ELFIE SEMOTAN

Photographer

Born on July 25, 1941, in Wels. She graduated from the Hetzendorf Fashion School in 1960 and then worked as a model in Paris for seven years. In 1967, she returned to Vienna and began working as a photographer. Elfie Semotan had a decisive influence on Austrian fashion photography with her posters for Palmers, receiving numerous awards for her campaigns and two Austrian State Prizes. From 1985 onwards, she photographed for international magazines such as Vogue, Esquire, Elle, Marie Claire, and Harper's Bazaar, as well as working on travel documentaries and artist portraits. Portraiture is one of many thematic focal points in Semotan's oeuvre. She was married to the artists Martin Kippenberger and Kurt Kocherscheidt, both of whom died young. She collaborated with Helmut Lang for many years. In recent years, Elfie Semotan has increasingly worked on exhibition projects.

“Everyone who poses is actually showing the image of themselves that they see in their own mirror, but that doesn't always correspond to how others perceive them. I try to break down this attitude. The fact that the fashion industry in particular is increasingly focusing on interchangeable faces doesn't make it any easier.” (Elfie Semotan)

Awards (Selection)
2011 Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art
2003 Gold Badge of Honour for Services to the Province of Vienna
1998 Award of the City of Vienna

Solo exhibitions (Selection)
2019 Contradiction. C/O Berlin Foundation
2017 Elfie Semotan/Michel Würthle. Gabriele Senn Galerie and Galerie Crone, Vienna
2016 Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
2015 Galerie Mezzanin, Vienna
2014 FO.KU.S – Foto Kunst Stadtforum, Innsbruck
2014 Flowers. Capitain Petzel, Berlin
2013 Elfie Semotan. Kunsthalle Krems
2012 Fotografien von Elfie Semotan (Photography by Elfie Semotan). Parliament, Vienna
2012 Exhibition space „Heiligenkreuzerhof“, University of Applied Art Vienna
2012 Elfie Semotan/Hans Weigand. Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna
2011 Elfie Semotan - Kurt Kocherscheidt co Bruno Gironcoli. Gironcoli Museum, St. Johann bei Herberstein
2010 Künstlerportraits (Artist portraits). Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Rupertinum
2010 Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
2009 Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna
2008 Male Gestures. Galerie für Modefotografie, Berlin
2005 Neue Galerie Graz
2001 Galerie WestLicht, Vienna
1998 Galerie Gaby Senn, Vienna

Group exhibitions (Selection)
2018 Eine Wiener Garderobe (A Viennese wardrobe) [with Arthur Arbesser]. Leopold Museum Vienna
2018 Performance – Körper als Kontinuum in der Kunst (Performance – The Body as Continuum in Art). Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna
2018 Photo/Politics/Austria. mumok, Vienna
2017 Die Kraft des Alters (Aging Pride). Belvedere, Vienna
2017 Fashion: Objects, Concepts & Visions, me Collectors Room. Stiftung Olbricht, Berlin
2015 Le Souffleur. Schürmann trifft Ludwig (Schürmann meets Ludwig). Ludwig Forum, Aachen
2014 Frisch eingetroffen. Neuankäufe Fotografie (Just arrived. New photography acquisitions). Landesgalerie Linz
2012 Reflecting Fashion. Kunst und Mode seit der Moderne (Reflecting Fashion. Art and Fashion since Modernism). mumok, Vienna
2011 Zeit-zeugen, Fotografie in Österreich seit 1945 (Time-witnesses. Photography in Austria since 1945). Künstlerhaus Vienna
2011 Rollenbilder – Rollenspiele (Role models – Role plays). Museum der Moderne Salzburg Mönchsberg
2008 Kunst im Heim (Art at home). Capitain Petzel, Berlin
2008 „Augenecho“, Kurt Kocherscheidt & Elfie Semotan. Arp Museum Rolandseck
2002 Austrian Cultural Institute, New York
2002 Kunsthalle Krems
2002 Libyen. Kunstraum Karlsplatz, Vienna
2001 Schuermann Collection, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.
1998 Lifestyle. Kunsthaus Bregenz

Bibliography (Selection)
2016 Semotan, Elfie: Eine andere Art von Schönheit. Autobiografie. Vienna: Brandstätter
2011 Elfie Semotan & Kurt Kocherscheidt co Bruno Gironcoli. Vienna: Harpune
2012 Semotan, Elfie: Still Lifes. Salzburg: Jung und Jung
2010 From Louise Bourgeois to Jeff Wall. Portraits & Studio Stills by Elfie Semotan. München: Hirmer
2008 Gallwitz, Klaus: Kurt Kocherscheidt & Elfie Semotan. Düsseldorf: Richter
2004 Semotan, Elfie (publisher); Reder, Christian (publisher): Sahara. Text- und Bildessays. Vienna, New York: Springer