Enigmatic scenes, glorious aesthetics and technical brilliance combine in the photos of Gregory Crewdson. As you can see for yourself at a major retrospective in the Albertina.
- Covers 35+ years of work
- Includes renowned photo series like Twilight
- Runs May 29 – Sept 8, 2024
- See also:
Staged reality
(Gregory Crewdson, The Basement; from the series: Cathedral of the Pines, 2013-2014; digital pigment print; the ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – permanent loan, private collection © Gregory Crewdson)
I feel spoiled by the Albertina, who sprinkle artistic magic over many of my museum visits.
Sometimes through a major name in the art world. Sometimes through someone new to me.
And sometimes both: a giant of their profession who I’ve had little contact with. Which brings me to the Gregory Crewdson retrospective.
Crewdson enjoys a place among the contemporary greats of photography. His works reside in the collections of the Met, MoMA and Guggenheim in New York, the V&A in London, the Getty Museum in LA and other prestigious locations…including the Albertina, thanks in part to a kind donation of 182 works by the artist.
The exhibition covers nine series across some 35 years of artistic achievement. From the Early Work photos completed in the late 1980s to this decade’s Eveningside.
(Gregory Crewdson, Untitled; from the series: Twilight, 1998-2002; digital pigment print; the ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – permanent loan, private collection © Gregory Crewdson)
The photos on display typically reflect scenes from small town life in the USA, but seem to position them at the interface between truth and fiction…between observation and commentary.
Scenes that suggest a backstory, a meaning, a narrative perhaps, none of which we can know for certain just by looking.
Stark realism with an ethereal coating of mystery. Peaceful and disturbing. An enigma wrapped in printer ink.
In an interview published in 2014, the photographer noted:
I’ve always been interested in the commonplace, in finding a sense of beauty and mystery in everyday life.
(Gregory Crewdson, Madeline’s Beauty Salon; from the series: Eveningside, 2021-2022; digital pigment print; the ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna courtesy of the artist © Gregory Crewdson)
The themes are, shall we say, not the brighter side of life…isolation and alienation, the decline of society, economic deprivation, and similar. Tristesse and melancholy echo in the faces of the subjects. I found myself hoping they find a way out and that the sun would be shining when I left the Albertina (it was).
Crewdson places all this in a captivating aesthetic: sometimes even surreal and other worldly.
The light and composition can be spellbinding. I spent a good few minutes with some photos, trying to dig deeper, but never revealing everything except in my imagination.
Such an impact and impression does not come from using a smartphone and serendipity.
Crewdson’s photos are mostly staged, often requiring numerous staff, a casting process, remarkable attention to detail, and the kind of set (and production values) otherwise only found in the film world. The end results certainly justify the means.
Dates, tickets & tips
Take a trip through Crewdson’s work from May 29th to September 8th, 2024. Any entrance ticket from or for the Albertina includes the special exhibition.
The museum also has a Roy Lichtenstein retrospective running for the early part of the Crewdson exhibition, which is an obvious recommendation. But other concurrent exhibitions there also reward long observation of individual works.
Eva Beresin’s large-format paintings, for example, reveal more detail with time.
And Franz Grabmayr’s abstract works left a particularly strong impression on me, particularly his ferocious representations of burning rootstocks. Perhaps it’s just my worn old eyes, but they seemed to actually physically move, the longer I stared at them.
Vienna also has other photo exhibitions to offer. For example, the Wien Museum MUSA has a solo exhibition for Austrian photographer Elfriede Mejchar, who also finds fascination in images away from the mainstream.
How to get to the photos
Just follow the travel tips at the end of the main Albertina article. The exhibition is up on the first floor, where you also find the staterooms.
Address: Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna