Heidi Harsieber – Werner Kuntschik

In just a few years, the Austrian painter Werner Kuntschik created an intensive oeuvre that is now part of the Wien Museum collection. He painted figuratively and explored the themes and styles of his time, favoring the grotesque and the uncanny, taking his cue from Surrealism and Francis Bacon. The photographer and artist Heidi Harsieber was closely associated with Werner Kuntschik until his death in 1972. She later created new series and the large “Epitaph for W. K.” from their joint photographic work. Most of these works are now part of the Albertina collection. 
In this book, Heidi Harsieber brings together Werner Kuntschik's work in a precisely documented catalog raisonné. In addition to his paintings, she presents the joint photographic works and her later photo series that belong to this context. 
Heidi Harsieber has been present on the Austrian photographic art scene since the 1970s and has been able to confirm her position in recent years. In May 2025, she will open a solo exhibition entitled Heidi Harsieber. Full Spectrum. A life with photography at the Landesgalerie Niederösterreich in Krems (May 10 – November 9, 2025).

“The artist performs his high-wire balancing act between mirror image and silver backing, a balancing act everyone should perform, and has done so, for everyone is an artist, or was once; indeed, art is nothing but a part of life: it is merely a means of development, a means to be born before one dies.” Werner Kuntschik