Press
SpallArt Collection – One of Austria's most important private photography collections
The SpallArt Collection is one of Austria's most important private photography collections. With around 3,000 works, it offers a broad overview of international photography history from the 19th century to the present day, with a particular focus on Austrian artists.
The collection was founded by Andra Spallart, who has been acquiring photographic works since the 1980s. A decisive impetus for the targeted collection activity came with the move to Vienna in the early 1990s. The focus shifted increasingly to contemporary Austrian photography and key figures of Viennese Actionism. The photography section of the Volpinum collection, which she built up together with her then husband, eventually developed into the independent SpallArt collection.
As early as 2005, a substantial donation to the mumok – Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna underscored the museum relevance of the holdings. In addition to important Austrian artists, the collection includes key international figures in the history of photography – from Eadweard Muybridge, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Eugène Atget to August Sander, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Walker Evans to Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, and Ai Weiwei.
In terms of content, the growth of the collection follows a clearly personal logic: The collection focuses on visual ideas and artistic concepts, not just big names. Central themes are landscape and nature, abstraction, and humanity between longing, everyday life, and social reality.
The collection has been based in Salzburg since 2014. In addition to comprehensive digital documentation of all works, exhibitions and publications are regularly produced. Since 2017, thematic presentations have been held in the collection's depot. The annual pop-up shows provide thematic insights into the collection and, at the same time, offer a glimpse behind the scenes of a private collection.
For Andra Spallart, collecting is a living process—driven by a sense of responsibility toward the artists and a desire to make photographic art visible and keep it in dialogue.
The monthly newsletter provides information about all of the collection's activities.
Requests
Christoph Fuchs
+43 650 7870190
Selection of published articles
Séamus Kealy, "Retinal Burn" in: EIKON, 96, November 2016, pp. 75–79 (PDF German)
Margit Zuckriegl, "Andra Spallart. Porträt einer Sammlerin" in Parnass, 4, 2016, pp. 38–40 (PDF German)
Hanns Hintermeier, "Man muss nur den richtigen Blick haben" in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 73, 26.03.2024, p. 12 (PDF German)