An extraordinary stroke of luck has enabled the Salzburg Museum to respond to the 50th anniversary of the legendary visit of the Beatles to Salzburg by putting on its very own exhibition. The photographer Christian Skrein was willing to open up his archive and let the museum choose a selection of his works. The outcome: forty photographs documenting the Beatles’ arrival in Salzburg, their subsequent press conference, and their stay in Obertauern, the very place where, between 13 and 22 March 1965, the winter scenes were shot for the famous Beatles film Help!.
Skrein, barely twenty years old, made the most of the unique opportunity for a close encounter with the stars from Liverpool. Throughout their stay he produced a series of black-and-white photographs which today have proved to be icons of a cultural history of Austria during the 1960s and documents of his genius as a young photographer.
Skrein impressively succeeded in documenting the Beatles’ visit in a wide and multifaceted range of pictures. The overall portfolio of three hundred photos includes pictures that virtually resonate with the screaming and yelling of crowds of fans, shots of demonstrators and curious onlookers, but also “quiet” studies of the Beatles away from the crowd and the public eye, during breaks and moments of sheer personal pleasure from new winter experiences in the Salzburg Tauern mountains.
Biography
Christian Skrein
1945 born in Vienna. Lives and works in the Salzkammergut region
Since 1963 photographer
Since 1970 director, producer and cameraman
1968 start of Skrein Photo Collection of historic photographs
