Austrian history in focusThe Austrian National Library's picture archive is the biggest and most comprehensive national image collection. More than one million photographs are at the centre of the collection covering a wide spectrum of topics ranging from Austrian royalty, celebrity portraits, history and geography to architectural images, features of everyday life to art photography. More than 200,000 images have been digitized and are available online.
Portraits of Austrian personalities Personality portraits are a snap-shot of their times. Simultaneously they represent Austria's scientific, cultural and socio-political accomplishments. Highly recognizible photographs alternate with moving and photographically aesthetic black & white and colour images.
Documentary photography by Harry Weber Harry Weber was born in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria in 1921 and emigrated to Palestine in 1938 where he served the Jewish Brigade until 1946. After World War II he returned to Vienna where he became one of Austria's most famous photo journalists. As main photographer of "stern" magazine Austria he shaped the genre of reportage photography. As theatre photographer he covered the Salzburg Festival over many years. Additionally he is esteemed as highly gifted story teller.
Pictures of the Jewish collector Raoul Korty In 2005 the Austrian National Library (OeNB) restituted the photo collection of Jewish journalist Raoul Korty (1889-1944) to his heirs, but following the ownern's wish, the OeNB bought it back. The historical image collection has been digitalized and offers a unique insight into the world of a collector. As a monarchist and bohemian he mainly collected portraits of the rich and famous of his time. The images draw a lively picture of Austrian society around the turn of the centuries and documents a part of the history of photography.
