Poetry of the Everyday

To celebrate the centenary of Elfriede Mejchar (1924–2020), the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg has joined forces with two leading institutions – the Landesgalerie Niederösterreich (Lower Austria) and the Wien Museum (Vienna) – to present the artist’s oeuvre in three locations across her home country. 

The showcase in Salzburg is dedicated to Mejchar’s work as a portraitist. Her series Künstler bei der Arbeit (Artists at Work, 1954–1961) exemplifies how the photographer approached personalities such as Christa Hauer, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Josef Mikl and Arnulf Rainer by mapping out their creative processes with detailed precision. She also applied the same exactitude of perception to inanimate objects, capturing landscapes, flowers and cast-off furniture in the manner of soulful portraits. 

The Museum der Moderne’s photography collection includes a total of 665 of Elfriede Mejchar’s works. Otto Breicha, the first director of the museum’s predecessor institution, was one of Mejchar’s long-time affiliates, who recognised and promoted the artistic value of her work. As a result, the institution – then known as the Rupertinum – received a comprehensive selection of her oeuvre a year before its official opening in 1983. This was  augmented by further acquisitions and donations, so that Mejchar’s work now represents a central focus point of the museum’s holdings. 

The exhibition is accompanied by the first bibliographical publication on Elfriede Mejchar’s oeuvre, released in cooperation with the aforementioned partner museums.