Marion Kalter
Photographs
I began my work in photography in earnest while I was working at the famous “Rencontres d’Arles” during the 1970s where I was employed as an interpreter. This included translating workshops by photographers such as David Hurn, Mary Ellen Mark, Marc Riboud, Ralph Gibson, et. al. It was at that time that I began creating self-portraits. While much of my career has been devoted to taking portraits of famous artists, musicians and philosophers, much of my personal oeuvre has been focused on the creation of self-portraits.
“Marion Kalter has been following two paths simultaneously, practicing two genres: the portrait and the self-portrait, the documentary and the fictive autobiography (or auto-fiction).
Self-portraits are characterized by tension and harmony – the musical analogy is apt – between the anxiety of introspection, the pathos of confrontation with the self, and an exuberant playfulness of staging. The artist spins a yarn, invents as much as she reveals truths, exposes herself as much as she disguises. Kalter’s self-portraits are both a genealogical exploration and reconstruction. Through a play between imitation and the recreation of situations and domestic settings once lived, Kalter relocates the figures who marked her childhood and determined the course of her personal biography. This work constitutes a personal mythology in pictorial form.” *
* text by Jean-François Chevrier
Short bbiography :
Après des études d’art à Florence puis à Mount Holyoke College (USA), Marion Kalter commence à photographier vers l’âge de 23 ans quand elle rencontre à Paris le poète beatnik Ted Joans qui lui fait découvrir les derniers surréalistes et l’univers du jazz. Parallèlement elle fréquente les rencontres photographiques d’Arles où elle est interprète pour quelques grands photographes américains comme Ralph Gibson, Mary Ellen Mark et Duane Michals. C’est là aussi qu’elle commence sa longue série d’auto-portraits qu’elle poursuit dans la maison où elle a grandi dans le Berry. Avec sa maîtrise à l’Université Paris VII « les femmes et la créativité » elle commence à photographier et interviewer des femmes comme Anaïs Nin, Meret Oppenheim, Chantal Akerman, Lotte Eisner et Gisèle Freund.
Née américaine à Salzbourg (Autriche) elle retrouve ses racines en documentant les coulisses du festival de Salzbourg.
C’est aussi lors d’un reportage sur l’œuvre « Répons » de Pierre Boulez à l’Ircam en 1984 pour le mensuel « Le Monde de la Musique » qu’elle commence à photographier le milieu de la musique contemporaine pendant près de 40 ans.
C’est la personnalité unique de Pierre Boulez qui lui donne l’idée d’élaborer un film où le compositeur regarde et commente les photographies de ceux qui l’ont accompagné pendant toute sa vie. (Pierre Boulez »Notations » 2025)
En 2022 a lieu une grande rétrospective de son travail au musée RUPERTINUM Museum der Moderne à Salzbourg accompagnée d’une monographie sous le titre « DEEP TIME » (Hartmann Books).
Récemment elle a fait don de ses archives à la Médiathèque du Patrimoine Photographique.
After studying art in Florence and then in Mount Holyoke College (USA), Marion Kalter began taking photographs at the age of 23 when she met in Paris the Beat poet Ted Joans, who introduced her to the last Surrealists and the world of jazz. At the same time, she attended the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, where she worked as an interpreter for several leading American photographers, including Ralph Gibson, Mary Ellen Mark and Duane Michals. It was also there that she began her long series of self-portraits, which she continued in the house where she grew up in the Berry region. With her master’s degree from Paris VII University around “Women and Creativity” she began photographing and interviewing women such as Anaïs Nin, Meret Oppenheim, Chantal Akerman, Lotte Eisner, and Gisèle Freund.
Born American in Salzburg, Austria, she rediscovered her roots by documenting backstage the Salzburg Festival.
It was also while on assignment for the monthly magazine “Le Monde de la Musique” to document Pierre Boulez’s work “Répons” at Ircam in 1984 that she began photographing the contemporary music scene for the next 40 years.
It was Pierre Boulez’s unique personality that gave her the idea to make a film in which the composer looks at and comments the photographs of those who accompanied him throughout his life. (Pierre Boulez »Notations » 2025)
In 2022, a major retrospective of her work was held at the RUPERTINUM Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, along with a monograph entitled “DEEP TIME” (Hartmann Books).
She recently donated her archives to the Médiathèque du Patrimoine Photographique.
Nach ihrem Kunststudium in Florenz und am Mount Holyoke College (USA) begann Marion Kalter im Alter von 23 Jahren zu fotografieren, als sie in Paris den Beatnik-Dichter Ted Joans traf, der sie mit den letzten Surrealisten und der Welt des Jazz bekannt machte. Gleichzeitig besuchte sie die Rencontres Photographiques in Arles, wo sie als Dolmetscherin für einige große amerikanische Fotografen wie Ralph Gibson, Duane Michals und Mary Ellen Mark tätig war. Dort begann sie auch ihre lange Serie von Selbstporträts, die sie in dem Haus, in dem sie im Berry aufgewachsen war, fortsetzte. Mit ihrem Masterabschluss an der Universität Paris VII zum Thema „Frauen und Kreativität” begann sie, Frauen wie Anaïs Nin, Meret Oppenheim, Chantal Akerman, Lotte Eisner und Gisèle Freund zu fotografieren und zu interviewen.
Als gebürtige Amerikanerin in Salzburg (Österreich) fand sie zu ihren Wurzeln zurück, indem sie hinter den Kulissen der Salzburger Festspiele dokumentiert.
Während einer Reportage über das Werk „Répons” von Pierre Boulez am Ircam im Jahr 1984 für die Monatszeitschrift „Le Monde de la Musique” begann sie, fast 40 Jahre lang die Welt der zeitgenössischen Musik zu fotografieren.
Die einzigartige Persönlichkeit von Pierre Boulez brachte sie auf die Idee, einen Film zu drehen, in dem der Komponist die Fotos der Menschen betrachtet und kommentiert, die ihn sein ganzes Leben lang begleitet haben. (Pierre Boulez »Notations » 2025)
Im Jahr 2022 fand im RUPERTINUM Museum der Moderne in Salzburg eine große Retrospektive ihrer Arbeit statt, begleitet von einer Monografie mit dem Titel „DEEP TIME” (Hartmann Books).
Vor kurzem hat sie ihr Archiv der Médiathèque du Patrimoine Photographique geschenkt.
Tel:+33675868170
Born in Salzburg, Austria, 1951
Lives and works in France and Austria
Studies
University of Florence, Italy 1969
B.A., Mount Holyoke College, ( studies with Alfred Leslie and Richard Stankiewicz at Amherst College ) USA 1972
M.A., Université de Paris VII, France 1978
Biography
Photogalerie, Paris and Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles (1975-1977)
1977-2016 at the Pompidou Center, Educational Program, Paris
Photography lecturing at Parsons School of Design, Paris
Photocritic with Printletter (1975-1982), then with European Photography (1982 till 2006)
Publications with Photographies, Canal, die Zeit, Art, Du, TagesAnzeiger Magazin, Le Monde, Liberation Violet, New Yorker, etc…
Since 1997 represented by the Agencies AKG-images and Bridgeman Images
2017 Beijing Residency awarded by the Province of Salzburg, Austria
2018 London Residency awarded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture
2020 Merida Mexico Residency awarded by the Province of Salzburg (postponed to 2021)
2023 Varanasi India Residency awarded by the Province of Salzburg
2024 Grant for the whole year awarded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture for the project “My grandmother’s wedding trip from Vienna to Norway 1907”
Solo Exhibitions
1977 Galerie Village Voice (Paris)
1985 Centre Audio Visuel Simone de Beauvoir (Paris)
1989 Médiathèque Ceccano (Avignon)
1989 Librairie Actes Sud (Arles)
1989 Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron (Roque d’Anthéron)
1997 La Maison Française New York University (New York)
1999 Galerie Maxkunst (Salzburg)
2013 ZKM Karlsruhe „Silent Piece“ (Karlsruhe)
2014 ArtBoretum „HERSTORY“ (Argenton sur Creuse)
2016 Galerie Fotohof „HERSTORY“ (Salzburg) (nominated for the Deutsche Boerse Prize 2017)
2019 Chelsea Arts Club “Different Trains” (London)
2022 Museum der Moderne Rupertinum “Deep Time” (Salzburg)
2025 ZKM Karlsruhe presentation of the Film about Pierre Boulez “Notations” (Karlsruhe)
2025 Karl Böhm Saal Salzburg Festival”Le compositeur, c’est l’oeil qui imagine l’oreille”(Salzburg)
Group Exhibitions
1996 “Les mères et les filles” Mois de la Photo (Paris)
2000 Galerie Municipale du Chateau d’Eau (Toulouse)
2000 Galerie Fotohof “Interna” (Salzburg)
2002 Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris)
2006 Galerie pro arte “Männer ohne nerven“ (Hallein)
2012 Kunstverein Kärnten „Die erklärte Ausstellung“ (Klagenfurt)
2015 ArtBoretum “Dernières Acquisitions” (Argenton sur Creuse)
2016 Salzburger Kunstverein “SALO” (Salzburg)
2017 Deutschvilla Strobl “Sinnlos” (Strobl)
2018 Le Pavé d’Orsay “La topologie mise en cage” (Paris)
2019 ZKM “Writing the History of the Future”, ZKM Collection (Karlsruhe)
2019 Gallery Traklhaus “Acquisitions from the Land Salzburg 2017-2019” (Salzburg)
2020 Kunst-Litfaßsäulen 2020 (Salzburg)
2022 one artist-one minute Stadtgalerie Lehen (Salzburg)
2022 Gallery Traklhaus “Acquisions from the Land Salzburg 2020-2022” (Salzburg)
2022 Sept Elzevir “La topologie mise en cage du réel ” (Paris)
2023 Gallery LangArt “A Tribute to Letizia Battaglia” (Amsterdam) with Gijs Assmann, Merijn Bolink, Santi Caleca, Olga Chernysheva, Marlene Dumas, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Alessandro Guerriero, Afredo Jaar, Marion Kalter, Susan Meiselas, Sylvia Plachy, Lia Pasqualino, Maria D. Rapicavoli, Dayanita Singh, Shobha, Emo Verkerk and Franco Zecchin
2024 Lenbachhaus “But live here, no thanks” Surrealism and antifascism (Munich)
Acquisitions
2000 Collection of the city of Vienna
2003 National Portrait Gallery London
2005 Bibliotheque Nationale Paris
2008 French Institute Tokyo
2014 ZKM Karlsruhe
2016 Photography and Media collection of Austria at the MDM Salzburg
2017 Collection of Land Salzburg
2021 Collection of Land Salzburg
2023 Photography and Media collection of Austria at the MDM Salzburg
2024 Photographic Collection of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg