Eckart Schuster

Eckart Schuster (* 8 November 1919 in Elmen/Tyrol; † 15 September 2006 in Graz) was an Austrian photographer and artist. His photographic works of the 1950s and 1960s identify him as a pioneer of concrete and generative photography in Austria.

Short Biography

Eckart Schuster was born in Elmen in Tyrol / Austria, as the first of five siblings. His father Georg Schuster was a teacher, his mother came from a farming family. As he often spent his childhood and youth on the farm of his mother's family, he grew up in close contact with nature. This close relationship with nature had a lasting influence on Schuster's photographic work. His first camera was a Welta-Weltax folding camera with the double format 4.5 × 6 cm and 6 × 6 cm from the Foto Porst company in Nuremberg, Germany. Schuster began studying electrical engineering in Munich in 1939. In 1940 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht. In 1948 he came to Graz to study architecture. Here he met his wife Elisabeth, née Fuhrmann (8 November 1929 - † 2 November 2018). They had three children: Evelyn (* 1952), Michael (* 1956) and Angelika (* 1959). Their son Michael Schuster is an artist who works conceptually and experimentally with photography as well as other media and techniques and is positioned internationally. Michael was already in the darkroom with his father at the age of 5 and learned the professional use of the camera from him as a child.

Professional career

In order to support the family, Schuster first worked as a catalogue photographer for the Moden Müller company, as a freelancer in a Graz photo lab and took on commissions for advertising photos. In 1956 Schuster won gold medals at the VII. International Photo Exhibition in Vienna, the VIII. International Photo Exhibition in Hamburg and at the Austrian Club Championship in Vienna. From 1957 to 1962 Schuster worked as a theatre photographer for the opera and theatre in Graz. "From this period come a large number of interesting works that show Schuster to be a master of both spontaneous and in-depth photographic work. They are first-class photos, both technically and formally, among which the shots of the ballet dancers are particularly striking for their captivating way of reproducing the dancers' phases of movement," wrote Barbara Schaukal in the art magazine Sterz 85/2000.

From 1955 onwards, Schuster established close contacts with the photographic group TVN (founded in 1949) and its mentor Erich Kees as well as with the "Junge Gruppe" (Young Group), founded in 1953 by Günter Waldorf, of which he was the only photographer. After Kees, Eckart Schuster and Felix Weber were the first to realise new approaches to photography in Austria, soon followed by participation in exhibitions and photo competitions. In 1960, together with Herbert Rosenberg, Schuster headed the department for film and photography of the Forum Stadtpark, in the founding of which he was involved. He was not only represented there as head of department and photo artist, but also took over the documentation of all important events. Thus Schuster documented the Forum Stadtpark by means of a poster campaign from 1959-1960 as well as the jazz concerts held there, which played an important role there alongside avant-garde literature. The artist and media theorist Richard Kriesche wrote about Schuster: "with his work as an artist photographer around the forum stadtpark and his teaching at the higher technical federal institute in Graz, eckart schuster prepared the ground for a veritable Styrian photo scene." In 1963, Schuster took a position as a teacher at the Höhere Technische Lehranstalt (before that the Ortweinschule) in Graz and, after passing the master's examination in 1964, worked there until his retirement in 1984. He also continued to work as a freelance photographer in advertising (e.g. for Humanic with Horst Gerhard Haberl), as well as for the Kleine Zeitung and for exhibition catalogues of the Neue Galerie Graz.

Work and techniques

"Photography is like a language that is understood all over the world" Schuster stated in 1989. His work is characterised by a very personal approach to the medium of photography and to photographic techniques.

Peter Weibel emphasized in his 1984 article "The History of Artist Photography" that "the (self-)portraits of Eckhart Schuster at the end of the 1950s, ... already have something stylized, calculated, staged about them from current modernism." In addition, Schuster used "a wide variety of techniques such as photogram, double and multiple exposure, solarization, extreme light-dark effects, coarse image screening, distortion, etc., in order to abstract his images and arrive at interesting pictorial solutions," as art historian Jasmin Haselsteiner-Scharner depicted his experimental approach to photography. According to Haselsteiner-Scharner (2002), Eckart Schuster's attempts in the field of photography in the 1950s and 1960s moved him into the realm of abstraction. Schuster himself stated: "Even if a picture is created by mechanical-chemical means, it can still be an expression of the creative in man. Rarely, then, can a photograph be truly objective. It is subjective because it expresses the personality, the imagination of the human being."

Eckart Schuster is considered "one of the outstanding Austrian photographers of the Second Republic", as can be read in a text by the art curator Peter Peer on the exhibition "Eckart Schuster (1919-2006), which took place in the Neue Galerie Graz in 2008. Schuster left behind "a rich oeuvre which, in addition to its artistic eloquence, also impresses with its consistent exploration of technical possibilities, such as double and multiple exposures, photograms and solarisation, effects of image screening, extreme chiaroscuro, etc.". His subjects range from classical disciplines such as portraits, figure paintings, still lifes and landscapes to photographs of microstructures. These works also reveal his intention, which "develops the photographic image out of the natural model, but ultimately recognises it as a completely independent creation". Eckart Schuster's perception, choice of object and image detail were mostly intuitive and creative. The elaboration of the negative were also characterised by experimentation and improvisation. "His experiments with negatives ranged from the purely mechanical processing of the exposed film to photographs taken with a simple 'pinhole camera' and the exhaustion of the optical possibilities of the camera ... or the use of special films (e.g. his 'solarisations' on the 'black'). his 'solarisations' on the AGFA-Konur film, which was published for a limited time by AGFA, or his works with UV light film), he equally exploits the laws of optics when taking pictures," is how the art historian Armgard Schiffer-Ekhart described some of Schuster's experiments. Schuster's themes are broadly diversified. He gained particular fame for his self-portrait series. In a conversation with Jasmin Haselsteiner-Scharner in 2000, Erich Kees expressed the opinion that Schuster's intensive preoccupation with self-portrait series made him the only photographer in this field in Austria at that time. He was also very interested in the world of plants and animals. In doing so, he often explored what was technically feasible, working at extremely close range to the plants and animals.

Eckart Schuster's estate is administered by the gallery owner, art collector and book author Günter Eisenhut in Graz (gallery remixx).

Collections

• Neue Galerie, Bildsammlung steirischer Fotografen der Stadt Graz, Nachlass Erich Kees / Elisabeth Kraus (Kulturvermittlung Steiermark);

• Private collections.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 1957 Eckart Schuster. Künstlerische Fotografie. Ausstellung der Neuen Galerie, Landesmuseum Joanneum, Ecksaal, Graz

• 1960 Günter Waldorf und Eckart Schuster. Forum Stadtpark, Graz

• 1963 Ausstellung zur Vergabe des Kunstförderpreis der Stadt Graz an Eckart Schuster, Opernhaus Graz

• 1966 Eckart Schuster. Fotografik. Grafikraum des Forum Stadtpark, Graz

• 1968 Eckart Schuster. Fotografiken. Klubkeller des Forum Stadtpark

• 1968 Leobner Impressionen. Rathaus-Passage Leoben

• 1968 196 Fotografiken von Eckart Schuster, Stiegengalerie, Knabenhauptschule Graz-Eggenberg

• 1974 Eckart Schuster. Fotografik. Murgalerie Leoben

• 1975 Eckart Schuster. Landesmuseum Joanneum, Ecksaal, Graz

• 1985 Eckart Schuster, Island. Koralmhalle, Deutschlandsberg

• 1986 Eckart Schuster – Meine Welt der Fotografie. Tiland, Haus der Tiroler Landesversicherungsanstalt, Innsbruck

• 1987 Die Kunst des Fotografierens, Eröffnungsausstellung der Urania-Fotogalerie, Graz

• 1987 Eckart Schuster – Wenn Licht schreibt. Funkhausgalerie, ORF-Zentrum, Graz

• 1992 Eckart Schuster. Stationen. Landesmuseum Joanneum, Ecksaal, Graz

• 1992 Eckart Schuster. Hochformattagebuch. Weyer an der Enns

• 1995 Ikoflex vor Leningrad. Ganggalerie, Rathaus, Graz

• 1996 Krone-Stadt-Fest von Eckart Schuster. Ganggalerie, Rathaus, Graz

• 1997 Eckart Schuster – Auslese. Gewölbegalerie des Clubs der Amateurfotografen (CDA), Graz

• 2000 Eckart Schuster. Ein Leben mit der Fotografie. Landesmuseum Joanneum, Ecksaal, Graz

• 2003 Eckart Schuster. Fotogalerie Rathaus, Graz

• 2004 Eckart Schuster – Die 50er und 60er Jahre. Gewölbegalerie des Clubs der Amateurfotografen (CDA), Graz

• 2008 Eckart Schuster (1919–2006). Fotografie zwischen Experiment und Dokument. Hofgalerie der Neuen Galerie Graz, Kurator: Peter Peer

• 2023 Eckart Schuster und Rainer Possert: Subjektive und konkrete Fotografien, Foto-Galerie „Kiasma“, Graz Kurator: Günter Eisenhut

Participation in exhibitions (selection)

• 1956 Jahresausstellung der Sezession Graz, Künstlerhaus, Graz

• 1956 Photokina Köln

• 1957 „Junge Gruppe“, Künstlerhaus Graz

• 1957 Fotogruppe TVN der Naturfreunde Graz

• 1957 Landesmuseum Joanneum, Ecksaal Graz

• 1957 Werkbund-Ausstellung, Künstlerhaus Graz

• 1973 „20 Jahre Junge Gruppe“, Weiz

• 1989 „Fotografie in Bewegung – Die Anfänge einer steirischen Autorenfotografie nach 1945“, Kulturhaus, Graz

• 1991 Jahresausstellung der Sezession Graz, Künstlerhaus, Graz

• 1998 „Bildsammlung Steirischer Fotografien 1955-1980“ (Sammlung Erich Kees), Urania-Fotogalerie, Graz

• 2004 „remixx: fotografie 20. Jahrhundert“, galerie remixx, Graz

• 2006 „Konstruktiv“, galerie remixx, Graz

• 2007 „Rückblende. Die Fotosammlung der Neuen Galerie“, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz

• 2018-2021 „Kunst-Kontroversen. Steirische Positionen 1945–1967“, Neue Galerie Graz

Literature

• Aufischer, Max, Werner Fenz et al (Hg.) Erich Kees: In mir. In: Camera Austria, Graz, 2006, 1. Aufl., 128 pp.

• Aufischer, Max (Ed.): Sammlung Kees – Bildsammlung steirischer Fotografen 1950 - 1980: Fotosammlung der Stadt Graz, Verlag Kulturvermittlung Steiermark, Kunstpädagogisches Institut Graz, 2006.

• Breicha, Otto u. Erich Kees (Eds): Fotografie in Bewegung. Die Anfänge einer steirischen Autorenfotografie nach 1945. Published by Graz Kulturhaus, Graz, 1989.

• Club der Amateurfotografen Graz: ‚Klub der Amateurphotographen in Graz, 125 Jahre Clubgeschichte‘. Redaktion: Gerhard Moderitz, CDA, Graz 2015.

• Haselsteiner-Scharner, Jasmin: Zur Steirische Fotografie. Von den Anfängen bis in die sechziger Jahre, Forschungsberichte. Kunstgeschichte Steiermark 1/2002

• Haselsteiner-Scharner, Jasmin: Erich Kees als fotografischer Volksbildner. in: Erich Kees in mir. In: Diess. (Hg.): Camera Austria, Graz 2006, S. 106–116.

• Haselsteiner-Scharner, Jasmin: Erich Kees: In mir. In: Camera Austria, Graz, 2006, 1. Aufl., 128 pp.

• Kriesche, Richard: eckart schuster. In: Peer, Peter / Christa Steinle: ECKART SCHUSTER (1919-2006) Fotografie zwischen Experiment und Dokument. Neue Galerie Graz, AutorInnen, Archiv Eckart Schuster, 2008. ISBN 3-902241-28-4.

• Lauffer, Gernot und Wolfram Orthacker: Eckart Schuster 1000 Bilder, in: Sterz 85/2000 (Fotoband) http://www.sterzschrift.at/archiv5.html (Retrieved 11 April 2023).

• Peer, Peter / Christa Steinle: ECKART SCHUSTER (1919-2006). Fotografie zwischen Experiment und Dokument. Neue Galerie Graz, AutorInnen, Archiv Eckart Schuster, 2008. ISBN 3-902241-28-4[33]

• Schaukal, Barbara: Eckart Schuster. Ein Leben mit der Fotografie. In: Peer, Peter / Christa Steinle: ECKART SCHUSTER (1919-2006) Fotografie zwischen Experiment und Dokument. Neue Galerie Graz, AutorInnen, Archiv Eckart Schuster, 2008, ISBN 3-902241-28-4.

• Schiffer-Ekhart, Armgard: Eckhart Schuster – Ein Leben für die Fotografie. Landesmuseum Joanneum Jahresbericht 1997, Folge 27, Graz 1998.

• Weibel, Peter: Geschichte der Künstlerfotografie, in: Camera Austria 15/16, 1984.

References

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