Elfie Semotan

This volume compiles works in fashion, nudes and portraiture by the internationally esteemed Austrian photographer Elfie Semotan (born 1941). Throughout her career, Semotan has maintained a close dialogue with artists, approaching photography with a painterly eye. I envy painters for their ability to create their reality, she says. It has always fascinated me to try to translate this into photography, where you have to very deliberately aim at achieving these kinds of ‘snapshots of utter perfection.’ This volume includes her New York street scenes, fashion shoots for Helmut Lang and various fashion magazines, the French Girl in New York series, her collaboration with Vanessa Beecroft and portraits of artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Martin Kippenberger, Jonathan Meese, Jack Whitten, Raymond Pettibon, Jason Rhoades, Joan Semmel and Christopher Wool.