Elie Semotan
Born 1941, Upper Austria
Lives & works in Vienna and New York
Focus
Explores portraiture, fashion photography, and staged mise-en-scène.
Interrogates representation, identity, and the psychology behind the image.
Biography
Elfie Semotan (1941–2026) was an Austrian photographer born in Wels, Austria. She studied fashion design in Vienna before moving to Paris, where she began her career as a model. Her experience in front of the camera inspired her to pursue photography.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Semotan developed a distinctive practice encompassing fashion photography, portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and conceptual work. Drawing inspiration from art history and everyday life, she challenged conventional ideas of beauty and brought a personal, often unconventional perspective to fashion imagery.
Her photographs bridge commercial photography and fine art, combining carefully composed settings with a sense of intimacy and spontaneity. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions, including a retrospective at C/O Berlin in 2019, establishing her as an important figure in Austrian photography.
Elfie Semotan (1941–2026) was an Austrian photographer born in Wels, Austria. She studied fashion design in Vienna before moving to Paris, where she began her career as a model. Her experience in front of the camera inspired her to pursue photography.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Semotan developed a distinctive practice encompassing fashion photography, portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and conceptual work. Drawing inspiration from art history and everyday life, she challenged conventional ideas of beauty and brought a personal, often unconventional perspective to fashion imagery.
Her photographs bridge commercial photography and fine art, combining carefully composed settings with a sense of intimacy and spontaneity. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions, including a retrospective at C/O Berlin in 2019, establishing her as an important figure in Austrian photography.
Elfie Semotan (1941–2026) was an Austrian photographer born in Wels, Austria. She studied fashion design in Vienna before moving to Paris, where she began her career as a model. Her experience in front of the camera inspired her to pursue photography.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Semotan developed a distinctive practice encompassing fashion photography, portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and conceptual work. Drawing inspiration from art history and everyday life, she challenged conventional ideas of beauty and brought a personal, often unconventional perspective to fashion imagery.
Her photographs bridge commercial photography and fine art, combining carefully composed settings with a sense of intimacy and spontaneity. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions, including a retrospective at C/O Berlin in 2019, establishing her as an important figure in Austrian photography.
Positioning
Intimate yet incisive.
Elegant yet subtly subversive.
A defining voice in contemporary photographic portraiture.
Intimate yet incisive.
Elegant yet subtly subversive.
A defining voice in contemporary photographic portraiture.
Intimate yet incisive.
Elegant yet subtly subversive.
A defining voice in contemporary photographic portraiture.
Approach
Moves fluidly between fashion, editorial, and fine art.
Challenges conventions of glamour, prioritising psychological presence over surface beauty.
Blends spontaneity with careful staging, often using natural light and understated elegance.
Moves fluidly between fashion, editorial, and fine art.
Challenges conventions of glamour, prioritising psychological presence over surface beauty.
Blends spontaneity with careful staging, often using natural light and understated elegance.
Moves fluidly between fashion, editorial, and fine art.
Challenges conventions of glamour, prioritising psychological presence over surface beauty.
Blends spontaneity with careful staging, often using natural light and understated elegance.
Key Work
Long-standing collaboration with Martin Kippenberger, producing iconic late 20th-century artist portraits.
Photographed figures such as Louise Bourgeois and Marina Abramović.
Artworks exhibited at N°OW'HERE"
O.T. - (NEW YORK), 1999
O.T. - (NEW YORK), 1999
O.T., Rockaway Beach, New York, 1999 (1)
O.T., Rockaway Beach, New York, 1999 (2)
Claudia Schiffer (New York), 1999
