"The future of women will also be the history of women" - VALIE EXPORT
Join us for the UK launch of this seminal book on Austrian women artists from the radically creative years between 1960 - 1980. Gerald Matt has compiled a collection of interviews with fourty of Austria's Grande Dames of visual arts.
Interviews with artists such as Renate Bertlmann, VALIE EXPORT, Heidi Harsieber, Martha Jungwirth, Birgit Jürgenssen, Angelika Kaufmann, Kiki Kogelnik, Friedl Kubelka, Elfie Semotan and Maria Lassnig, to name just a few, create a document of the environment, challenges and successes of avant-garde women artists of this period.
Following an introduction to the book by editor Gerald Matt in conversation with Benedikt Föger, publisher and President of the Hauptverband des österreichischen Buchhandels (Association of Austrian Publishers), we are delighted to host a panel discussion with Elfie Semotan and Rita Nowak, two Austrian photographers from different generations.
Elfie Semotan (b. 1941 in Wels, Upper Austria; lives and works in Vienna, Austria, New York, NY, and Jennersdorf, Upper Austria) is a renowned photographer who has produced an expansive oeuvre encompassing landscapes, still lives, nudes, portraits, fashion editorials, and conceptual works over the past 50 years. Best known for her fashion photography and decades-long collaboration with Austrian fashion designer Helmut Lang, Semotan is recognized for her ability to merge reality and fiction and dissolve the borders between art history, fashion, and ordinary life.
Rita Nowak (b. 1979 in Wels, Austria; lives and works in London) is an established Austrian artist working with staged photography. Her approach is painterly, occasionally referencing old masters such as Bosch, Goya and Manet. A strong sense of visual metaphor runs through her work, and the mise-en-scène and symbolism are often authentically linked to those depicted, many of whom are artists themselves. She studied fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, master class for photography and has received several grants and awards and her work has been shown internationally.
