the exhibition <im blickpunkt> (in focus) is the first to give an insight into the quality and multi-layered topics of the austrian national library's photo collection. with over two million historic and contemporary photographs, the collection today ranks with the largest and most important collections of documentary photography in austria. the exhibition is a glimpse of the photo collection's genesis of over more than 150 years. the collection was formed around 1850 from the habsburg family's private stocks and has been continued since 1947 as the bildarchiv and porträtsammlung (picture archive and portrait collection).

with 240 vintage prints, the exhibition <im blickpunkt> presents the collection's main topics, which at the same time mark important phases in the history of austrian photography. portrait photographs of the imperial family and historical shots of austrian expeditions and adventurous travels of the nobility represent the beginnings of the collection. never before shown first world war pictures and covertly shot photo documents from the warsaw ghetto in 1943 pose in an uneasy contradiction to elegant artist's portraits after 1900 from the viennese atelier d'ora or the cheerful aesthetic of lothar rübelt, a pioneer of modern sport photography in the 1930's. one of the collection's treasures certainly is the bequest of heinrich kühn's colour photographs, developed under the influence of the viennese seccession's ideals. today kühn's photographs are considered as pioneer achievements in early colour photography.

the exhibition presents an interim result. it shows the variety of a modern photographic collection, which has an active acquisition policy, but at the same time functions as a scientific centre of documentation, archive, research establishment, and last but not least, a reproduction service.