"Pallas Athene auf dem Wiener Gewerbeverein, Blick in die Gumpendorferstraße"

gelatin silver print on baryta

signed (ink) on recto, titled and dated (ink) on verso

Austrian photographer Christine de Grancy achieved fame primarily through her many years of work as a stage photographer at the Burgtheater. She also took numerous photographs in Tunisia, Tibet, Niger, and Western Sahara. In addition to her work for magazines such as Stern and Vogue, she also published several books.
De Grancy was also known for her photographs of Vienna, which were captured in the book Über der Welt und den Zeiten (Above the World and Time), published in 2021. Her “images of gods” captured the city's numerous statues, which she tracked down on “excursions to Habsburg Disney Land,” as Mercedes Echerer recounts from a conversation with the photographer. De Grancy also had a close connection to the universal artist André Heller, with whom she published several books. At an exhibition opening at Vienna's WestLicht several years ago, he praised her “un-Austrian curiosity about the world.”¹

The statues of Pallas Athena on the roof of the Palais Eschenbach in Vienna refer to the building's original function. The palace was built between 1870 and 1872 by architect Otto Thienemann (1825–1905) and served as the clubhouse for the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects. It is considered one of the first buildings to be constructed by civil engineers and architects for their own professional colleagues. Since 1872, it has also been the headquarters of the Austrian Trade Association. Pallas Athena is, among other things, the goddess of craftsmanship, technology, and wisdom, and thus symbolizes the connection between mind and hand – that is, between thinking and doing.
(Christoph Fuchs, translated by deepL)
 

Notes

1
Der Standard, "Österreichische Fotografin Christine de Grancy 82-jährig gestorben", 21.3.2025, https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000262402/214sterreichische-fotografin-christine-de-grancy-82-j228hrig-gestorben (accessed 3.2.2026)