Austria awards photography state prize to Paul Albert Leitner

Tyrolean photographer Paul Albert Leitner has received Austria’s State Prize for Artistic Photography, ORF reported. The Culture Ministry announced the award on Friday. It is worth 25,000 euros and has been presented at irregular intervals since 1991.

Culture Minister Andreas Babler said Leitner’s work had enriched the art scene in a distinctive way over several decades. Photography, he said, could be far more than the recording of a moment, serving instead as a form of close observation, curiosity and engagement with reality.

Leitner was born in Jenbach in 1957 and trained as a photographer from 1973 to 1976. After completing his apprenticeship in the 1980s, he decided to work exclusively as a freelance artist.

His work has since been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is held in several public collections. It spans a wide range of photographic genres. According to the ministry, Leitner uses the camera as a “tool for experiencing the world and gaining self-knowledge”, both on extended travels and in his immediate surroundings.

His diverse, meticulously archived body of work stands apart from the rapid pace of contemporary life and conveys a subjective artistic cosmos, the ministry said. It also stands out for its longstanding influence on the national and international art scene.

The award ceremony for the 11th State Prize for Artistic Photography will take place in autumn. Previous recipients include Inge Morath-Miller, Franz Hubmann, Erich Lessing, Harry Weber, Friedl Kubelka, Manfred Willmann, Peter Dressler, Margherita Spiluttini, Seiichi Furuya and Aglaia Konrad.