Paul Albert Leitner

Paul Albert Leitner (15 September 1957 in Jenbach) 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 work combines various photographic genres, it is strongly influenced by his travels and he is said to keep "a travel diary in the photographic medium". 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 – shown at Fotohof in 1992, published in Eikon Magazine in 1995], in which he himself often took on the role of fictional characters, could be seen as a transitional phase. ). 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)." Fotohof Archive, Salzburg.

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions (selection) 2025 Paul Albert Leitner’s Photographic World (over 4 decades of obsession and more...). Camera Austria, Graz 2022 Míxtum Compósitum (Aus meinem Archiv). Fotografien. Galerie Rhomberg Innsbruck 2007 Porträts von Künstlern und anderen Personen, Selbstporträts und Natur, Kunsthalle Vienna Project Space, curated by Sabine Folie 1989 Weltverwirrung, Österreichisches Fotoarchiv im Museum moderner Kunst, Wien / Frankfurter Kunstverein (1990) 1988 Blauer Zufall am Horizont, Grafisches Kabinett, Wiener Secession, Vienna 1986 Fotografische Arbeiten, FOTOHOF, Salzburg

Group shows (selection) 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, Belvedere 21, 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 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 Source: 1986-87 Austrian National Fellowship for Photography (BMUKK) 1988 Support Prize for Photography (BMUKK) 1988 Rome Fellowship (BMUKK) 1995 Otto Breicha Award 1997 Paris Fellowship (BMUKK) 2002 Tyrolean State Fellowship for Art 2003 New York Fellowship (BMUKK [Austrian Ministry for Culture and Education]) 2010 Austrian Art Price for Artistic Photography 2026 Austrian National Prize for Artistic Photography