Erich Lessing

Erich Lessing is one of the great pioneers of post-war photography. As a Magnum photographer, he chronicled the defining political and social upheavals in Europe – from the signing of the Austrian… Read more

Bio Exhibitions

Background Information about Erich Lessing

Introduction

Erich Lessing is one of the great pioneers of post-war photography. As a Magnum photographer, he chronicled the defining political and social upheavals in Europe – from the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955 to the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. His photographs became symbols of an era, published in international magazines such as LIFE, Paris Match, and Picture Post.

Born in Vienna in 1923, Lessing survived the Holocaust in exile in Palestine, returned in 1947, and found his distinctive visual language as a photojournalist. Unadorned, precise, humanistic—this is how he captured people and history. But his photographs are more than historical testimonies—their rare balance of documentary precision and artistic composition makes them valuable collector's items of classic photography.

As a humanist, he was always interested in people in the context of their time – politicians such as Eisenhower, Adenauer, and de Gaulle, as well as artists from Oskar Kokoschka to Herbert von Karajan. He photographed on film sets from Moby Dick to The Sound of Music, but also the seemingly everyday, which he transformed with a keen sense into images of timeless power.

This breadth is also evident in the LUMAS portfolio. In photographs such as Berlin bleibt frei (Berlin Remains Free), history becomes immediately tangible—a symbol of the promise of freedom in post-war Europe. Works such as Ski Children and Lady and Poodle, on the other hand, focus on everyday life, full of wit, observation, and empathy. They reveal how people shape their times – and how much contemporary history is contained in the details of everyday life.

From the 1960s onwards, he turned to large-format color photography and created sensational art and cultural documentaries. He produced over sixty books in which he visually reinterpreted historical sites and works of art. The photographs of Hagia Sophia, for example, testify to this approach: they show the iconic building in radiant light and open up a view of architecture as living history.

Music also has a place in his oeuvre. His portraits of Glenn Gould at the piano or Herbert von Karajan conducting capture the intensity that transforms sound into lived emotion. They are not just portraits of musicians, but visual translations of rhythm, devotion, and energy.

Whether historical icons, cultural buildings, or everyday scenes: Erich Lessing's work encompasses everything that makes classic photography so unique—precise technique, analog rigor, and at the same time a narrative richness.

Honored worldwide, with exhibitions, teaching positions, and awards, Lessing remains one of the most important representatives of classic analog photography. His works are photographic treasures that have had an impact far beyond their time and continue to shape our culture of remembrance to this day.

Bio

1923	Born in Vienna, Austria
1939	Moved to Palestine
	Apprenticeship as Radiotechnician at Technion, Haifa, Israel
1947	Return to Austria
	Photoreporter Associated Press
Since 1951	Member of the photographic corporation MAGNUM, Paris/New York
1973	Appointed to professor by the austrian president Franz Jonas
	Establishes the professorship for photography at the academy for arts, India
	Lives in Vienna, Austria

Awards

2013	Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class Golden Medal of Honor of the Province of Styria Silver Medal of Honor of the City of Vienna Honorary member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus
1997	Big Austrian Stateprize, Austria
1992	Silver Medal of the City Vienna, Austria
1992	Imre Nagy Medal
1976	Viennese Cultureprize, Austria
1970	Dr. Karl Renner Prize, Austria
1966	Prix Nadar for the book Die Odyssee, France
1956	American Art Editors’ Award, USA

Exhibitions

2025	Austrian Belvedere, Vienna – Permanent Exhibition of Erich Lessing’s photographs
2025	Reform Club London – Exhibition of Erich Lessing’s works
2025	Arsenal Vienna / Magnum Photo Exhibition
2024	Reform Club London – Exhibition with other photo artists
2024	Permanent Exhibition of Austrian State Treaty photographs – Lower Austrian Farmers’ Association
2023	Extended Permanent Exhibition – Federal Chancellery Vienna
2023	Tribute for the 100th Birthday: Art at the Federal Chancellery – Erich Lessing “Eyes that are gifted to see” An exhibition of Erich Lessing’s works on the occasion of his 100th birthday
2022	Austrian State Treaty photographs displayed in the Chancellor’s Office
2021	present Federal Chancellery Austria / Vienna – Grand Staircase
2016	60 Years of the Hungarian Revolution, Burg Schlaining Peace Museum, Stadtschlaining, Austria
2016	Vienna and Austria since 1945, Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2015	The Pulse of Time: Capturing Social Change in Post-war Europe, University Museum & Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2015	Behind the Scenes – On the 50th Anniversary of “The Sound of Music,” Leica Gallery, Arenberg Castle, Salzburg, Austria
2015	Lessing presents Lessing, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, USA
2015	Lessing Shows Lessing, Jewish Museum, Vienna, Austria
2015	Erich Lessing: Magnum Photos, Austrian Cultural Forum, Prague, Czech Republic
2015	Elsewhere, foto-forum Galleria, Bolzano, Italy
2013	Budapest 1956, Austrian Cultural Forum, Budapest, Hungary
2013	Erich Lessing: Magnum Photos, Atelier Jungwirth, Graz, Austria
2012	Europe, Europe, Vetrinjski dvor (European Capital of Culture 2012), Maribor, Slovenia
2012	Erich Lessing – Europe after the War. Photographs 1950–1960, City Gallery, Fellbach, Germany
2011	Erich Lessing: Vintages & Modern Prints, Gallery Makartgasse, Vienna, Austria
2011	Power of pictures, Parliament Vienna, Austria
2011	Erich Lessing :The Making of Sound of Music, Kunstpavillon White Noise, Salzburg, Austria
2011	Erich Lessing: Am Puls der Zeit, Citygallery Klagenfurt , Klagenfurt, Austria
2010	Erich Lessing: CINEMA, Gallery Anika Handelt, Vienna, Austria
2009	Herbert von Karajan, Leica Gallery, New York, USA
2009	Europe: In-Between Document and Fiction, The National Centre of Dance, Bucharest, Romania
2008	Erich Lessing: Unterwegs, Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria
2008	Herbert von Karajan: Leica Galerie, Salzburg, Austria
2008	Vintages, Galerie Fotohof, Salzburg, Austria
2007	Arresting Time, Base sous marine, Bordeaux, France
2007	Europe 50 years ago, Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Vienna, Austria
2007	Reportage-Photographien 1948 - 1973, Gallery Momentum, Vienna, Austria
2006	The Hungarian Revolution in 1956, Budapest Historical Museum, Budapest, Hungary
2005	Free! Liberation and Sovereignty Austria 1945-1955, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA
2005	Von der Befreiung zur Freiheit - Schwarzenberg Kazerne, Salzburg/Wals, Austria
2003	People Known and Unknown - Photofusion Gallery, London, UK
2003	Arresting Time - Dimbola Lodge Museum, Isle of Wight, UK
2003	Photographien der 50er Jahre - Museum Modern Kunst, Passau, Germany
2002	Erich Lessing Photography, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
2000	Erich Lessing: 50 anni di fotografia, Bologna, Italy
1999	Erich Lessing - School of Art Gallery and Museum, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK