Photography, 150 x 150 cm
Sustainability - one of the major cross-sectoral issues of the Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen. Probably none of the artists displayed at the academy has dedicated his life as much to this great contemporary challenge as Max von Tilzer (*1939 in St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria). Max von Tilzer took the photo of a Lodgepole pine (coastal pine, Pinus contorta) in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, USA, in 2008 and presented it to the academy on the occasion of his exhibition "Tree Portraits" with expressive large-format photos (October 2011 to January 2012).

Since the age of 12, Austrian-born Max von Tilzer has been intensively engaged in artistic photography, with a focus on nature photography. Since 2001, he has been showing his work in solo exhibitions. By means of his photos, Max von Tilzer aims to raise awareness of the beauty of undisturbed nature, which seems to have been largely lost by many. Max von Tilzer has dedicated his life to the protection of nature and the environment not only as an artist. He studied biology with a focus on ecology. As a professor, he passed on his knowledge at the universities of Berlin, Freiburg and Constance, but also made a name for himself as a researcher. This included his position as Scientific Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven (1992 -1997). He was particularly committed to research into the role of the polar regions for the global climate. From 1996 to 2000, he was also a member of the German Federal Government's Advisory Council on Global Environmental Change.