• 2022 Míxtum Compósitum (Aus meinem Archiv). Fotografien. Galerie Rhomberg Innsbruck
• 2012 Wie im Film, Austrian Cultural Forum Berlin
• 2011 Der Fotograf findet immer das Licht der Dämmerung und der Nacht, Galerie Rhomberg, Innsbruck
• 2010 Da Feng Art Gallery, 798 Art District, Peking, China
• 2008 Art University of Isfahan, Iran
• 2008 Faculty of Art and Architecture, Yazd, Iran
• 2008 City Hall / Magnolia Hall, Lagos, Nigeria
• 2007 Porträts von Künstlern und anderen Personen, Selbstporträts und Natur, Kunsthalle Vienna Project Space, curated by Sabine Folie^[7]
• 2005 Galerie Steinek, Vienna
• 2001 New York – Senegal, FOTOHOF, Salzburg
• 2000 Kunst und Leben. Ein Roman, Magazin 4, Bregenz
• 1995 Totes Leben. Stilllebenvariationen, Galerie Faber, Vienna
• 1992 Exkurs über das Reisen, FOTOHOF, Salzburg
• 1990 Weltverwirrung, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main
• 1989 Weltverwirrung, Österreichisches Fotoarchiv im Museum moderner Kunst
• 1988 Blauer Zufall am Horizont, Grafisches Kabinett, Wiener Secession, Vienna
• 1986 Fotografische Arbeiten, FOTOHOF, Salzburg

Group Shows

• 2022 Two Sophisticated Austrian Artists in Self-Portraits. (Sabine Groschup und Paul Albert Leitner), Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin (curated by Georg Weckwerth)
• 2013 Fotos – Österreichische Fotografien von den 1930ern bis heute, 21er Haus, Vienna
• 2012 EYES ON THE CITY. Urbane Räume in der Gegenwartsfotografie, Graz Museum
• 2003 Go Johnny Go! curated by Wolfgang Kos and Thomas Mießgang. Kunsthalle Wien
• 1997 Alpenblick. Die zeitgenössische Kunst und das Alpine, Kunsthalle Wien
• 1996 Antagonismes. 30 ans de la photographie autrichienne, Centre national de la photographie, Paris
• 1995 Fisch und Fleisch. Photographie aus Österreich 1945–1995, Kunsthalle Krems

Publications

• 2008 0-24. Text by Thomas Mießgang. Salzburg: FOTOHOF>EDITION. ISBN 978-3-902675-02-6
• 2006 Wien: Momente einer Stadt. Fotografien. Salzburg: FOTOHOF>EDITION. ISBN 978-3-901756-66-5
• 2005 Städte, Episoden. Salzburg: FOTOHOF>EDITION. ISBN 3-901756-50-7^[8]
• 1999 Kunst und Leben. Ein Roman. Salzburg: FOTOHOF>EDITION. ISBN 978-3-901756-15-3
• 1996 Bild und Abbild des jeweils anderen. In cooperation with Georg Salner. Innsbruck: Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum
• 1989 Weltverwirrung, edited by Österreichisches Fotoarchiv im Museum moderner Kunst, Vienna
• 1987 Blauer Zufall am Horizont. Text by Otto Hochreiter. Ariadne Verlag, Vienna
• 1983 Die Reise zum Heiligen Sebastian. Texts by Peter Weiermair, Wolfgang Fetz and Gerald Matt. Sonderzahl Verlag, Vienna

Publications in Magazines

• 1995 Wien: Momente einer Stadt. In: Camera Austria, Issue 53, S. 40–48. ISSN 1015-1915
• 1995/96 Exkurs über das Reisen 1991 ff. In: Eikon. International Magazine for Photography and Media Art, Issue 16/17, S. 13–21. Vienna. ISSN 1024-1922

Awards^[9]

• 2010 Austrian Art Price for Artistic Photography
• 2003 New York Fellowship (BMUKK [Austrian Ministry for Culture and Education])
• 2002 Tyrolean State Fellowship for Art^[10]
• 1997 Paris Fellowship (BMUKK)
• 1995 Otto Breicha Award
• 1988 Rome Fellowship (BMUKK)
• 1988 Support Prize for Photography (BMUKK)
• 1986-87 Austrian National Fellowship for Photography (BMUKK)

Further reading

• Hubertus von Amelunxen: Paul Albert Leitner – Oder wie einer umherging, um Momente des Lebens aufzulesen. In: Exhibition catalog EYES ON THE CITY, Graz Museum 2012

Extensive interviews in:

• Auslöser Magazine, Issue 3/2020. Vienna. ISSN 2617-4847
• Book: Interviews 2 . Gerald Matt . Walther König . Cologne . 2008 . 978-3-86560-364-7 . 160–169 . Co-edited by Kunsthalle Wien .
• Vertigo. Edited by Gerald Matt for Ursula Blickle Stiftung. 2001: Triton Verlag, Vienna. ISBN 978-3-86560-364-7

External links

• Image-Collections by Paul Albert Leitner at FOTOHOF>ARCHIV
• Facing Austria Projekt

Notes and References

1. Book: Fisch&Fleisch . Eikon/Kunsthalle Krems . Böhlau Verlag . Wien . 1995 . 3-205-98333-5 . 190f . de.
2. Web site: Manfred Rebhandl . Hallo, was lesen Sie, Paul Albert Leitner? . derstandard.at . 2023-01-14 . de . 2023-11-14.
3. Web site: Paul Albert Leitner . kunsthalle.at . 2007-10-07 . de . 2023-11-14.
4. Web site: Wolfgang Koch . Ist Paul Albert Leitner eine Mythe, oder gefällt ihm das bloss? . taz.de . 2020-08-25 . de . 2024-07-13.
5. Book: Urs Stahel . Agnes Husslein-Arco . Simultan. Zwei Sammlungen österreichischer Fotografie. Christian Brandstätter Verlag . Wien . 2005 . 3-902510-20-X . 10–19.
6. Web site: Paul Albert Leitner . belvedere.at . de . 2024-07-13.
7. Web site: Fotoschau von Paul Albert Leitner im project space . wien.at . 2007-07-10 . de . 2023-11-26.
8. Web site: Freddy Langer . Auf der Flucht: Paul Leitners Weltreise . faz.net . 2005-06-09 . de . 2023-11-26.
9. Book: Peter Bogner / Künstlerhaus Wien . Me, Myself & Them . FOTOHOF>EDITION . Salzburg . 2012 . 978-3-900354-40-4 . 111 . en.
10. Book: The Artist Is Present. Das Selbstporträt in der Fotografie . NÖArt - Niederösterreich Gesellschaft für Kunst und Kultur . St. Pölten . 2022 . 978-3-9519924-7-1 . 24 . de.