{{Short description|Austrian photographer}}

'''Peter Dressler''' (17 September 1942 – 15 September 2013) was an Austrian photographer and academic teacher.<ref name="fh">{{cite web|url=https://bildarchiv.fotohof.at/artist/20/Peter+Dressler.html|title=Biography Fotohof archive|language=de|accessdate=2025-06-10|work=fotohof.at}}</ref>

== Life and work == Peter Dressler was born in Brașov, Romania on 17 September 1942.<ref name="std">{{cite web|url=http://derstandard.at/1379291135288/Fotograf-Peter-Dressler-gestorben|title=Fotograf Peter Dressler gestorben|trans-title=Photographer Peter Dressler Died|work=derStandard.at|date=2013-09-17|language=de|accessdate=2025-06-10}}</ref> He created his first photographic works in the 1960s. After studying painting from 1966 to 1971 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Gustav Hessing,<ref name="belfast">{{cite web|url=https://www.belfastexposed.org/whats-on/seeing-with-your-eyes-the-photographs-of-peter-dressler-1972-2003/|title=SEEING WITH YOUR EYES: THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF PETER DRESSLER 1972 – 2003|work=belfastexposed.org|accessdate=2025-06-14}}</ref> he graduated with a diploma. Afterwards, he stayed at the academy as a teacher from 1972 to 2008, initially as a lecturer under Hessing, and from 2001 on as an assistant professor under Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Hubert Schmalix and Amelie von Wulffen.<ref name="fh" /> Both as a teacher and as "foremost protagonist of [the] pioneering generation of auteur photographers in Austria"<ref name="mm">{{cite book|author=Michael Mauracher|title=Vienna Gold|chapter=Notes on the film "Sonderfahrt"|page=153|publisher=Fotohof edition|location=Salzburg|date=2016|ISBN=978-3-902993-41-0}}</ref> he had a significant influence on Austrian Photography from the 1970s onwards.<ref name="khw" />

Dressler used photography to create staged "photo stories",<ref name="fh" /> his aim was "to bring to life the static picture".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://camera-austria.at/en/ausstellungen/peter-dressler-tangible-beauty/|title=Peter Dressler: Tangible Beauty|work=camera-austria.at|accessdate=2025-06-14}}</ref> Often he used spaces of human interaction for locations: public spaces (like "Kunsthistorisches Museum" for the series "With Great Interest", 1989), semi-public like shops and hotel rooms ("Tangible Beauty", 1992 and "Business Class", 1996) and private spaces ("Lasting Values", 1997). These locations he often found by chance.<ref name="stnd">{{cite web|url=https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000047608923/peter-dressler-toter-dobermann-unsterblicher-terriermischling|title=Peter Dressler: Toter Dobermann, unsterblicher Terriermischling|language=de|accessdate=2025-06-10|work=derstandard.at.at|author=Roman Gerold}}</ref> He staged temporary interventions for his photographs and often performed himself – forever alone<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Springerin|author=Sabine Weier|date=Summer 2017|language=de|location=Vienna|ISBN=978-3-9504191-6-0|page=62|title=Peter Dressler: "Wiener Gold" und "Sonderfahrt"}}</ref><ref name="koer" /> - in front of the camera ("In unmittelbarer Nähe" [Very Close], 1997, "Tie Break", 1996, "Rather Rare Recipes", 1987, among others) or he used props for his protagonists – like the "Burschi" dog sculpture<ref name="stnd" /> ("With Great Interest, 1989) or a tin toy figure of a gymnast (in the early series "The Good Son", 1977–1983).

In early works, in the 1970s he explored the spaces of Vienna, for example in his artist's book "Zwischenspiel" [Interplay – unpublished until 1989] or his collaborations with the painter Franz Zadrazil: the book "Das Wiental" (The Vienna Valley] and the black-and-white film "Sonderfahrt".<ref name="mm" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.filmmuseum.at/en/film_program/scope?schienen_id=35|accessdate=2025-06-14|work=filmmuseum.at|title=Viennese Lines: Art and Urban Observation 1951–1979}}</ref>

Dressler was buried at Mauer Cemetery (group 41, row 1, number 1) in Vienna.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.friedhoefewien.at/verstorbenensuche-detail?fname=Peter+Dressler&id=092PH%3E%2CLD.&initialId=092PH%3E%2CLD.&fdate=2013-10-03&c=029&hist=false|title=Verstorbenensuche Wien|work=friedhoefewien.at|language=de|accessdate=2025-06-10}}</ref> Works by Dressler are part of the collections of Albertina,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sammlungenonline.albertina.at/#/query/bf3e1529-ac31-452a-85a0-b1bcd80819a8|title=Collection online|work=albertina|accessdate=2025-06-14}}</ref> Museum der Moderne Salzburg and the collection of the Austrian state,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fotomuseum.ch/en/product/simultan-zwei-sammlungen-oesterreichischer-fotografie-aus-den-bestaenden-des-bundes-und-des-museum-der-moderne-salzburg/|title=Simultan / Simultaneous. Two Collections of Austrian Photography from the Collections of the Federal Chancellery and the Museum der Moderne Salzburg|work=fotomuseum.ch|accessdate=2025-06-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ursstahel.ch/simultaneous|title=Simultan / Simultaneous. Two Collections of Austrian Photography from the Collections of the Federal Chancellery and the Museum der Moderne Salzburg|work=Urs Stahel|accessdate=2025-06-14}}</ref> the artistic estate is located at Fotohof archive.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://netzwerk-fotoarchive.de/archiv-geschichten/nachlass-peter-dressler-im-fotohof-archiv|title=Nachlass Peter Dressler im FOTOHOF archiv|trans-title=Peter Dressler's Estate at Fotohof archive|work=netzwerk-fotoarchive.de|language=de|accessdate=2025-06-10}}</ref> KunstHausWien‚ presented the first posthumous retrospective of Peter Dressler's work in 2016.<ref name="khw">{{cite web|url=https://www.kunsthauswien.com/en/exhibitions/peter-dressler/|title=Peter Dressler, Vienna Gold, 16.11.16–05.03.17|work=kunsthauswien.com|date=2016-11-16|accessdate=2025-06-10}}</ref>

== Solo exhibitions (selection) == * 1983: ''Peter Dressler'', Forum Stadtpark, Graz * 1986: ''Mit großem Interesse'', Galerie Johannes Faber, Vienna * 1989: ''Zwischenspiel'', Fotohof, Salzburg * 1990: ''With Great Interest'', Westpac Gallery, Melbourne * 2002: ''Tie Break'', Fotohof, Salzburg * 2003: ''In unmittelbarer Nähe'', Academy of Fine Arts Vienna * 2006: ''Greifbare Schönheit'', Camera Austria at Kunsthaus Graz * 2010: ''Spannungsunterbrechung'', KÖR Window at Kunsthalle Wien public space karlsplatz<ref name="koer">{{cite web|url=http://www.koer.or.at/projekte/spannungsunterbrechung/|title=Spannungsunterbrechung|date=2011|accessdate=2017-03-05|work=KÖR Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Wien}}</ref> * 2013: Galerie Eboran, Salzburg * 2016: Retrospective at KunstHausWien, Vienna<ref name="khw" />

== Books == * 2016: ''Vienna Gold''. FOTOHOF>EDITION. includes texts by Christine Frisinghelli, Rainer Iglar, Bettina Leidl, Michael Mauracher. German /English. 30 × 24 cm, 186 Seiten appr. 170 plates. edition: 1000, ISBN 978-3-902993-41-0. * 2004: ''Eher seltene Rezepte, Rarités Culinaires, Rather Rare Recipes''. FOTOHOF>EDITION. 24 × 16 cm. 8 pages. 16 color plates, laminated cardboard, edition: 400, ISBN 978-3-901756-36-8. * 2002: ''Business Class''. FOTOHOF>EDITION. 24 × 16 cm. 20 pages. 29 color plates, laminated cardboard, edition: 400, ISBN 978-3-901756-27-6. * 2002: ''Greifbare Schönheit / Tangible Beauty / Beauté Tangible''. FOTOHOF>EDITION. 24 × 16 cm. 24 pages. 13 color plates, laminated cardboard, edition: 400, ISBN 978-3-901756-25-2. * 2002: ''Tie Break''. FOTOHOF>EDITION. 24 × 16 cm. 22 pages. 14 color plates, laminated cardboard, edition: 400, ISBN 978-3-901756-26-9. * 2002: ''Bleibende Werte / Lasting Values / Valeurs Sures''. FOTOHOF>EDITION. 24 × 16 cm. 20 pages. 12 color plates, laminated cardboard, edition: 400, ISBN 978-3-901756-24-5. * 1989: ''Zwischenspiel''. Karolinger Verlag. Includes an introduction by Otto Breicha. 98 pages. 90 plates, ISBN 978-3-85418-039-5.

== Awards == * 1968: City of Salzburg Promotion Prize * 1989: Recognition Prize for Fine Art Photography of the Austrian Chancellery * 2001: Otto Breicha Award * 2011: Higashikawa Prize – Overseas Photographer Award * 2013: Austrian State Prize for Photography<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kunsthauswien.com/documents/15/Presseinfo_Peter_Dressler_EN_final.pdf |work=KunstHausWien|title=Press Release: Peter Dressler. Vienna Gold |date=2016 |language=en |access-date=2026-01-07}}</ref> <ref>{{cite book|title=Vienna Gold|chapter=Biography|page=179|publisher=Fotohof edition|location=Salzburg|date=2016|ISBN=978-3-902993-41-0}}</ref><ref name="belfast" />

==References == {{reflist}}

==External links == * [https://bildarchiv.fotohof.at/artist/20/Peter+Dressler.html Works of Peter Dressler at Fotohof Archive]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dressler, Peter}} Category:1942 births Category:2013 deaths Category:People from Brașov Category:21st-century Austrian artists Category:21st-century Austrian photographers