Czech Photography of the 20th Century 8074370275, 9788074370274

Citation preview

Czech Photography of the 20th Century Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch

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KANT

Contents

Title page:

Josef Sudek The Last Rose, from the Rose series 1956 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

/

A Word of Introduction I 6

Cover:

Jaromir Funke After the Carnival 1924 Private collection , Prague

1900-1918 Pictorialism I 9 2 Documentary Photography and Photojournalism before 1918 I 23

1918-1939 3 From Pictorialism to Modern Photography I 33 4 Poetism and the Beginning of Abstract Photography I 45 5 New Photography: Constructivism, Functionalism, and New Objectivity I 59 6 Social Documentary Photography and the Beginnings of Modern Photojournalism I 81 7 Surrealist Photography and Collage I 95 8 German and Austrian Photographers in the Bohemian Lands I 113

1939-1948 9 Photojournalism and Documentary Photography during and after World War II I 125 10 From Surrealism to Glamour Photography I 137

1948-1968 11 From Socialist Realism to Humanist Photography I 149 12 Lyrical Tendencies, Surrealism, Art lnformel, and Staged Photography I 169

1968-1989 13 From Humanist Photojournalism to Subjective Documentary Photography I 197 14 Conceptual, Land, Body, Action, and Performance Art I 241 15 From Minimalism to Postmodernism I 249

1989-2000 16 Photojournalism and Documentary Photography since Late 1989 I 287 17 Photography at the Beginning of a New Era I 311 Photographers with works appearing in this publication I 359 Twentieth-century Czech Photography in Dates I 361 Texts © Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch 2009 Translation © Derek and Marzia Paton and William McEnchroe Photographs © Photographers and their Estates Graphic design © Vladimir Vimr and Martin Vimr 2009 © KANT, Prague 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized without permission in a written form from the publisher.

ISBN (English edition): 978-80-7437-027-4 (KANT) ISBN (Czech edition) : 978-80-7437-026-7 (KANT) ISBN (English edition): 978-80-7101-090-6 (UPM) ISBN (Czech edition): 978-80-7101-089-0 (UPM)

A Chronology of Important Events in Czech History of the 20th Century I 380 A Bibliography of Twentieth-century Czech Photography I 385 Index I 390

A Word of Introduction

Czech photography has roots that go back to the nineteenth century. It was never made in isolation , regardless of the

We were delighted by the great interest of the visitors to the exhibition in Prague and Bonn, the media response,

official preferences of the powers that be, not of course in democratic, culturally advanced interwar Czechoslovakia, a

the vast majority of which was positive, and the fact that in a poll of sixty-three photographers historians, curators, theorists,

European centre of modern art, or during the German Occupation or the four decades of Communist ru le that followed,

and teachers of photography, which was held by the weekly Reflex in 2009, 'Czech Photography of the 20th Century' was

when many photographic works did not stand a chance of getting published. Czech photography was influenced by

called the best exhibition of the past twenty years. Obviously one also encountered opinions critical of the conventional

the French, German, and Russian Avant-gardes, as well as American, British, and German photojournalism and

classification of photographs according to a combination of period, theme, and style, and lacking an entirely new curatorial

documentary work and also other contemporary international trends . Many of the photographers, however, were able to

concept that would have ignored chronology and less important works. But, in a situation in which no similarly large

make original works that constitute the particularly Czech contributions to the history of photography.

overview of Czech photographic works had ever been undertaken before, and only Antonin Dufek, in his contributions to

It was not so long ago that one would not have found a single Czech name in most West European or

Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umenf (A History of Czech Art), had tried to cover the Czech photography of the whole previous

American books on the history of photography. Today, when photography has come out of the confines of its ghetto

century, we deliberately gave preference to the most comprehensive selection possible. Future curators and historians of

and become one of the dominant media of contemporary art and when the Czechs have regained their free dom, atter

photography will now surely come with far more selective and original views. Despite all that, it has proved impossible to

spending at least half the twentieth unfree, the rest of the world has discovered, often to its surprise, that a nation as

show twentieth-century Czech photography in its full breadth . That is why several important areas, for example, scientific

small as the Czech can boast so many talented , original photographs. So far, however, only a few of them (mainly

photography, are not represented here, and theatre, advertising, fashion , and architectural photography are recalled only

Frantisek Drtikol, Josef Sudek, Jaroslav Rossler, Jaromir Funke, Josef Koudelka , Jan Saudek, Antonin Kratochvil ,

briefly. Because of space restrictions , a number of works by photographers who are important in the context of Czech

and Jindrich Streit) have enjoyed any real international acclaim . The works of many other Czech photog raphers

photography have, unfortunately, not been included.

remain known only to experts. Whole chapters of the history of photography from the area of what is now the Czech

Czech Photography of the 20th Century, published simultaneously in Czech and English versions, is the

Republic, for example the work of German and Austrian photographers here, or the periods of State-sponsored

culm ination of the whole project. It includes not only the most important photographs and photomontages, which are

photography in the style of Socialist Realism from the most hard-line years of Communist totalitarian ism , remain for

frequ ently seen , but also works that have long been forgotten or were hitherto never published. They are arranged in

the time being largely unconsidered .

seventeen chapters and are supplemented with examples from period books, magazines, and catalogues, as well as

Czech Photography of the 20th Century is the first publication to present the main trends, figures , and works

chronologies of the most important events in twentieth-century Czech photography and Czech history, and a Bibliography

of Czech photography from the beginning to the end of the last century to such a large extent. It is the result of an

of scholarly literature. Non-Czech photographers who at least for a while had Czechoslovak or Czech citizenship, or

eight-year project. In the first phase, we succeeded in organizing a three-part exhibition of the same name. Comprising

were born in Bohemia, Moravia, or Silesia, or were of Czech origin, are also included in our survey.

almost 1,300 items, it was held at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and the City Gallery Prague, in 2005, and

This publication was made possible also by the collaboration of many of the photographers and artists presented

was accompanied by a 164-page Guide in Czech and English editions. In 2009, a smaller version of the exhibition, with

in the volume, or their heirs, and a number of institutions (in particular the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague), who

450 items, was held by one of the most important exhibition institutions in Europe, the Art and Exhibition Hall of the

provided photographs from their collections without charging a fee. It was also made possible thanks to the support of the

Federal Republic of Germany (Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland), Bonn, accompanied

Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. We are especially grateful to the former Minister of Culture, Vaclav Jehlicka,

by a 360-page catalogue, Tschechische Fotografie des 20. Jahrhunderts. To accompany the exhibition, the film -

for his great interest in this project. We also thank Josef Moucha, Tomas Pospech, Ales Kunes, and Vaclav Podesta! for

maker Nele Munchmeyer made a thirty-minute documentary, Von Sudek bis Saudek: Tschechische Fotogra fie des 20.

their valuable comments and advice, Derek Paton and Richard Skvaril for their meticulous copy-editing of each chapter,

Jahrhunderts, broadcast on German, Austrian , Swiss, and Czech television . Without the willingness of many museums,

Derek and Marzia Paton and William McEnchroe for their painstaking translations into English, Vladimir and Martin Vimr

galleries, collectors, and photographers (and their families) to lend photographic works , or without the enthus iasm and

for their graphic design and typesetting and their patience with our frequent changes to this large text and the selection

support of the director of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, Helena Koenigsmarkova, the directors of the Kunst-

of photographs. We are, however, most grateful to Karel Kerlicky, the owner of the KANT publishing house, thanks to

und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland , Wenzel Jakob, Ch ristoph Vitali , and Robert Fleck, and also

whose enthusiasm, self-sacrifice, courage, and expertise so many books have come out, spreading the renown of Czech

Dusan Seidl, Karel Srp, Olga Maia, Emil Zavadil , Jitka Stetkova, Anna Horejsi, Lenka Sedlackova, Jana Hummelova,

photographic work. We believe that Czech Photography of the Twentieth Century ranks among them .

Angelica Francke, Helga Willingh6fer, Jutta Frings, and many others, the organizationally demanding project could not have been carried out.

Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch

1900-1918

Pictorial ism

IN TH E NINETEENTH CENTURY Czech photography did not have artists who could be ranked in importance with Juli a Margaret Cameron , Nadar, Peter Henry Emerson , or Gustave Le Gray. Despite this, by the turn of the twentieth century photography was an acknowledged occupation, with many owners of prospering studios gaining national recogni tion (the leading portraitist Jindrich Eckert, for example, was a member of the Town Council in Prague and a bearer of the Gold Cross of Merit with Crown, which was awarded him by the Austro-Habsburg Emperor, Francis Joseph. 1 Photography was used to ornament stately interiors with grand portraits by renowned masters (for example, Jan Langhans) or put to the service of science and art. 2 Most studio production , however, remained stuck in academic routine . Czech photography only acquired international standing at the end of the nineteenth century in the Pictorial ism of the Impressionist and Art Nouveau periods, which were also important in Austria and Germany. This was the time that the famous Czech painter and graphic artist Alfons (Alphonse) Mucha, who lived mainly in Paris, created photographic nudes and portraits of exceptional quality, although these were not final works but sketches for his pictures, posters, and prints.3 As in other European countries , this period saw the amateur photography movement begin to play an increasingly important role. The movement's leading representatives sought to raise photography to the level of art. In 1889 the Cl ub of Amateur Photographers was founded, gaining support from the professional Jindrich Eckert and the inventor Jakub Husnik. At the turn of the century the club won fame with the work of Otto Setele, Rudolf Spillar, Ludvik Pinka, and many other members, who tended towards subjective modes of expression .4 They began to use the broad range of pig ment processes (for instance gum bichromate, oil, carbon and bromoil printing techniques) , enabling them to gain consid erable control over the final picture and the repeated application of a unique artistic original, since every fine print differed, at least in its details, from other prints. The Pictorialists enriched photographic work with subjects adopted from contemporary painting, chiefly from Impressionism and Art Nouveau. These initiatives took place at the same time as the emancipation of Czech graphic art. The internal exhibition of the Club of Amateur Photographers in Prague in 1899 was dominated by Pictorialist works. The fo remost figures in photography were Josef Binko, a landscape artist and portraitist Josef Binko ,5 Gustav Mautn er, an active member of the Prague Club of German Amateur Photographers, and Count Karel Maria Chotek, a membe r of the Vienna Camera Club (and a cousin of the wife of Archduke Francis Ferdinand , heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne) . Until recently, Chotek 's photographic work had been entirely forgotten , yet it was he who introduced Impressionistic seascapes to Czech photography. Karel Novak, a professional photographer, worked in Frantisek Drtikol Dancer

1914 Bromoil print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

SI

Bremen and then Vienna. His photographs include not only landscapes and psychological portraits but also early nudes. The formation and propagation of the new aesthetic was profoundly influenced by close contact with the international movement of 'fine art photography', and at home by the publishing activity of the photographer and theorist Jaroslav Petrak. He summarized his theories in the book Zen svetla a stinu: Problem umelecke fotografie v teorii a praxi

spiritu al world . In them Drtikol symbolically expressed his personal vision of women: 'Woman before the act of love is defeated. She is always defiled. But after the act she is the victor. What she takes from the life and strength of a man makes her stronger. The man loses and the woman wins.' 8 For both categories of nude, Drtikol often used handpainted backgrounds and the stylistic possibilities of fine prints and the soft-focus lens. In addition to Drtikol, the pioneers of the photographic nude in the Bohemian Lands included Alois Zych, although the quality of his work cannot be compared to Drtikol's. But Drtikol did have real competitors in Jindrich Vanek, who specialized in representative portraits of important personalities, and Vladimir Jindrich Bufka, in whose prematurely truncated work we find not only lyrical portraits and atmospheric landscapes and town scenery, but also modern motifs (for example, the locomotive and the ocean liner) and emphasizing impressionistic illumination. At the same time he was an outstanding propagator of new photographic techniques such as the autochrome, which made it possible to photograph in natural colours. The German firm of Schlosser & Wenisch was the workplace of Franz Fiedler from Prostejov, 9 who later settled in Dresden , where he came to fame. Around 1915 Karel Kruis 10 created a number of formally sophisticated landscapes with a low horizon, anticipating the development of Czech landscape photography in the 1920s. An important part of the development of Czech photography is some of the work of the Czech-American Drahomir Josef Ruzicka. 11 He Frantisek Drtikol

worked in the spirit of purist Pictorialism, -inspired by the photos of Alfred Stieglitz and Clarence H. White and rejecting

· Profile

1903

the pigment processes, and achieved great acclaim in Czechoslovakia after the war. The multi-talented Anton Josef

Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Trcka, a Czech living in Vienna,12 and the Austrian photographer Rudolf Koppitz, who came from Austrian Silesia 13 and studied photography at the k. k. Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt (Imperial and Royal Teaching and Experimental Institute of Graphic Arts) in Vienna under Karel Novak, merit a special chapter. Trcka lived almost his entire life in Vi-

Frantisek Drtikol

enna, where he produced his world-renowned expressive portraits of Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Peter Altenberg, and

Jakub Obrovsky, Painter

1913-14

other local artists. Koppitz, who made outstanding portraits, nudes, symbolic staged compositions and photographs of

Oil print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

(Harvest of Light and Shadow: Artistic Photography in Theory and Practice, 1910), which contains examples of work by West European and Czech practitioners of Pictorialism. In it he writes : 'To capture these purely spiritual impressions the artist uses a variety of methods, which obviously have an influence on realizing the artist's spiritual visions, and impose a certain personal characteristic on the finished work, making of it an oil painting, a pen-and-ink drawing, and so forth, and also, if you will, ultimately a photograph.' 6 A key figure in the new generation of professional photographers with artistic ambitions was Frantisek Drti ol, 7 today considered the first Czech photographer of international importance. In his youth he graduated fro m the ne y founded Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt fur Photographie (Teaching and Experimental Institute for Photography) in Munich, where he acquired an intense interest in Art Nouveau and Symbolism. After returning to his homeland he gradually came to prominence in portraiture, landscape, and other genres, while also photographing miners from the Pribram and Kladno mines. It was from the Munich school that he also took his lifelong credo 'Ars una, mille species' (One Art, a Thousand Forms), which inspired him in his wide-ranging artistic activity over the coming decades. After he

o ed o

Prague he worked with Augustin Skarda, with whom he published a singular collection of oil-pigment prints in 1911 entitled Z dvoru a dvorecku stare Prahy (From the Yards and Courtyards of Old Prague), captu ri ng the pie resq e beauty of houses in the oldest parts of the Bohemian metropolis. Their photography studio became one of the ce

es

of the Czech cultural and social elite. In Drtikol 's earliest nudes, dating from before the First World War, we find bo the femme fatale of Romanticism and the dream-like fairy of Symbolism. The expressions and gestures of he ep e eral girls and women that underlie his work's lyricism suggest an unspecified longing, a subtle melancholy, an Nouveau sadness, dreaminess, and amatory fervour. Drtikol was thus putting to inventive use popular Art

o

motifs - translucent drapes, unbound hair, flowers with a precisely defined symbolic meaning. In the 'dramatic' o the nudes he depicted various femmes fatales. These were dominated by a complex arrangeme nt of pictures

·

biblical figure of Salome, symbolizing erotic passion and death, love and evil, and the antithesis of corporeality and

rt ea o Jindrich Vanek Jan, Charlotte, and Alice Masaryk

1916 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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111

Jaroslav Feyfar Cherry Tree Lane near Mficna 1907- 10 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

nature, worked professionally for several years in photographic studios in Bruntal, and also in Opava, Brno, and Liberec, before moving to Vienna . There, he eventually became fully integrated into Austrian photography, of which he is toda , considered a classic. Like Franz Fiedler, Karel Novak, Hans Watzek, Hermann Clemens Kosel, Emil Mayer, and Carl Pietzner, Koppitz is an example of the close links that existed between Czech photography and Austria and Germany.

NOTES

Pavel Scheufler, Jind'fich Eckert, Prague: Odeon, 1985. 2

Pavel Scheufler, Galerie c. k. fotografu, Prague: Grada, 2001.

3

Graham Ovenden, Alphonse Mucha Photographs, London: St. Martin 's Press, 1974; Josef Moucha and Jiri Rapek,

4

Jan Mlcoch and Pavel Scheufler, Cesky piktorialismus 1895-1928, Prague: Geske centrum fotografie , 1999.

A/fans Mucha, Prague: Torst, 2000. 5

Pavel Scheufler, Josef Binko, Prague: Torst, 2005.

6

Jaroslav Petrak, Zen svetla a stfnu: Problem umelecke fotografie v teorii a praksi, Prague: B. Koci, 1910.

7

Anna Farova and Manfred Heiting , Frantisek Drtikol: Photograph des Art Deco. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 1986; Vladimir Birgus, Photographer Frantisek Drtikol, Prague: Kant, 2000; Jan Mlcoch, Frantisek Drtikol: Photographies/ Fotografie/Photographs 1900-1914, Prague: Umeleckoprumyslove museum and KANT, 1999; Vladimir Birgus, Frantisek Drtikol, Aries: Actes sud and Photo Poche, 2007.

8

'Frana o zenach' in 'Frana Drtikol. (Osobnost a dflo)'. Typescript, Prague: Museum of Decorative Arts, n.d., p. 181 .

9

Antonin Dufek, Franz Fiedler: Fotografie/Photographs/Fotografien, Brno and Prague: Moravian Gallery and KANT, 2005.

10

Karel Kotesovec, Karel Kruis: Fotografie z let 1882-1917/Photography from 1882-191 7, Prague: Libri, 2009.

11

Christian A. Peterson and Daniela Mrazkova, The Modern Pictorialism of D. J. Ruzicka/Modern! piktorialismus D. J. Ruiicky,

12

Monika Faber, Anton Josef Trcka 1893-1940, Salzburg and Vienna: Rupertinum- Museum

13

Jo-Ann Conklin and Monika Faber, Rudolf Koppitz 1884-1936, Vienna: Christian Brandstatter, 1995.

Minneapolis and Prague: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Kant, and City Gallery Prague, 1990. fur zeitgenossische und moderne Kunst and Christian Brandtstatter, 1999.

Alfons (Alphonse) Mucha Study for the Tragedy mural in the German Theatre , New York 1908 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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113

/ JosefBinko Untitled c. 1910 Gum bichromate print National Technical Museum, Prague

Karel Chotek Untitled c. 1900 National Heritage Institute, Velke Brezno

Karel Nov6k Portrait Before 1910 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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11s

Frantisek Drtikol Untitled c. 1913 Oil print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Frantisek Drtikol and Augustin Skarda

Vladimir Jindi'ich Bufka

From Large and Little Courtyards of Old Prague (Plate no. 11)

A Forest Cemetery at Chuchle, All Souls' Day

1911

1913

Oil print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Gum bichromate print Private collection , Prague

16

Vladimir Jindi'ich Bufka Evening Train 1911

Gum bichromate print Moravian Gallery in Brno

Drahomrr Josef Riiiic!ka When We Were Little Boys (Boys by the Riverside) Platinum print Museum of Decotaive Arts in Prague

Karel Kruis NearM§ene 1915

Private collection , Prague

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I 19

I

/

Karel Smirous Woman with a Red Parasol 1915 Autochrome Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Anton Josef Trcka

/

Portrait of the Painter Egan Schiele 1914 Private collection , Prague

201

21

1900-1918

Rudolf Bruner-Dvorak Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenberg, Wife of Francis Ferdinand, Taking a Stroll Before 1914 Private collection , Prague

Documentary Photography and Photojournalism before 1918

THE INCREASING AVAILABILITY of hand-held cameras, which made it possible for the photographer to make pic-

tures wi thout a tripod, led to the growing popularity of taking snapshots at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. This trend was encouraged by the development of reproduction and printing technologies facil itating high-quality publication of photographs in newspapers and magazines, as well as on postcards. In Bohemia, the founding father of photojournalism was Rudolf Bruner-Dvorak,1 whose 'instantaneous photographs ' first attracted attention at the 1891 industrial exhibition (Jubilejni zemska vystava) in Prague. In the years that followed he continued to docu ment life in Bohemia and the various social and political activities of the family of Archduke Francis Ferdinand (the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne) , for whom he worked as a personal photographer. On his journeys thro ugh the Balkans he took many pictures of social life there , as well as snapshots from the street. In their fresh spontaneity these photos of horse races , athletics meetings, hunts, and military manoeuvres recall the work of Jacques-Henri Lartigue. Bruner-Dvorak, the first Czech snapshot photographer, is today rightly considered the best Czech photographic chronicler of his time. The majority of his spontaneous photographs were nevertheless taken using a camera for 18 x 24 cm glass plates or stereo negatives. He also documented , for advertising or promotional use, factories in full operation and industrial products; this included the beg inning of motor transport in the Bohemian Lands. In 1913 the painter and graphic artist Alfons (Alphonse) Mucha brought back numerous pictures of people in the streets of Moscow (he later used these in creating the set of monumental canvases for the Slav Epic) . The authorship of many of these photographs, however, is disputed, as Jana Brabcova points out in her monograph on Mucha: 'It's wi dely known that many of the photographs from the Russian journey which have been attributed to Mucha were, acco rding to the records of Mrs Muchova, in fact taken by the French photographer who accompanied Mucha to Russia.'2 Mucha probably at least played a part in selecting the subjects that he wanted to use in his pictures. Topographi c photography and photojournalism were intensively pursued by Frantisek Kratky, 3 who published many photos with subjects from national history and folklore as well as genre pictures from his travels through Bohemia, Italy, Russia, and the Balkans in stereoscopic photographs. Josef Pirka specialized in vivid photographs of racing events, horse breeding , and hunting with the hounds. Ordinary life in the small town of Jilemnice in the foothills of the Giant Mountains was recorded over many years by the doctor-photographer Jaroslav Feyfar. The development of photojournalism was greatly aided by the increasing inclusion of photographs in magazines. The weekly Cesky svet (Bohemian World) was founded in 1904 by Karel Hipman, and in addition to Rudolf Bru ner-Dvorak it featured many other excellent contributors, including amateurs. Bohumil Stremcha focused on everyday life in Prague, the capital of the Bohemian Lands and home to frequent and diverse bizarre happenings and portentous events. Zikmund Reach 's field of activity was even broader, documenting historical buildings, street scenes, and various kinds of inhabitant of Prague. He also realized the importance photography held as a pictorial memoir, leading him in his Prague shop to concentrate and enlarge his photographic documents over decades. Important events were already being recorded quite naturally and the photographer had become an integral participant. This was how

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123

Frantisek Drtikol Untitled (from the Pfibram silver mines)

1908-09 Oil print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Zikmund Reach Sterba the Chestnut-seller, from the Prague Characters series No date Private collection , Prague

Jaroslav Bruner-Dvorak, brother of the better-known Rudolf, captured an event of worldwide importance - the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo, in June 1914, which sparked off the First World War. The works of the traveller, scientist, and adventurer Alberto Vojtech Frie were very different from those of the others . While travelling through the Mato Grosso region of South America he visited native tribes and documented their culture and customs. Enrique Stanko Vraz also visited several exotic lands, including New Guinea, China, Ghana, and Peru, taking hundreds of photographs for books and lectures. Czech ethnographic photography developed in parallel to this. One of its proponents was Karel Dvorak, a long-time member of the Czech Photographic Club. He became famous for lectures in which he projected hand-coloured slides onto screens. This was a highly modern approach to form , yet unlike the Pictorialists the documentary photographers of this period entirely rejected the notion of the photographic positive. 4 It is hard to find any photographs of the horrors of the First World War in the contemporaneous Czech press. They were, however, amply documented by numerous amateur photographers directly on the battlefield . Photography became in their hands a witness to the daily hardships of soldiers and civilians, capturing wartime suffering with an unadulterated frankness. Often small and of poor technical quality, and frequently taken on the frontlines, these pictures usually became part of personal photo-albums. Remarkably authentic and visually powerful photographs of the battles and daily lives of soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Army's 47th Infantry Regiment were taken by the military photographer Jindfich Bisicky.

Zikmund Reach Basket Stretcher for Removing Drunkards, People Resisting Arrest, and Victims of Drowning, from the Prague Characters series No date Private collection , Prague

His pictures, however, were entirely forgotten and not till 2005 were examples shown in the Prague exhibition 'Czech Photography of the 20th Century'. In 2009 Jaroslav Kucera organized their complete publication for an exhibition at Prague Castle and the book Pesky prvni svetovou valkou I World War One on Foot, 5 calling it the work of an unknown soldier. Only after the book's publication did it come to be known who took these extraordinary pictures. The declaration of Czechoslovak independence in October 1918, the mass demonstrations accompanying the news, and the arrival of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the first Czechoslovak president, were all captured on film by photographers, particularly those of the Dite studio.

NOTES Pavel Scheufler and Jan Hozak, Krasne easy: Rudolf Bruner-Dvorak, momentni fotograf. Prague: Grafoprint Neubert, 1995. 2

Jana Brabcova, A/tons Mucha, Prague: Svoboda, 1996, p. 72.

3

Pavel Scheufler, Frantisek Kratky: Cesky fotograf p'fed 100 lety I Czech Photographer 100 Years Ago I

4

Pavel Scheufler, Fotograficke album Cech 1839-1914, Prague: Odeon, 1989.

Ein tschechischer Photograph van 100 Jahren, Prague: Baset, 2004.

5

Jaroslav Kucera (ed.), Pesky prvnf svetovou va lkou I World War One on Foot, Prague: Prague Castle Administration and Jakura , 2009.

24 1

12s

Bohumil Stremcha Charles Bridge, Prague 1908 Private collection , Prague

26 1

Rudolf Bruner-Dvorak

Rudolf Bruner-Dvorak

Emperor William II of Germany and Archduke Francis Ferdinand 1914 Private collection , Prague

c. 1913,

Maxmilian, Duke of Hohenberg, Son of Francis Ferdinand, at a Shoot Private collection , Prague

127

Jaroslav Bruner-Dvoi'6k Francis Ferdinand and His Wife in Sarajevo June 28 , 1914 Museum of Decorati ve Arts in Prague

/

Jaroslav Bruner-Dvoi'6k After the First Assassination Attempt in Sarajevo June 28 , 1914 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Photographer unknown Untitled (an execution) 1914-18 Private collection , Prague

28

129

Jindi'ich Bisicky Attack at Stebnik, in the Carpathians 1915 Collection of Jaroslav Kucera , Prague

Jindi'ich Bisicky Staff Officers of the 47th Infantry Fording the River Frontier at Mernik 1917 Collection of Jaroslav Kucera, Prague

Jindi'ich Bisicky Soldiers' Communal Shower c. 1916 Collection of Michal Rybak, Velvary

301

j

31

1918-1939

From Pictorialism to Modern Photography

TH E END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR contributed not only to the creation of an independent Czechoslovak state but also to th e emergence of dramatic changes affecting the whole of society. Photography was one of these changes , with the work of several important representatives of Impressionist and Art Nouveau Pictorialism developing in the direc ion of Modern photography, though not always going as far as the Avant-garde. 1 Frantisek Drtikol returned to his previous Art Nouveau and Symbolist-oriented work, but enriched it with Futurist, Expressionist, and Cubist elements. This was probably due, at least in part, to the influence of Jaroslav Rossler, his assistant. Gradually Drtikol created his own personal style (sometimes seen as Art Deco), characteristic of the works of his best-known period. He left behind the painted backgrounds of his previous works, as well as the oil print, the bromoil print, the gum bichromate print, and other processes which, with the exception of the carbon print, which he called pigment print. In his photographs of nudes he began in 1923 to place his models amongst various geometric decorations and shadows, sometimes with ran scendental rings and cones of light. He often arranged them in expressive poses influenced by Modern dance and heatre. Movement, emphasized by dynamic poses and the slanting surfaces on which the models lay or stood, started Frantisek Drtikol Wave

1925 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

o gain prominence. But at the same time Drtikol also photographed bodies in detail , accentuating their simple, elementary shapes. Whereas previously he had photographed lyrical nymphs and femmes fatales as symbolic literary figures , between 1923 and 1929 his photographs of dancers celebrated the classical ideal of Calocagathia, the female personification of nobility, the harmonic uniting of animated beauty and physical health. In showing the naked body in its origin al state and natural beauty many of Drtikol's nudes were extremely daring for their time. Yet even in these Modern nudes, which in the use of shadow had much in common with the Avant-garde works of Rossler and Funke, Drtikol still emphasized symbolic meaning. In this he demonstrated his growing interest in Buddhism and emphasis on content, of which he wrote: 'Art is [...] what comes from the depths of the soul, where everything is touched directly by God and .true art is independent of the material essence from which the work emanates.' 2 Participation in the Paris 'Exposition lnternationale des Arts Decoratifs et lndustriels Modernes' in 1925 'brought Drtikol international fame. In the years to come that led to, among other things, numerous exhibitions abroad . ,His most celebrated work from this period, Wave (1925), had already been in conception since at least December 1914. 'It was then that Drtikol wrote in his diary: 'Life is a wavy line, where the peaks depict happiness and joy, the troughs

unh appiness and sorrow! A person of strong will should organize his life like a horizontal line [.. .]. And this eternal alternation of joy and grief, the permanent balancing of forces, is what makes life so interesting : a person would cease to be a person if he could not struggle and measure his strength with others. Where there is light there must also be shadow. And the darker the shadow, the more the light will shine.' 3 A Cubist-Futurist delineation can also be detected in the early work of Jaroslav Rossler from the beginning of the 1920s. Rossler was Drtikol 's student, and acquired from him his predilection for the bromoil print and other pigment processes. During the same period, however, he also created his fi rst photographs influenced by abstract art and Constructivism.4

32

I 33

enced frontlin e warfare during the Great War and had no time for sentimentalism in photography. They were interested in real life and, like the painters and poets of their own age, in social problems as well. In November and December 1921 the Czech Photographic Club held an exhibition of work by Drahomir Josef Ruzicka ,8 who was a Czech-American active in the American photography movement and promoted the straight photography of Alfred Stieglitz and Clarence H. White. (In 1923 Ruzicka presented the originals of photographs by White, Edward Weston, and Doris Ulmann.) In theme, motif, and composition his own work was still inspired by the play of light and the use of the soft focus of Impression ist and Art Nouveau Pictorialism. But by rejecting oil, the carbon print, and other pigment processes, as well as any manipulation of the negative, Ruzicka's photographs belong to purist (modern) Pictorialism. His work had a considerable influence on the young generation of Czech photographers who, following his example, began to prefer the pure gelatin silver print. One of these photographers, Funke, wrote of Ruzicka's next Prague exhibition: 'I also admire Dr Ruzicka as a photographer because rather than conceal the outward appearance of the photograph, he emphasizes its origin . [... ] His print is a faithful copy of the negative, and is therefore testimony to two things: first, his superbly trained eye, whi ch with hard work, will-power, and feeling has reached the stage where he composes on the glass plate, not Drahomfr Josef Ruiilka

Jaroslav Krupka

Skeleton No date PPF Art Collection, Prague

Springtime (Spring Clouds)

1923 Bromoil print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

on the paper; and, second, the convincing , veristic quality of the final prints. For where nothing is altered, there is photographic truth.' 9 In 1922, four young photographers, including Josef Sudek and Adolf Schneeberger, were expelled from the Prague Club. Shortly afterwards, they and some other photographers of their generation founded the Fotoklub Praha (which then broke up just two years later). In 1924 the more radical faction, headed by Funke,10 Sudek, 11 and Schneeberger, 12 founded the Czech Photographic Society (Ceska fotograficka spolecnost), with about fifty members. Characteristic of work from this period is Sudek 's Saint Vitus portfolio (1924- 28), published in collaboration with

Karel Novak's work developed in a number of stages, encompassing portraits, nudes and still lifes. Yet his

the Druzstevni prace publishing house. In fifteen photographs tracing the completion of the cathedral spires, Sudek

main contribution to Czechoslovak photography was his leadership in the photography studio at the new State

focuses on the light and its changes in this sacred space. Sudek had created works in a similar spirit before, on an

School of Graphic Arts in Prague (Sudek was one of his pupils), where he used expertise gained from years of teach-

island in Kolin, in the streets of Prague, and in the lnvalidovna veterans' home, Prague. In the first half of the 1920s,

ing in Vienna . In the latter half of the 1920s he expanded the curriculum to include advertising and promotional

Funke, too, created genre photographs in which he emphasized the play of light. Landscape photography became

photography, photomontage, and text-based work. Jindrich Vanek, who became a member of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, worked in a grand style, and became a much sought-after photographer of celebrities. In 1934 he published a portfolio of original nudes entitled Apotheosy (Apotheoses) with an article by the art historian Antonin Matejcek. Rudolf Schneider-Rohan's work might seem to fall outside the context of Czech photography. Like Rossler, he worked in Paris from the late 1920s onwards, first in the studio of G. L. Manuel Freres and then in Lucien Lorelle's stu· dio, before going on to open his own. He created a number of daring nudes of men and women,5 and made portraits of many notable figures of French culture, including Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf, and Jean Cocteau. The studio portrait remained one of the most frequent photographic genres. During the inter-war period hun· dreds of professional companies throughout Czechoslovakia made it their speciality, often responding to the latest vogue. One of the more important was the traditional studio of Jan Langhans ,6 which kept in step with contemporary trends. The leading position , however, was held by the Drtikol studio. It specialized in official portraits, seeking to render a psychological characterization of leading politicians, artists, scholars and scientists, and other eminent people, includ· ing many important foreign visitors.7 Perhaps Drtikol's chief competitor in photographic portraiture was Jindrich Vanek , who had more than twenty Nobel prize winners amongst his famous sitters. In addition to taking classical studio portraits, Vanek also experimented in portraiture with a Leica, using 35 mm film . The colour portrait studies from the Schlosser & Wenisch studio are of an altogether different nature. Jaroslav Balzar and Vilem Strominger, who took numerous portraits of Czech stars of stage and screen, were both influenced by the American 'glamour' photography of film celebrities. They themselves came to fame by working with the film studios. Other leading firms included the Karel Stehlik Photographic Studios in Prague, the Vaclav Sevcik Company in Prostejov, and, in Brno, the studios of Vladimir Lehky, Josef and Evzen Petruj, Camillo Pokorny, and Frence Grubnerova, whose partner was Lisa Mahler. Many studios worked with society magazines such as Mesfc, Salon, Gentleman, and Eva. Other professionals (for example, Josef Sudek and Josef Ehm) created outstanding portraits, although their main contributions were in non-commercial photography. Young members flocked to join the ranks of amateur photography clubs following the declaration of Czechoslovak independence in October 1918. A rupture between the generations proved inevitable. Many of the young had experi-

34 J

Arnoit Pikart

Jaromfr Funke

Dolce far niente

In the Open Air

1926

1922-24

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Private collection , Prague

J35

NOTES Monika Faber and Josef Kroutvor, Photographie der Moderne in Prag 1900-1925, Vienna and Schaffhausen: bsterreichisches Fotoarchiv im Museum moderner Kunst and Edition Stemmle, 1991. 2

For Frantisek Drtikol on art, see 'Frar'ia Drtikol (osobnost a dilo)', a typescript collection of articles, in th e Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, n.d.

3

Vladimir Birgus, Photographer Frantisek Drtikol. Prague: KANT, 2000, p. 40.

4

Vladimir Birgus, Jaroslav Rossler, Prague: Torst, 2001; Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch (eds), Jaroslav Rossler:

5

Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch, Akt v ceske fotografii I The Nude in Czech Photography, Prague: KANT, 2001.

Czech Avant-Garde Photographer, Cambridge (Mass.) and London : MIT Press, 2004.

6

Pavel Scheufler and Zuzana Meisnerova-Wismerova, Jan Langhans, Prague: Torst, 2005.

7 8

Josef Moucha, Frantisek Drtikol, Prague: Torst, 2007. Christian A. Peterson and Daniela Mrazkova, The Modern Pictorialism of D. J. Ruzicka I Moderni piktorialismus D. J. Ruzicky,

9

Minneapolis and Prague: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1990. Jaromir Funke, 'K vystave Dr. R(Jzicky v CKFA v Praze', Fotograficky obzor, 1925, p. 108.

10

Antonfn Dufek, Jaromir Funke, Prague: Torst, 2003.

11

Zdenek Kirschner, Josef Sudek, New York: Takarajima Books, 1993; Anna Farova, Josef Sudek, Prague: Torst, 1995; Antonin Dufek, Josef Sudek neznamy: Salonni fotografie 1918-1942 I The Unknown Josef Sudek: Vintage Prints 1918-1942.

Adolf Schneeberger

Brno and Prague: Moravska galerie and KANT, 2006.

In Front of a Circus Tent

12

1924

13

Daniela Mrazkova, Jan Lauschmann, Prague: Odeon , 1986.

14

Jiri Jenicek, Fotografie jako z'feni sveta a zivota, Prague: Ceskoslovenske filmove nakladatelstvi, 1947, p. 51.

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Antonin Dufek, Adolf Schneeberger, Prague: Odeon , 1983.

popular again, but it was now usually characterized by a low horizon and high sky. Still, it was the city that interested photographers the most. They captured street life, people at work, and the living conditions of the poor. In Jaroslav Krupka's work we can trace the influence of Ruzicka's style, though he still used pigment processes. It was also probably Ruzicka's influence that led Drtikol to abandon all pigment processes except for carbon printing. But the main representatives of Ruzicka's approach were the young photographers, particularly Arnost Pikart, Jaroslav Fabinger, and Jan Lauschmann. 13 A tireless advocate of new technological processes, Lauschmann was also one of the most successful Czechoslovak participants in international photography exhibitions. His work reflects some of the Avantgarde movements, especially Constructivism and New Objectivity, made even before Ruzicka had taken note of them . He also became the main opponent of Rudolf Pad'ouk, who, in an article called 'Proti proudu' (Against the Stream) in Fotograficky obzor (Photographic Review) , was still defending pigment processes as late as 1927. By then, however,

straight photography in Czechoslovakia had clearly prevailed. The photographer and theorist Jirf Jenfcek described the first members' exhibition at the Czech Photographic Society as follows: 'The exhibition had expressive portraits and objectively romantic still lifes. The prints were technically perfect, not foggy, not hazy. The exhibition radiated light, luminosity. It was a successful demonstration.' 14 And yet, in truth, the progressive tendency of many practitioners of Czech pure Pictorialism was only relative. Even after Christian Schad and Man Ray had begun to create imaginative photograms, while Alvin Langdon Coburn and Jaroslav Rossler were responding inventively to the ideas of Cubism and abstract art, and Alexander Rodchenko, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Jaromfr Funke were experimenting with Constructivist and Functionalist diagonal compositions and unusual perspectives (the bird's-eye view and the worm's-eye view), Lauschmann, Pikart, Schneeberger, and Sudek were creating detailed landscapes and genre scenes, which only halfheartedly responded to the radical Avant-garde.

JosefSudek

Jan Lauschmann

View of the Nave and South Transept of the New Section of St Vitus 's Cathedral (Panel no. 1O from the St Vitus's Cathedral series)

1927

Castle Staircase Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

1924-28 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

36 1

I 37

Frantisek Drtikol Nude

1927 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Frantisek Drtikol Nude

1923 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

38 1

Frantisek Drtikol Nude

1927 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Frantisek Drtikol Sectors of a Circle (or Arch)

1928 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Frantisek Drtikol Untitled c. 1929 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Frantisek Drtikol Untitl ed

c. 1929 " igment print .'useum of Decorative Arts in Prague

40 1

141

Karel Nov6k

Rudolf Schneider-Rohan

Untitled

Study

1920s

c. 1930

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Frantisek Drtikol Composition

1927 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

42 1

143

1918-1939

Poetism and the Beginning of Abstract Photography

BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR Cubism and Expressionism had already permeated Czech art (indeed Prague was one of the main centres of Cubism). 1 But the creation of an independent, democratic Czechoslovakia in October 1918, under President Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, with its relatively high standard of living and rich cultural life, un-

doubtedl y hastened the further development of Avant-garde art. 2 The new republ ic, however, home not only to Czechs and Slovaks but also to three million Germans and large communities of Hungarians, Jews, Poles, and Ru theni ans, experienced nationality problems that had been less apparent in the multinational Austro-Habsburg Empire.3 Relations between Czech , German , and Austrian Modern artists also proved problematic.4 Several German artistic associations were active in Bohemia and Moravia, with Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka , Alfred Kubin , and Otto Dix taking part in exhibitions by the Tvrdosijni (The Stubborn) and the Prager Sezession groups, and a large group of Czech architects took part in the Bauhaus 'International Architecture' exhibition in Weimar in 1923. Bauhaus attracted many Czechs and Slovaks and the school had an enormous influence on Czech architecture, design , graphic art, and painting . Following Hitler's coming to power, Czechoslovakia became a haven for many left-leaning German and Austrian artists. But there was less contact with Austrian fine art, wh ich after having flourished at the turn of the century fell into decli ne after the First World War and did not play an important role in the Avant-garde movement. The Czech Avantgarde thus directed its interest ever more closely towards France. It became common for Czech artists to visit France seeki ng inspiration , and some of them remained there permanently (for example, the painters Frantisek Kupka and Josef Sima). Meanwhile, Avant-garde French writers, artists, architects, and film-makers were received enthusiastically in Czechoslovakia, and many retained close links with their Czech colleagues. 5 Left-leaning Czech artists also sought inspiration in the art world of the Soviet Union , which they typically perceived in a highly idealized light. 6 Their interest ranged further, however, to encompass Italian Futurism , Dutch Neo-Plasticism, and the Avant-garde movement in central and eastern Europe.7 Despite these and other international contacts, Czech inter-war artists did not just absorb foreign influences. They also made their own distinctive contribution to Avant-garde art. Integral to this was the Devetsil association ,8 which , founded in October 1920, sought to bring about a revolutionary transformation of art and society. After gradually distancing itself from proletarian art its members began to favour Constructivism and, primarily, Poetism, the first Avan t-garde style movement to arise in Bohemia. Karel Teige , Devetsil's leading theorist, described Poetism as 'the art of living, in the most beautiful sense of the word , modernized Epicureanism .' The members of Devetsil (which also had a branch in Brno), were generally very young painters, poets, writers, architects, actors, musicians, and theorists, most Jaroslav Rossler

of th em born in about 1900. Devetsil endeavoured to forge links between the Czech Avant-garde and the leading cen-

OM TO

tres of European art - Paris, Moscow, and Berlin . Its members celebrated modern civilization , and argued that the new

1926-27 Coll age and drawin g Muse um of Decorative Arts in Pragu e

44 1

J45

a poetic vision of the world. They sought to combine the rational subjects of Modern architecture and technology with literary elements and poetic photos of palm trees , girls in swimsuits, and sea creatures. By developing a special kind of collage and photomontage they formed a bridge between Dada and Constructivism on the one hand and Surrealism on the other. Picture poems and progressive photography also found a place in Devetsil publications, often in conjunction with innovative typesetting, for example, in Zivot II: Sbornfk nove krasy (Life: A Miscellany of New Beauty, 11) from 1922, the journals ReD and Disk, and the Franta anthology from 1927. The most prominent artists of this circle were Jindrich Styrsky, Toyen, Karel Teige, Otakar Mrkvicka, Josef Sima, Jaroslav Rossle_r:, Evzen Markalous, and Jiri Voskovec. Picture poems were often used on the covers of books published by Odeon, Vaclav Petr, Frantisek Borovy, and others. 10 They expressed the young generation 's yearning for radical change, their admiration for modern technology and innovative design and typography, and the desire to make art for the general public rather than just a narrow elite. Vitezslav Nezval's Abeceda (The Alphabet, 1926) was a synthesis of this art movement. It includes Karel M. Paspa's photographs of dance creations by Milca Mayerova in a graphic design by Teige, who app li ed the progressive ideas of 'typo-photo' (the integration of type and pictures). His emphasis on elementary black lines recalls Jaroslav Rossler's Photograph I and Photograph IV from a year earlier, in which Rossler had combi ned pictures of objects on black and white card (sometimes using double exposures of two overlapping negatives) with ink drawing . Unfortunately, lack of funds made it impossible to make the short lyric films that were meant to follow the selection of picture poems. The scripts, by Jaroslav Seifert, Karel Teige, Vitezslav Nezval, and Jiri Vos kovec, were based on montage, quick editing , and visual metaphor. The style of Devetsil was a source of inspiration that spread far beyond the work of its members . Rossler's works 11 contain the beginnings of abstract

• KarelTeige Greetings from the Road 1923 Collage City Gallery Prague

photography in Czechoslovakia .

vrte:z:slav Ne:z:val Jindi'ich Styrsky, Toyen How I Found Livingstone 1925 Collage Maldoror Gallery, Prague

The Alphabet Typography by Karel Teige ; photographs by Karel M. Paspa Prague: J. Otto, 1926 Dance creations by Mi/ea Mayerova

media of film and photography should take the place of traditional art forms. As early as 1923 the 'Modern Art Bazaar' (Bazar modernfho umeni) showed photographs from films and pictures of fireworks, together with photograms from Man Ray's Les Champs delicieux (1922; this was the first time they were shown outside France). In the same year, Jaroslav Rossler joined Devetsil, thus becoming its only professional photographer. Photographs also played an important role in the 'picture poems' of 1923 to 1927, especially the Poetist collages published in Disk magazine in 1923. These met Teige's criteria for a fusion of poetry and visual art. Picture

Karel M. Paspa Letter W for The Alphabet by Vitezs/av Nezval 1926 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

poems usually incorporated cut-out pieces of photographs of aeroplanes, ships, broadcasting towers, skyscrapers, city nightlife, film stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, sportsmen, jazz, dance, or journeys to exotic countries . These were placed together with letters and foreign words , drawings, postcards, tickets, pieces of magazines and newspapers, or used letter envelopes, to form simple geometric compositions . The collage, which had been developed by the Berlin practitioners of Dada, such as George Grosz, Raoul Hausmann, Hannah Hoch, John Heartfield, and Max Ernst during the First World War and the years immediately afterwards, was the perfect method to realize Devetsil's attempts to merge Poetism with Constructivism , artistic creation with mass advertising , poetry with painting , and science with art. 9 As opposed to the aggressiveness, intentional chaos , and absurd conjunctions of unrelated fragments of reality in the Dada collages , and the strictly composed and semantically linked details in Constructivist photomontages, the Czech picture poems portray a more lyrical version of Constructivism . Their artists worked from free association, enthusiasm for modern civilization, a hedonistic attitude to life, and

46 [

f

47

Some theorists used to doubt the validity of the term 'abstract photography' because, unlike painting or sculpture, photography, they argued, was a way of depicting one's surroundings. Nevertheless, the American photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn began using the term back in 1916 and it has since become common. 12 Czech photographers found inspiration in abstract art very early on . Together with Erwin Ouedenfeldt, Paul Strand, Alvin Langdon Coburn , Francis Bruguiere, and Man Ray, Jaroslav Rossler is among the early pioneers of abstract photography. As early as in 1923, he used long exposure times and an intentionally out-of-focus Tessar lens to capture the light of moving spotlights. In this way he created pictures of circles with soft outlines, lentil-shaped bodies, curves , and cones of light, suggestive of feverish visions or luminous primordial matter. He was thus one of the first photographers to make light the centre of attention - and in photography light is, after all, of prime importance. Rossler 's work brings to mind the photograms of Christian Schad, Man Ray, or Laszlo Moholy-Nagy but he was using classic camera photography. (In the 1920s Rossler also experimented with photograms, but very few of these have been preserved .) The photogram was the ideal technique with which to create imaginative, abstract prints of objects in outline, by placing things on light-sensitive photographic paper during exposure (thus combining abstraction with precision and authenticity), though this was never as widespread in Czech Avant-garde photography as it was in France or Germany. Before his first photograms, and with the pictures of moving lights from 1923 to 1925, Rossler probably created compositions with simple objects - an ashtray, a candle, a spool, or a wine glass - against a background of black and white pieces of pasteboard cut into striking geometric shapes. Many photographs (displaying the influence of Cubism and his own Cuba-Futurist drawings) accentuate the contrast between three-dimensional objects in the foreground and a flat background. In some of these pictures, he used side lighting to capture the shadows cast by vertically placed fragments of card . Sometimes he made a photomontage of two overlapping identical negatives, or combined

Jaroslav Rossler

Jaroslav Rossler

Untitled

Photograph IV

1925-26

1925

Private collection , Prague

Montage on paper Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Bedi'ich Feurstein, Jaromir Krejcar, Josef Sima, and Karel Teige Life: A Miscellany of New Beauty II

1922

photographs with pasted strips of black paper. In these works, it was as if he were trying to depict Plato 's theory of

Collage

Forms, according to which the multitude of shapes in the world conceals the elementary geometric forms , the basic building-blocks of the universe. In the early 1920s, another pioneer of Czech Avant-garde photography, Jaromir Funke,13 moved from Pictorial ist landscapes and genre scenes to abstract compositions, increasingly minimizing the depiction of concrete objects. His still lifes with glass cubes, bottles, or glass negatives, beginning in 1923, gradually came to be dominated by shad ows cast on a background. Instead of the object itself, it is the object's reflection and shadow that are of prime importance. Funke's use of the subjects of light, transparency, and reflected light culminated in the Abstract Photo series (1 927-29). On a sunl it windowsill (usual ly in the bedroom of his girlfriend Anna, who later became his wife) Funke placed household items, and captured the resu lting shadows and complex pictures on a mat board pos itioned against the opposite wall (probably using mirrors). 14 Using a traditional photographic technique, he also sought to create imaginative photographic images comparable to Man Ray's photograms (called Rayographs) . Funke, however, considered the Rayograph a cul-de-sac, writing : 'It's said that photography cannot abandon reality (which is true) , but that it can become surrealist or, more accurately said, abstract (wh ich is not true). This surrealism is a part of modern art, but it cannot be part of photography, and Man Ray cannot compete with post-Cubist art. This is the essence of his tragedy.' 15 These views, influenced by Funke's position as an amateur photographer and his emphasis on technical mastery and the purity of photography as a special medium, were not shared by Czech Avant-garde artists, who admired Man Ray's photograms. Funke actual ly tried to create a few photograms, but never published the results. Abstract composition also occurs in the work of Frantisek Drtikol. To him, however, shadow and light were mainly spiritual symbols . Like the Russian pioneer of abstract painting, Wassily Kandinsky, for example, Drtikol was influenced by the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher, mystic, and founder of Anthroposophy. Later, however, Drtikol became interested in Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies and religions. His work includes

48

149

7

Timothy 0 . Benson (ed .), Central European Avant-Gardes: Exchange and Transformation, 1910-1930, Los Angel es and Cambridge, Mass.: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and MIT Press, 2002; Matthew S. Witkovsky, Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945, Washington, D.C., and London: National Gallery of Art and Thames and Hudson , 2007.

8

Frantisek Smejkal (ed.), Devetsil: Ceska vytvarna avantgarda dvacatych let, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1986; Rostislav Svacha (ed .), Devetsil: Czech Avant-Garde Art, Architecture and Design of the 1920s and 30s, Oxford: Museum of Modern Art, 1990.

9

Jaroslav Andel , 'The 1920s: The Improbable Wedding of Constructivism and Poetism', in Jaroslav Andel (ed.) , El arte de la Vanguardia en Checoslovaquia 1918-1938 I The" Art of the Avant-garde in Czechoslovakia 1918-1938,

Valenci a: IVAM Centre Julio Gonzales, 1993, pp. 21-60 ; Jindrich Toman, Modern! ceska kniha: Fotolmontai tiskem I The Modern Czech Book: Photo/Montage in Print, Prague: KANT, 2009.

10

Zdenek Primus, Tschechische Avantgarde 1922-1940: Reflexe europaischer Kunst und Fotografie in der Buchgestaltung,

11

Hamburg: Vier-TOrme-Verlag, 1990. Vladi mir Birgus, 'Jaroslav Rossler and the Czech Avant-Garde', History of Photography, 1999, No. 1; Vladimir Birgus, Jaroslav Rossler, Prague: Torst, 2001 ; Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch (eds), Jaros/av Rossler: Czech Avant-Garde Photographer, Cambridge, Mass., and London: MIT Press, 2002; Josef Moucha, Jaroslav Rossler: Abstraktnf fotografie I Abstract Photography 1923-1978, Chrudim: Galerie Art, 2005 .

12

Alvin Langdon Coburn , 'Die Zukunft der bildmassigen Fotografie', in Wolfgang Kemp (ed.), Theorie der Fotografie II, 1912-1945, Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 1979, p. 55; Thomas Kellein and Angela Lampe (eds), Abstrakte Fotografie,

Ostfildern: Hatje Gantz, 2001; Gottfried Jager (ed.), Die Kunst der Abstrakten Fotografie I The Art of Abstract Photography,

Jaroslav Rossler

Vi!iclavJfru

Untitled 1923 Private collection, Prague

Study 1926 Association of Czech Photographers Collection , National Archi ve, Prague

13

Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 2002. Antonin Dufek, Jaromfr Funke (1896-1945): Prukopnfk fotograficke avantgardy I Pioneering Avant-Garde Photography,

14

Brno: Moravska galerie, 1996. Matthew S. Witkovsky, 'Jaromir Funke's Abstract Photo Series of 1927-29: History in the Making', History of Photography,

15

Jaromir Funke, 'Man Ray', Fotograficky obzor, 1927, pp. 36-38.

16

Vlad imir Birgus and Zdenek Kirschner, The Other Side of Frantisek Drtikol, Chicago: Jacques Baruch Gallery, 1991; Stanislav Dolezal, Anna Farova, and Petr Nedoma, Frantisek Drtikol - fotograf, ma/ff, mystik I Frantisek Drtikol:

17

Anton in Dufek, 'Light, Shadow and Object in Czech Photography of the 1930s', in Hana Rousova (ed.), Linie/barvaltvar v ceskem vytvarnem umenf tficatych let, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesty Prague, 1988, pp. 87-113; Howard Greenberg ,

2005, no. 3, pp. 228-39.

Photographer, Painter, Mystic, Prague: Galerie Rudolfinum, 1998.

compositions with geometric bodies and deeply cast shadows and, between 1930 and 1935, cut-out wooden figures . (He probably became interested in the shadow motif under the influence of his assistant, Jaroslav Rossler.) These

Ann ette Kicken, and Rudolf Kicken , Czech Vision, Avant-garde Photography in Czechoslovakia, Ostfildern: Hatje Gantz, 2007.

works were often metaphorical representations of mystical themes and Drtikol's own spiritual experiences and visions. The ethereal shapes of the figures frequently symbol ized the soul and its ascent towards the light and higher knowledge . Many motifs from these spiritual photographs of Drtikol 's final creative period also appeared in his drawings and paintings. 16 The work of the pioneers of Czech abstract photography was carried on in the works of many other photographers , especially the representatives of the New Photography and Surrealism (for instance, Eugen Wiskovsky, Ladislav Emil Berka, Miroslav Hak, Karel Kasparik, Frantisek Povolny, Hugo Taborsky, Karel Valter, and Josef Bartuska). 17

NOTES Jiri Svestka and Tomas Vlcek, Kubismus in Prag 1909- 1925, DOsseldorf: Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen , 1991 ; Tomas Vlcek, Tschechischer Kubismus I Czech Cubism 1912-1916, Salzburg: Rupertinum , 2001. 2

Bohumil Cerny, 'Die tschechoslowakische Gesselschaft 1918-1938', StifterJahrbuch, NF 11 , Munich: Adalbert Stifter Verein ,

3

Hana Rousova (ed .), Mezery v historii 1890-1927: Polemicky duch stfednf Evropy- Nemci, Zide, Cesi,

4

Vladimir Birgus, 'Czech and German Avant-Garde Photography', Photoresearcher ESHPh, 2005, no. 8, pp. 30-34.

Frantiiek Drtikol

5

Paris-Prague 1906-1930, Paris: Musee national d'art moderne, 1966.

6

Vladimir Birgus, 'Czech Avant-Garde Art and the World ', in Vladimir Birgus (ed.), Czech Photographic Avant-Garde, 1918-1948,

Photographic Picture 1930-31 Pigment print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

1997, pp. 31-39. Prague:. Narodni galerie, 1994.

Cambridge, Mass ., and London: MIT Press 1999, pp. 13-34; Avantgarda: Vztah ceske a ruske avantgardy, Prague: Slovanska knihovna and Narodni knihovna, 2002 .

SO I

I s1.

Jaroslav Rossler Condensateurs 1926 Collage Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

SFR TjSo m. -.pSm -4-43m . -4;om. -515m. -.f,5m

-53om -463m 4 30&505ru --t5·lJTI· -.J70m

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-.,43m SFR 17~fo m. SBR ::65 n1.

Evien Markalous Laugh 1926 Collage Museum Folkwang, Essen

52 1

I 53

/

Jaroslav Rossler Untitled 1923 Private collection , Prague

Jaroslav Rossler Photograph I 1925 Montage on paper Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

54 1

Jaromfr Funke

Jaromir Funke Exotic Still Life

1928-29 Private collection , Prague

•

Abstract Photo: Composition I

1927-29 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jaromir Funke Abstract Photo

1928-29 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

56 1

157

1918-1939

Jaromrr Funke After the Carnival 1924 Private collection, Prague

New Photography: Constructivism, Functionalism, and New Objectivity

I

1923- 24, soon after purist Pictorial ism arrived on the scene, various forms of the 'New Photography' began to come

to prominence. Its advocates from the ranks of the upcoming generation of Czech photographers and theorists emphasized strict adherence to the features specific to photography. Karel Teige, for example, wrote in 1922: 'Yes , photography 's morality lies in reality and truth ; after all, truthfulness is always virtue's complement, and conforms to the purpose for which photography was invented. [... ] The beauty of photography, like the beauty of technology, derives from si mple and absolute perfection and the contingency of its application: photography's beauty is the same as the beauty of an aeroplane or ocean liner or electric light bulb: it is the work both of the machine and of the human hand, the mind, and , if you like, the human heart. ' 1 In this they followed the opinions of the exponents of American 'straight photography', one of whom was Paul Strand, who in 1917 said: 'this objectivity is of the very essence of photography, its contri bution and at the same time its limitation. The full potential power of every medium is dependent on the purity of its use.' 2 They were also influenced by Constructivism in the Soviet Union and the Functionalism of the Bauhaus in Germany, and used dynamic diagonal compositions, unusual perspectives (the bird 's-eye view and the worm 's-eye view), an d novel compositions. New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit- a term coined by the art critic Gustav Friedrich in 1923), a style especially popular in Germany, put emphasis on the maximum sharpness and tonal richness of photo-

graphs and on the close-up and changes of scale. Its adherents aimed at the best possible photographic expression of the basic features of the depicted objects, rejecting Romanticism , sentimentality, and the artificiality of Impressionist and Art Nouveau Pictorialism . They emphasized realism and precision in depicting various objects, which were often of an industrial or technical nature. Nevertheless, some of them did use metaphor and shape analogies, and sought to capture magical aspects of reality. Like typography, architecture, and design, Czech New Photography was greatly influenced by the Bauhaus. Indeed, several Czech and Slovak photographers studied there. Among them was Jindrich (Heinrich) Koch ,3 who later succeeded Hans Finsler as head of the photography department at the University of Art and Design in Castle Giebichenstein, Halle, and who, before his tragic death in 1934, worked for a short time as photographer for the National Museum in Prag ue. Some other Bauhaus students of the were Zdenek Rossmann , an architect, graphic artist, set designer, photographer and teacher at the schools of arts and crafts in Bratislava and Brno, and his wife Marie Rossmannova, who was also a photographer (the list should also include the Slovaks Ladislav Foltyn , an architect, and Irena Bli.ihova, later the organizer of the Social Photography Movement in Bratislava). In 1929, Teige was invited to the Bauhaus to give a course of lectures on the sociology of architecture, typography, and aesthetics. The photographer Jaromir Funke also considered studying at the Bauhaus, before deciding instead to take up a teaching engagement at the School of Arts and Crafts, Bratislava. In 1930, the photographer, designer, and journalist Werner David Feist, a Bauhaus graduate, moved to Prague, where he was to remain for nine years. The inspirational style of teaching at the Bauhaus was most keenly felt at the schools of arts and crafts in Bratislava and Brno.4

58 /

I 59

Eugen Wiskovsky The Barrandov Terraces, Prague

c. 1933

Strong contacts were maintained with the Czech Avant-garde by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, who had several

Private collection , Prague

solo exhibitions in Czechoslovakia (in Brno, Bratislava, and Geske Budejovice). In 1936 his work even graced the entire first (and last) double-issue of the new Brno magazine Telehor. Photographs and photomontages by MoholyNagy and other Bauhaus teachers and students were often reproduced in many other Czech Avant-garde magazines next to the work of Albert Renger-Patzsch , Aenne Biermann , and other German photographers. With their of innovative bird 's-eye and worm's-eye views, diagonal compositions , and large crops , Czech Avant-garde photographers were close to the Soviet Avant-garde photographers Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, Boris lgnatovich and others whose work was published in Czech magazines and shown at exhibitions. Nor should one forget the influence of Man Ray or Paul Strand . In Czechoslovakia, Jaroslav R6ssler 5 was the first to take photographs in a Constructivist spirit. In a sense, he anticipated it as early as 1919 in his Opus I, which is considered the first Czech Avant-garde photograph . He used diagonal compositions and daring low-angle views in a number of photographs and photomontages of the Petrin Observation Tower, Prague, and the Eiffel Tower, Paris, whose steel constructions were for him symbols of the Modernism in the same way as the train , motor-car, or wireless radio were. He often abstracted the initial motifs of steel constructions in configurations of black and white surface areas, and by doing so brought them close to abstract art. Some of the photographs he incorporated in photomontages, employing enlarged details from several negatives in a single print or using different devices for masking . After returning from Paris in 1935 Rossler did not produce any artistic work for several years, resuming experimental photography only in the 1950s. The work of Jaromfr Funke 6 holds a truly unique position in the New Photography. His pictures Plates (1923) and Still Life: Frames (1924) use innovative compositions and crops to eliminate the simple motifs depicted and to use elementary shapes and lines instead. In this way he created outstanding examples of how to abstract reality and suppress the spatial perspective while fully retaining the specific features of the photographic medium. The emphasis on them proved to be the basis of all Funke's future work, which , apart from the early Pictorialist prints and a few unpublished photograms, always adhered to the principle of straight photography. Funke also set out to provide a theoretical basis for his work. In 1935 he gave an interview for the Geske slovo daily newspaper, in which he said : 'Contemporary photography rests on a solid foundation , relying on a combination of good technology and a straightforward analysis of objects in a spatial context. For us, structure is the basis and its precise depiction a photographic priority. Then comes the object, which embraces structure while being positioned within space. The harmony of space and object is the photographic product of photographic composition . An object seen anew or for the first time is a surprise and as such is sought out by photography. The ideational content derives from the personal conviction of the man at the camera and a strict photographic programme.' 7 Many of Funke's photographs from the early 1920s contain, even by international comparison, the most radical use of the principles of New Objectivity and Constructivism. This applies to the diagonal composition of the photographs After the Carnival (1924) and Leg (1925), Scrap Iron (1925), and other photographs revealing the 'mechanical beauty' of seemingly mundane details of industrial objects. He was later to return to the style of New Objectivity in his dynam ic photographs of Functionalist architecture and in nudes and portraits. In 1930, Funke was asked by the archiect Bohuslav Fuchs to take a series of photographs of the Masaryk Halls of Residence at Brno. These brilliantly capture the purity and dynamic of the elementary Functionalist lines. More than merely describing Modern architecture these are the photographer's own interpretation. The same could be said of Funke's shots of the ESSO power plant, which w as designed by the Devetsil member Jaroslav Fragner and built in 1929-32. The power plant of the Electricity Ass ociation of the Central Labe Districts (Elektrarensky svaz stredolabskych okresu - ESSO) attracted the attention of many photographers and their output is worth comparing . Whereas Sudek and Koch applied more classic compositions in the spirit of New Objectivity, Funke and Wiskovsky more often radically experimented with diagonal pictorial compo-

sition and emphasized striking low-angle views and adventurous crops. Some of their pictures are so similar that it is Jaromfr Funke

60 1

difficult at first to tell who the photographer was .8 The styles of New Objectivity and Constructivism were also prominent

Spiral 1924

in Funke's teaching at the Bratislava School of Arts and Crafts, during the early 1930s, and even more so after 1935 in

Private collection , Prague

lhe photography department of the State School of Graphic Arts, Prague. This is where Funke together with Josef Ehm

161

moon. Works such as these differed greatly from the strict rationality and coldness of most New Objectivity photos. At th e beg inning of the 1930s Wiskovsky often worked together with Funke in photographing the new ESSO power plant

in Kolin, a subject that provided him with much unusual photographic stimuli. After moving from Kolin to Prague in 1937, Wiskovsky turned his attention to the countryside around the city. This he represented through striking geometric forms, unusual surface structures, and imaginative metaphorical pictures. Wiskovsky 's photography, together with his exceptionally original and progressive theoretical work, is not distinguished by its size or thematic breadth, but by its originality, preparation and intellectual depth. A reappraisal is slowly beginning of Vladimir Hipman's photographs of factory buildings and chimneys, or details of wires, nails, chains, metal graters, and other industrial products. The photographs were taken in the 1930s and 1940s, and some appear in the book Prace je iiva (Work is Alive),12 published at Christmas 1945. New Objectivity princi ples were applied in contemporary pictorial art-history publications, for example by Karel Plicka, Josef Sudek, Jiff Jenicek, and Alexandr Paul , or in the photographic interpretations of statues by Tibor Honty. 13 Alexandr Hackenschmied ,'4 Ladislav Emil Berka, and Jiff Lehovec, who constituted the informal Aventinum Trio, 15 are also important representatives of the New Photography. Following a visit to the 'Film und Foto' exhibition in Stuttgart, Hackenschmied and his friends prepared 'New Photography' exhibitions in Prague in 1930 and 1931 . Taking part were Funke, Wiskovsky, Lehovec, Berka, and other representatives of the Czech photographic Avant-garde; as in Stuttgart, the exhibitions also showed scientific photography. The works of Lehovec and Berka, however, border on plagiarism, an example being the details of a keyboard , which Aenne Biermann had exhibited at the Stuttgart show and later appeared in the Czechs' Jii'ILehovec

Alexandr Hackenschmied

Untitled

Truncated Trees, Orleans

1935

1939

Galerie Kicken Berlin

PPF Art Collection, Prague

ideal duo put Modern photography at the heart of their teaching. Students were instructed not only in the perfect technical depiction of objects but also in how to provide an emotional landscape for pictorial composition. Funke and Ehm taught the careful use of light and the purity of the photographic medium. Testimony to their teaching appears in the publication Fotografie vidi povrch (Photography Sees the Surface, 1935), in which the technically perfect depiction of various materials represents photography's universal application in the modern world. 9 The surviving school works of Funke's students (among them Jaroslava Hatlakova, Vera Gabrielova, and Vladimir Fyman) are generally very similar in the subsequent application of New Photography principles. Some of the most original and radical pathways in Czech New Photography appear in the work of Eugen Wiskovsky. 10 His ingenious compositions extract visually impressive shapes from iron rods, turbines, metal and concrete pipes, electrical insulators, phonograph records, and other everyday objects. Working with imaginative crops , enlarging details and using them out of context, translating colourful reality into black-and-white photography, and rhythmically repeating motifs, Wiskovsky managed to alter the conventional perception of objects and often discovered their unexpected symbolic meanings. He was thus putting into practice his conviction that 'the less unusual the content, the more unusually it should be depicted.11 Despite all the rationality and formal perfection of his photos, Wiskovsky's photography gradually moved from being merely a visual depiction of materials towards a subjective impression. He managed frequently to pass beyond the dour extreme descriptiveness that was so typical of many other proponents of New Objectivity. By emphasizing possible metaphorical and symbolic meanings he imposed his own subjective view, thereby distinguishing much of his output from the strict order and cool objectivity shared by most works in the style of New Objectivity. The idea of depicting the subject so that it suggests another object (a technique used, for example, by

Ladislav Emil Berka

Edward Weston), came to be characteristic of much of Wiskovsky's work. Though not in all his work, metaphor plays

Petrol Station, from the Prague in Surimpression series

an important role in some of Wiskovsky's photographs of objects. In his picture of corrugated iron, for example, he

1930-33

evokes unbound long hair or the surface of a shell; in the photograph Collars, better known under its later title Lunar

Association of Czech Photographers Collection , National Archive, Prague

Landscape (1929), the composition of stiff shirt collars is transformed into an imaginative depiction of the surface of the

62 1

163

photographs in all too similar variations . Lehovec even photographed the columns from the Pantheon , Paris, using al most exactly the same approach as Biermann , whose work was frequently published in Avant-garde magazines in Czechoslovakia. For Lehovec and Hackenschmied, however, photography was merely a springboard to documentary film , in which both produced outstanding results . In a pictorial sense, Hackenschmied 's Avant-garde films Aimless Walk (1930) and Prague Castle (1932) are both derived from New Photography. Groundbreaking pictorial composition and an emphasis on close-ups also appears in the social photography

r

of Karel Kasparfk , Jirf Lehovec, Vladimfr Hnfzdo, Karel Policansky, Pavel Altschul, Frantisek Cermak, and Oldrich Straka. The same is true of the photojournalism of Karel Hajek, Vaclav Jfru , and Jan Lukas. Constructivist diagonal compositions and daring crops, bird 's-eye and worm 's-eye views are all evident in many artistically-inclined works by the modernist amateur photographers Drahomfr Josef Ruzicka, Jan Lauschmann, Arnost Pikart, Josef Vorfsek , and Emil Veprek . The well-known fiction writer, dramatist, and journalist Karel Capek also took some striking pictures of the most commonplace objects. The first group exhibitions of proponents of New Photography were held at the Club of Amateur Photographers in Mlada Boleslav in 1928 and 1929. There , Josef Dasek, Josef Slansky, Josef Hejda, Josef Jarsky, and other members presented works they had made in the spirit of New Objectivity and Constructivism. Unfortunately, we know their photog raphs only from periodicals of those days. In Czechoslovakia there was a network of dozens of local photographic clubs publishing members' works in journals such as Fotograficky obzor (Photographic Review), Rozhledy fotografa amatera (Perspectives of the Amateur Photographer), and Fotografie (Photography). In the · 1930s, the superbly printed photographic annuals Ceskoslovenska fotografie (Czechoslovak Photography) began to be published . The most active members sent their work to international photography salons. On the local scene, there was the International Salon of Photography in Prague (1928, 1933, and 1935), which was criticized , however, by progressive photographers. By 1932 the umbrella Association of Czechoslovak Amateur Photographic Clubs (Svaz ceskoslovenskych

Jii'i Jen1fek

Josef Voi'lsek

Morning

Untitled

1930

1930s

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Private collection , Prague

Eugen Wiskovsky Untitled

1928-29 Private collection, Pragu e

klubu fotografu amateru) had more than 5,500 members, active in more than a hundred photographic clubs (nine of which were in Slovakia). Almost fifty photographic clubs were registered with the Association of German Photographic Societies in the Czechoslovak Republic (Der Verband deutscher Lichtbildnervereine in der Tschechoslowakischen

Eugen Wiskovsky Canoe

1930s Private collection, Pragu e

Republ ik) , and , in 1932, the most important journal, Fotograficky obzor, had a circulation of 7,600 copies. Amateur photographers played a far greater role in the progressive development of photography in interwar Czechoslovakia than they did, by comparison, in Germany or the USA. It should not be forgotten that not even Funke graduated from a photography school. Among those who taught themselves and had no formal training in photography or the fine arts, and for whom photography was not a primary source of income, were the leading Avant-garde photographers Eugen Wiskovsky, Karel Kasparfk, and Jirf Sever. New Photography also played a prominent role in modern advertising in the interwar period .16 The development of advertising photography was stimulated not only by economic growth but also by the growing number of journals that published it. In the mid-1920s Josef Sudek worked for the Druzstevnf prace (Cooperative Work) publishing house, taking pictures of the books it published and everyday objects the cooperative made, but also covering exhibitions and sales events. He collaborated with Ladislav Sutnar, who was in charge of the co-op's graphic design, including its journals Panorama DP (Panorama of Cooperative Work) and Zijeme (Living). Sudek's advertising work focused mainly on glassware, porcelain, and metalwork, in which he often employed a diagonal composition. 17 Jaroslav Rossler, who worked in Paris, also specialized in advertising photography. In his pictures of files , syringes, tyres , medicine, and wine bottl es he frequently used ideas from Avant-garde works he made for himself, employing, for example, the steep angle, the close-up, photomontage, and unusual composition , often set against innovative typography. Rudolf Schneideroh an , who like Rossler was also Paris-based, produced high-quality advertising photographs as well. Advertising photography soon found a place in commercial circles, and, from 1933 onwards, was discussed in a number of theoretical articles and even in a book, Fotografie v reklame a Neubertuv hlubotisk (Photography in Advertising and Neubert's Photogravure),18 with examples of work by Bohumil St'astny, Josef Sudek, Jaromfr Funke, Karel

64

t&s

Rossler, who was then Jiving in Paris, while Wiskovsky had only just begun to create his most important work. Teige thus took his own work to Stuttgart (illustrations to Nezval's Abeceda of 1926 and covers to books and magazines combining photography and type-design), though these do not fall within the category of photography itself. He also took works there by his friends from Devetsil: Bohuslav Fuchs (three photomontages with shots of modern architecture in Brno and Luhacovice), Josef Hausenblas (a photomontage with the Eiffel Tower), Evzen Markalous (four photographs ith shapes in distorting mirrors), and Zdenek Rossmann (a book of typographic design). The absence of the leading lights of Czech Avant-garde photography at this exhibition, obviously compounded by Czechoslovakia's cultural isolaion under the Communist regime from early 1948 to late 1989, undoubtedly led to the long delay in Czech New Photography achieving recognition .20

Drahomrr Josef Ruiifka

Alexandr Paul

Heart of Endive

Inside a Gas Holder

1932

1934-35

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Private collection, Prague

JosefSudek Advertising photograph for the Druzstevni prace publishing house

1930s

Hajek, Alexandr Hackenschmied, and other important photographers. Another noteworthy publication is Pfsmo a fo-

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

tografie v reklame (Type-design and Photography in Advertising), published in 1938 by Zdenek Rossmann , a former Bauhaus student. He used this to espouse radical opinions on modern photographers' use of innovative styles and their wish to distinguish themselves from the flood of other works. 'We very rarely use photography in a normal, rectangular format in advertising,' Rossmann writes. 'Sometimes it's enough to give it a different geometric shape - a circle, triangle or indefinite form, by airbrushing the edges.' 19 From the mid-1930s advertising specialists used natural colour in their photographs, employing the widest range of technologies and material (in particular, Autochrome, Agfacolor, Kodacolor, and Uvachrome). Photography for advertising was also taught at the State School of Graphic Arts, Prague, under the direction of Karel Novak and, later, Jaromir Funke and Josef Ehm. In Brno, it was taught in Emanuel Hrbek's Advertising and Shop-Window Design Studio and at the School of Arts and Crafts, among whose graduates was Hugo Taborsky. Other proponents of Avant-garde photography outside Prague, for example Otakar Lenhart in Olomouc and Josef Bartuska in Geske Budejovice, also made photographs for advertisements. The Bat'a Shoe Company in Zlin had an outstanding advertising department. In addition to photography, its staff also used cinematography. Hanus Frankl, a successful photographer who was also involved in advertising, lived and worked in Berlin between the wars. There were few places that New Objectivity, Constructivism, and Functionalism were so widely adopted as interwar Czechoslovakia. It is an irony, then, that none of the leading practitioners of New Photography - not Rossler,

66 1

Hanus Frankl

Funke, or Wiskovsky-was represented at the largest and most important show of contemporary modern photography:

Advertising photograph

the Stuttgart 'Film und Foto' exhibition in 1929. The Czech collection was compiled by Teige, but he had Jost touch with

1930s-40s Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

167

Bohuslav Fuchs Brno Town Baths

1929 Collage Brno City Museum

NOTES

Karel Teige, 'Foto - kino - film', Zivot II, Prague: Umelecka beseda, 1922, pp. 156-59. 2

Paul Strand, 'Photography', Camera Work, 1917, nos 49-50, p. 3.

3

T. 0. lmmisch and Gunnar LUsch, Heinrich Koch, Halle: Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg , 2002.

4

Susanne Anna, Oas Bauhaus im Osten: Slowakische und Tschechische Avantgarde 1928-1939, Ostfildern-Ruit: Verlag Gerd Hatje , 1997.

5

Antonin Dufek , Czechoslovakian Photography: Jaromir Funke, Jaroslav Rossler, London: The Photographers' Gallery, 1985; Vladimir Birgus, 'Jaroslav Rossler (1902-1990)', in Anne Auer (ed.), Photography and Research in Austria: Vienna, the Door to the European East. European Society for the History of Photography Symposium , Vienna, 2001. Passau: Dietmar Klinger Verlag, 2001 , pp. 119-33; Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch (eds), Jaroslav Rossler, Czech Avant-Garde Photographer, Cambridge, Mass., and London: MIT Press , 2002.

6

Peter Spielmann, Jaromir Funke 1896-1945: Fotografie, Bochum and Aachen: Museum Bochum and Galerie Schurmann & Kicken, 1977; Anna Farova, Jaromir Funke, Cologne: Galerie Rudolf Kicken , 1984; Steve Yates, 'Jaromir Funke: Proto-Modern Photography and Influence', 62. Bulletin Moravske galerie v Brne, Brno: Moravska galerie, 2006, pp. 93-102.

7

'Profesor J. Funke o modern[ fotografii', Geske slovo, 27 March 1935, p. 12.

8

Jaroslav Andel, The New Vision for the New Architecture: Czechoslovakia, 1918-1938, Prague: Slovart, 2005.

9

Ladislav Sutnar and Jaromir Funke, Fotografie vidi povrch, Prague: Statni graficka skola, 1935, and , in English ,

10

Anna Farova, Eugen Wiskovsky, Prague: SNKLU , 1964; Vladimir Birgus, Eugen Wiskovsky, Prague, Torst, 2005.

Photography Sees the Surface, Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Publications, 2004.

S T SKE

Jaroslav Rossler Advertising photograph

1931

L A Z N

£

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

JosefSudek Advertising photograph

1930s Museum of Decorative Arts in Pragu e

11

Eugen Wiskovsky, 'Zobrazeni, projev, sdeleni ', Fotograficky obzor, 1941, no. 1, p. 2.

12

Vladimi r Hipman, Prace je ziva. Intro. Jan Wenig. Prague: Ceska graficka Unie, 1945.

13

Ji'fi Masin, Tibor Honty, Prague: SNKLU, 1965; Ji'fi Masin, Tibor Honty, Prague: Panorama, 1986; Vladimir Birgus,

14

Jaroslav Andel, Alexandr Hackenschmied, Prague: Torst, 2000.

Tibor Honty, Prague: Prague House of Photography, 1997. 15

Antonin Dufek, Aventinske trio, Brno: Moravska galerie, 1989.

16

Jan Mlcoch , 'Avant-Garde Photography and Advertising' in Vladimir Birgus (ed.), Czech Avant-Garde Photography, 1918-1948, Cambridge, Mass., and London: MIT Press,1999, pp. 159-75.

17

Vojtech Lahoda, Josef Sudek: The Commercial Photography for Druzstevni prace, Jyvaskyla: Alvar Aalto Museum , 2003; Iva Janakova (ed.), Ladislav Sutnar: Prague-New York-Design in Action, Prague: Umeleckoprumyslove museum and Argo, 2003 ; Lucie Vlckova (ed .), Druzstevni prace: Sutnar- Sudek, Prague: Umeleckoprumyslove museum, 2007.

18

Milos Bloch and Vilem Ambrosi, Fotografie v reklame a Neubertuv hlubotisk, Prague: V. Neubert a synove, 1933.

19

Zdenek Rossmann, Pismo a fotografie v reklame, Olomouc: Index, 1938, p. 17.

20

Mainly the following books and catalogues contributed to this: Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes, Tschechoslowakische Fotografen 1900-1940, Lepzig : VEB Fotokinoverlag , 1983; Alain Sayag (ed.), Photographes tcheques 1920-1950, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1983; Antonin Dufek and Ute Eskildsen, Tschechische Fotografie 1918-1948, Essen: Museum Folkwang , 1984; Margit Zuckriegl (ed.), Laterna Magica: Einblicke in eine Tschechische Fotografie der Zwischenkriegszeit, Salzburg: Rupertinum , 2000; Vladimir Birgus (ed.), Czech Avant-Garde Photography, 1918-1948, Cambridge, Mass. , and London : MIT Press, 2002; Howard Greenberg , Annette Kicken, and Rudolf Kicken (eds), Czech Vision: Avant-garde Photography in Czechoslovakia, Ostfildern: Hatje Gantz, 2007; Matthew S. Witkovsky, Fata: Modernity in Central Europe, 19191945, Washington , D.C. , and London: National Gallery of Art and Thames and Hudson , 2007; Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch , Tschechische Fotografie des 20. Jahrhunderts, Bonn and Prague: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der BRO and KANT, 2009.

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169

Jaroslav Rossler Untitled 1923 Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Jaromfr Funke Plates 1923 Private collection, Prague

70 1

171

Eugen Wiskovsky Lunar Landscape (Collars)

1929 Private collection , Prague

Eugen Wiskovsky

Eugen Wiskovsky

Insulator I

Base of an Aerial Mast at Lib/ice

1935

1938

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

173

JosefSudek Metal and Glass 1930- 32 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Emil Vepi'ek

Vladimir Hipman

From the series The Beauty of Ordinary Things IV Late 1930s Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Nails 1930s-40s Private collection, Prague

741

j

75

Eugen Wiskovsky Game

1929 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

) Jaromir Funke

76 1

Eugen Wiskovsky

Kolin Power Plant

Kolin Power Plant, Detail

1931 - 32

1934

Private collection , Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

I 77

Otakar Lenha~h photomontage Advertisement w1

1936 . Ga llery in Brno Moravian

/

lavRossler Jaros_ . holograph Advertising P 1932 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

/

Jaros lavRossler Untitled 1931 Museum of Dec orative Arts in Prague

781

179

1918-1939

Social Documentary Photography and the Beginnings of Modern Photojournalism

EVENTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR led to a widely felt need for fresh, comprehensive information. In the 1920s, photojournalism developed in many countries , helped by technological advances (such as modern printing) and he tre nd towards visual information. The new cameras made by Rolleiflex, Contax, and especially Leica (which uses 35 mm fi lm) afforded their users greater speed and flexibility in documenting political events, the arts, and sports. On the pages of newspapers and journals, live (or action) photography began to prevail, a photography-specific pictorial langu age started to take shape, and the first photo essays were made. Newspapers and magazines gave photography new outlets for publication. The world of the photographic picture, with precise pigment prints and gelatin silver prints for exh ibition, gave way to the photographic picture of the world on the pages of periodicals. Needless to say, the attractiveness of the actual picture began to play an important role and a new picture style of important events and everyday life came into being. Magazine and newspaper editors often altered the photographs, cropping them , placing them in different contexts on two-page spreads, and adding eye-catching typography. In its early days, Czech modern photojournalism mainly drew its inspiration from German illustrated magazines. Of these , the Berliner 11/ustrirte Zeitung, MrJnchner 1/lustrierte Presse, Hamburger 11/ustrierte, Arbeiter 11/ustrierte Zeitung (The Worker's Illustrated), Die Woche (The Week) , Zeit im Bild (The Times in Pictures), Uhu (Eagle Owl), Volk und Zeit (The People and the Times), and Kara/le (Coral) all combined photojournalism with attractive graphics

and short commentary. Influences also came from further afield, in illustrated periodicals from the Soviet Union (Ogonyok [Little Flame] and SSSR na strojke [published in English as USSR in Construction, and also French , Ger-

man, and Spanish]), France (Vu and Regards) , and, at the end of the 1930s, Great Britain (Picture Post) and the USA VaclavJrru Sunday at Cisarska louka, Prague 1934 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

(Ute and Look). 1 Cinematography was an important inspiration, and photo essays came to resemble short films com-

posed of static shots. Photography and film were media that perfectly captured the hectic modernity of the 1920s and 1930s, and attracted mass interest. Large sales were also enjoyed by Czech periodicals in which photography played an important role. At the end of the 1920s and beginning of the 1930s, the Praisky 1/ustrovany ZprfiVOdaj (Prague Illustrated Reporter) , published by Melantrich beginning in 1920, had a circulation of between 140,000 and 150,000 copies. Photojournalism found its fullest expression in Pestry tyden (A Colourful Week), a magazine fi rst issued in November 1926 by the Prague publisher and printer Neubert a synove (Neubert and Sons). The magazine had a progress ive graphic design, came in a large format (the first issues were 57 x 43 cm), and was intended for the pub lic at large, although the million readers it claimed to have also included passengers on the Prague tram syste m, where pages of the magazine were posted , and are therefore unverifiable. 2 The magazine's orientation was aptly described in an editorial published in its fiftieth issue in 1927: 'Up to now, the term illustrated magazine has been un derstood to mean more or less a fun weekly which takes only half an hour to look through and provides

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Marie Stachovi!i Reportage on the Depression in North Boh emia for Svetozor magazine

you with a few charming pictures. Pestry tyden, however, has used the reportorial value of photography, and cre-

1935 Museum of Decorative Arts in Pragu e

ated a weekly that aims to inform everyone about all the important events that take place at home and abroad . [... ] The pictures in Pestry tyden are superbly printed, performing the service of bringing the news colourfully and vividly, and reporting in pictures on political and other affairs of the whole week. ' Pestry tyden published photojournalism by Czechs and took picture material from the Czechoslovak News Agency (Ceskoslovenka tiskova kancelar or CTK) as well as foreign agencies. It also published celebrity portraits, national history and geography stories, genre pictures, works by top amateurs (in the 'Amateur Photography' column), sports reporting (the 'Fotosport ' column), and photographs by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Jindrich Styrsky, Alexandr Hackenschmied, Evzen Markalous, and other Avant-garde artists. The in -house photographer was the versatile Bohumil St'astny. In the 1930s the magazine was a favourite forum for the young photographers Vaclav Jiru ,3 Jan Lukas,4 and Ladislav Sitensky. 5 A regular contributor was Jiri Jenicek, who published photography articles, exhibition reviews, and his own pictures , which were chiefly of the Czechoslovak Army. The big star of photojournalism was, however, Karel Hajek.6 He worked from the beginning of the 1930s for magazines published by Melantrich . In Pestry tyden he often published modern reportage series, portraits, and situational snapshots with striking pictorial composition and frequent close-ups. In individual pictures as well as carefully composed photo essays, he captured ordinary life as well as dramatic events (for example, the 1934 disaster at the Nelson mine near Duchcov, northwest Bohemia). In 1936, on the occasion of Hajek's highly successful exhibition at the Prague Municipal Library, Vladimir Rypar, Pestry tyden's picture editor, wrote to him: 'If you weren 't living in parochial Czechoslovakia you'd probably be a photo -

journalist of world renown.' 7

The Centropress and Press Photo Service agencies, founded , in 1927 and 1931 , by Alexandr Paul , Frantisek Karel Hi!ijek Untitled

lllek, and Pavel Altschul, became important sources of reportage photography. Altschul had extensive experience of

1930s

worki ng abroad and when he took over as the editor-in-chief of Svetozor (View on the World) in 1933, he turned it into

Private collection , Prague

what was perhaps the most progressive illustrated Czech magazines of the decade. As editor, he both wrote and pho-

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tographed , but he also collaborated with Rudolf Kohn , Karel Drbohlav, and Geza Vcelicka. The in-house photographer Karel Hi!ijek Saved from the Nelson Mine

of Svetozor was Marie Stachova. Her work includes truly shocking reportage about the life of poor workers and the

1934

unemployed in districts of northern Bohemia in the mid-1930s. Here, the central government had not managed to miti-

Moravian Gallery in Brno

gate the impact of the Great Depression and the crisis had a particularly severe effect on the local, mostly German , popu lation . Photographers from the younger generation such as Slava Stochl, Oldrich Straka, Vaclav Jiru, Zdenek Tmej, 8 as well as the more experienced Karel Hajek, found opportunities for publication in the weekly Ahoj na nedeli (Hello on Sunday). This was issued beginning in 1933 by the Melantrich publishing house, and focused on the lives of young people. Hans Ernest Oplatka left for Paris in 1931 to work for Vu magazine. Later he worked as a reporter hrou ghout Europe, becoming at one point the publisher of the Vienna-based Der Sonntag, the Sunday supplement of the Der Wiener Tag. Society magazines, such as Salon, Mesfc (The Month) or Eva (Eve), demanded a different kind of photography. Apart from Hajek, their main contributors were Vaclav Jiru, the versatile Jan Lukas, Josef Vorisek, Slava Stoch l, Zdenek Tmej, and some amateurs too (for example, Cenek Vasta). These magazines did not cover much political or economic news, tending to focus instead on modern living, the arts, sports, and cars, which were fast gaining in popularity. In the 1920s, social themes often appeared in genre photographs, for example, by Josef Sudek, Jaromir Funke, Adolf Schneeberger, Arnost Pikart, and Vaclav Jin:l. They were, however, predominantly picturesque photos of beggars, street vendors, or the handicapped, without any clear critical view. A far more biting critique could be found in the anonymous pictures published in the late 1920s in Reflektor (Searchlight), the Communist bi-monthly. Moreover, the photographs of the working-class districts of Prague taken by Geza Vcelicka and Premysl Koblic proved to be precursors of the socially critical photography of the following years. 9 The leftist movement of social documentary photography, which spread in Czechoslovakia during the Great Depression that swept the world from late 1929, was fostered by the German movement of workers' photography and the journals Arbeiter 11/ustrierte Zeitung (The Worker's Illustrated Journ al), whose editorial board moved to Czechoslovakia following Hitler's ascent to power, and Der Arbeiter Fotograf

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a man ifesto: 'For us, photography is an important social agent, touching deeply on political, economic, artistic, and cultural problems; on life around us. [...] Our chief aim is to give our photography a new, healthy, socially meaningful content.' 11 The words to the catalogue for the second exhibition are even more direct: 'All of you who live in this world of destitution, poverty, hunger, and struggle can no longer remain disinterested spectators! Enough of photographic dilettantism! It is ·me for purposeful artistic creation , placing the camera at the heart of the class struggle as a weapon, and making every photographer an active warrior for a socially just human society!' 12 Linhart was also the author of Socialnf fotografie (Social Documentary Photography) published in 1934, a work with a Marxist bias but in many respects innovative.13 Both exhibitions broke new ground by grouping photographs in thematic sections (Surroundings, Children , Work, Recreation, War, Poverty, The Masses, Factories, Types, and Studies/Experiments), and an important place was given to juxtaposed pairs and series of photographs; space was also found for scientific pictures. Linhart, though he rejected the 'Formalism ' o experimental work by Man Ray and Moholy-Nagy, was far more accommodating to innovative compositions and crops than were the Proletarian Photographers in the Soviet Union. This did not prevent Linhart from being an admirer and Frantioek Pekai'

Pi'emysl Koblic

Untitled 1930s Private collection, Prague

Jackdaw (At the Table) Before 1937 Private collection, Prague

personal friend of the leading light of Soviet Avant-garde photography, Alexander Rodchenko, about whom, in Prague in 1964, he published the very first monograph. Neither did Linhart waver in his belief in the ideological correctness of phoography, which should criticize capitalism and celebrate Communist thought and life in the USSR. One of the proponents of social documentary photography as propaganda was Rudolf Kohn. He published mainly in the Communist press , and compiled several monothematic portfolios for the second international exhibition of social documentary photography (working on some of them with Antonin Zapotocky, the Communist politician, union leader, and, later, President of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1957). Foreign photographers were represented

...

(The Worker-Photographer). The gravity of this subject was also explored by photographers in other countries, examples being the Farm Security Adm inistration and the Photo League in the United States, and Bill Brandt and Bert Hardy in Great Britain, or the Szociofot6 group in Hungary.

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The movement in Czechoslovakia was headed by the Left Front {Leva fronta) organization. This was founded in 1929, and slowly but surely came under the direct control of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. In 1931 the Party issued

a resolution full of Communist slogans about the Great Depression and the irreversible decline of capitalism , or the 'Fascist takeover' of the Socialist parties. But the Party's most active component was the architecture section , which, in 1931, organized the 'Proletarian Housing' exhibition in Prague with numerous photographs of the poor living conditions endured by workers and the unemployed. Aided by his students from the Technical University in Brno, the architect Jiri Kroha created a display for the 'Brno Construction and Housing Exhibition' (first shown in 1933 and repeated in Prague in 1934). Comprising eighty-nine large-format collages entitled A Sociological Fragment of Housing (1932-33), it drew attention to the disparities between the lives of members of various social classes in housing, clothing , hygiene, health care, free time, and diet. 10 Kroha's collages used fragments of photographs from magazines and originals (including a nude by Drtikol) with striking graphic design to illustrate statistical data and propaganda slogans. In this we see the influence of Soviet Constructivist photomontages and the picture poems of the Devetsil group from Czechoslovakia. The precise compositions with black lines on yellow, silver, or blue surfaces, however, also suggest parallels with the De Stijl group from the Netherlands. Despite the many instances of superficial, Soviet-style propaganda, these are among the best Czech examples of collage in design and the convergence of Avant-garde and social art. Kroha's other collages from the Economic Fragment of Housing (1930-35) do not have the same visual strength, and photography plays a lesser role.

An integral part of the Left Front was the Film-foto groups, headed in Prague by the Marxist theorist of film and photography, Lubomir Linhart; his counterpart in Brno was the architect and graphic artist Frantisek Kalivoda. Under Linhart's leadership, in 1933 and 1934 these groups organized two markedly propagandistic international exhibitions of

Jan Maly

Hans Ernest Oplatka

Photo and Sports supplement, Pestry tyden, 1929, no. 7

Photo for the story 'France Marine' by Georges Simenon, for Vu magazine 1931 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

social documentary photography featuring many prominent photographers such as Josef Sudek, Jaromir Funke, Eugen Wiskovsky, and Alexandr Hackenschmied, few of whom actually devoted themselves systematically to social documentary photography, except, perhaps, Funke in his Bad Housing series or his later photographs from the Subcarpathian Ruthenia series. In his catalogue to the first exhibition, Linhart published an article that was generally regarded as

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Karel Plicka Gypsy Madonna and Child

1924

in both exhibitions, in the first from Germany, France, and the Soviet Union (after the exhibition opened these were

PPF Art Collection , Prague

followed by photos by American photog raphers who focused on the working class) , and in the second from France, the Netherlands , Belgium , Hungary, Austria , and again the Soviet Union . Larger, thematically broad-ranging collections were sent by members of the Slovak group Sociofoto (among them Karol Aufricht and the Bauhaus student Irena BIUhova) .14 Others were Oldrich Straka, with moving photos of the lives of the unemployed, and Karel Policansky, Vladimir Hnizdo, Jaroslav Hosek, Frantisek Pilat, Josef Kubin, Jiri Lehovec, and Frantisek Povolny. Some of the best social documentary photographs , often with a daring Avant-garde conception, including large close-ups , low-angle views, and diagonal compositions , were made by Karel Kasparik. 15 Unfortunately, he was unable to realize his ambition of publishing a book of modern social documentary photographs on life in the little municipality of Dolany, north-east of Olomouc. Jaromir Funke used the principles of New Photography in his pictures of Subcarpathian Ruthenia . Other pictures with social themes were published in the magazines Svet prace (The World of Work), Tvorba (Artwork), and Svetozor (View on the World). Emotionally moving photographs with social themes were also made by Tibor Honty, Ladislav Sitensky, Karel Hajek, and Vaclav Jiru ; social themes often appeared in photographs by amateurs (including Jiri Jenicek, Jan Lauschmann , and Anton in Johann). Some worked with Arbeiter 11/ustrierte Zeitung and the Austrian left-wing weekly Der Kuckuck (The Cuckoo). 16 In his ethnographic research in Slovakia, the Czech photographer, film-maker, and ethnographer Karel Plicka17 used the potential of photography to the full. One could even say that with his film and photography, somewhat idealizing the life and traditions of rural Slovakia, Plicka helped to boost Slovak national consciousness. His work is a milestone in the development of ethnographic photography. (In Slovakia the photography of this period was notable for its socially critical photography, which was practised, for example, by members of the Sociofoto group.) Premysl Koblic and, later,

NOTE S

Jiri Jenicek were among the proponents of live photography.

Petr Tau sk, A Short History of Press Photography, Prague: The International Organisation of Journalists , 1988; Bodo von Dewitz and Robert Lebeck , Kiosk: Eine Geschichte der Fotoreportage I Kiosk:

With a few exceptions (like Karel Kasparik and Jaromir Funke), Czech social documentary photography did not

A History of Photojournalism 1839-1973, Cologne and Gi.ittingen : Museum Ludwig and Steidl , 2001 .

have the visual sophistication of works by members of the Farm Security Administration or the Photo League. Nevertheless, it constitutes an important part of the international movement of socially committed artists.

2 3

Petr Vilgus, 'Pestry tyden (1926- 1945)', M.A. dissertation , Opava: lnstitut tvurci fotografie Slezske univerzity, 2001 . Vaclav Zykmund , Vaclav Jfru, Prague: Odeon , 1971.

The activities of the Left Front's Film-foto group and the Slovak Sociofoto, the exhibitions of social documen-

4

Josef Moucha, Jan Lukas, Prague: Torst, 2003 .

tary photography, dozens of magazines and books open to socially critical pictures, and the fact that after 1933 Prague

5

Zdenek Kirschner, Ladislav Sitensky, Prague: Sprava Prazskeho hradu , 1999.

played host to the editorial boards of the Arbeiter 11/ustrierte Zeitung and Der Kuckuck all contributed to making Czech-

6

Vladim ir Rypar, Karel Hajek, Prague: SNKLHU , 1962; Blanka Chocholova, Karel Hajek, Prag ue: Asociace fotografu , 1998.

7

Vladi mir Rypar, 'Mily Karle Hajku ', Pestry tyden , 1936, no. 4, p. 5.

oslovakia one of the main centres of social documentary photography in Europe during the 1930s. 8

Blanka Chocholova and Josef Moucha, Zdenek Tmej, Prague: Asociace fotografu 1999; Anna Farova, Blanka Chocholova, and Tomas Jelinek, Zdenek Tmej , Prague: Torst, 2001.

9

Vladi mir Birgus , 'Socio-Critical Photography of the 1930s' in Vladimir Birgus (ed.), Czech Ava nt-Garde Photography, 1918-1948, Cambridge, Mass. , and London : MIT Press, 2002, pp. 175- 89.

10

Jiri Kroh a, Sociologicky fragment bydlenf, Brno : Krajske stredisko pamatkove pece, 1973; Barbara Krejcova, 'Fotomontaze Jiriho Krohy mezi dvema svetovymi valkami,' B.A. extended essay, Opava: lnstitut tvurci fotografie , Slezska univerzita, 2006.

11

Lubomir Linhart, Vystava socialnf fotografie, Prague: Film-foto skupina Leve fronty, 1933.

12

Lubomir Linhart, 2 . mezinarodnf vystava socialnf fotografie, Prague: Film-foto skupina Leve fronty, 1934.

13

Lubomir Lin hart , Socialnf fotog rafie, Prague: Film-foto skupina Leve fronty, 1933.

14

L.'.udovit Hlavac, Socialna fotografia na Slovensku, Bratislava: Pallas , 1974; Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes, Tschechoslowakische Fotografen 1900-1940, Leipzig : VEB Fotokinoverlag , 1983.

15 16

Antonin Dufek (ed.), Karel Kasparfk 1899-1968: Fotografie ze sbfrky Moravske galerie v Brne, Brno: Moravska galerie, 1999. Matthew S. Witkovsky, Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945, Washington , D.C. , and London : The National Gallery of Art and Thames and Hudson , 2007, pp. 147-48.

Rudolf Kohn

17

Martin Slivka, Karol Plicka - basnfk obrazu, Martin: Osveta, 1982.

Zena (Wo man), an album

1933-34 Muse um of Decorative Arts in Prag ue

86

187

Karel Kaspai'fk

Vladimfr Hnfzdo

Slave (The Capitalist of Labour)

Hands That Cannot Make a Fist Because of Calluses

c. 1935

1936

Moravian Gallery in Brno

Private collection , Prague

Karel Kaspai'fk Untitled

1930s Private collection , Prague

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A Hard Lesson

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1939

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Oldi'ich Straka Itinerant Musician

1935-40 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

90 1

Jii'iKroha People without Clothing (The Body as Merchandise), from the Sociological Fragment of Housing series

1932-33 Collage on cardboard Brno City Museum

Jii'iKroha Hygiene, from the Sociological Fragment of Housing series

1932-33

Jii'r Kroha

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Collage on cardboard Brno City Museum

Clothing without People, from the Sociological Fragment of Housing series

1932-33 Collage on cardboard Brno City Museum

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1918-1939

Surrealist Photography and Collage

SURREALISM WAS ACCEPTED by the Czech Avant-garde, but only after a long delay. This was because the practitioners of Czech Poetism (Karel Teige, Jindfich Styrsky, Toyen , and others from the Devetsil circle) from the outset rejected the psychoanalytic, nee-Romantic, mythologizing, and literary subject matter that pervaded much of the Surrealists' work . Surrealism is nevertheless firmly embedded in a good deal of the work of Devetsil members, as reflected in their poetry or their interest in photography and film . The first reference to Andre Breton 's first 'Surrealist Manifesto' was sent to Czechoslovakia about a week after its publication in 1924. The next year, Styrsky began to keep written records of his dreams. At the end of 1926 the painters Styrsky and Toyen presented 'Artificialist ' pictures in their Paris studio as their response to French Surrealism . Shortly afterwards, Philippe Soupault gave a lecture in Prague on Lautreamont. Josef Si ma's paintings were considered something between Poetism and Surrealism . By the end of the 1920s and in the early 1930s, this tendency grew ever stronger. In 1930, the poet Vitezslav Nezval published his translation of Breton 's 'Second Manifesto of Surrealism ' in a review in Zverokruh (The Zodiac) and accompanied this with translations of French Surrealist poetry. The new style were abundantly displayed in the 'Poetry 1932' exhibition held at the Manes Association of Fine Artists (Spolek vytvarnych umelcu Manes or SVU Manes). This was participated in not only by Czech artists but also by Hans Arp, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Klee, Andre Masson, Joan Miro, and Yves Tanguy, among others. In his introductory speech, Nezval confirmed the Surreal-

ist sympathies shared by members of the Czech art world .1 Beginning in the mid-1930s Prague became one of the main centres of Surrealism internationally, and Czech Surrealists were in close contact with their foreign colleagues . Many of them spent a prolonged period in Paris. Surrealist influences appear in works by Jaromir Funke.2 In his Reflections series (1929), he was the first Czech photographer to show phantasmagoric juxtapositions of reality and its reflections in glass, responding to works by the French photographer Eugene Atget, a favourite of the Surrealists. (The intertwining realities in shop-window reflections or the magical encounters of incongruous objects, which the Surrealists so loved , are, however, only a small part of Atget's work. Far more numerou s are his descriptive shots of Parisian streets, parks, and modes of transport.) Some of Atget 's wo rks were displayed at the Stuttgart 'Film und Foto' exhibition in 1929. A year later they were published in a monograph compiled by Man Ray's assistant Berenice Abbot. There can be no doubt that Czech Avant-garde artists Jindi'ich Styrsky

knew of Atget's work, at least in outline. In his Time Persits series (1930-34), Funke pursued unusual, often almost

From the Man with Blinkers series 1934 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

absurd encou nters of different objects in the spirit of Breton's view that surreality was not outside reality, but within it. Funke, however, was drawing on Atget only loosely for inspiration. In 1935 he wrote : 'We can 't just borrow from what Atget gave us, and today, in 1935, keep photographing the remains of this recent past. There's nothing new in that. For photography it's cowardly to deny today's possibilities of juxtaposing two worlds . Emphasizing two opposites, contrasting two real ities, aligning different elements in a single new photograph - that is an act of photography for whose achievement one truly requires a wealth of imagination and invention.' 3

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The Surrealist Group in Czechoslovakia (Surrealisticka skupina v Ceskoslovensku) was founded by eleven members and one associate member (Karel Teige) at the constituent meeting on 21 March 1934. Through the study of dreams, the subconscious, the erotic, and 'psychic automatism', its members strove for the revolutionary transformation of society. Politically, the group identified with the programme of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, although it reserved the right to be independent 'in its own experimental methods'. Several members of the Surrealist Group intensively pursued photography. Jindrich Styrsky, for example, a painter, graphic artist, and stage designer who was obsessed with photography, found his subject matter in shop windows and signs, cemeteries, and fairground attractions, in hearses, orthopaedic aids and tailor's dummies, in second-hand shops and flea markets, as well as on cracked , graffiti-covered walls.4 This led in 1934-35 to three series of non-manipulated photographs (Styrsky had little respect for the experimental photography of Man Ray and Moholy-Nagy): Frog Man, Man with Blinkers, and Paris Afternoon. These works depicted constellations of chance encounters of banal items, often featuring the theme of disappearance, decay, or sex blended with death. In a 1935 article entitled 'Surrealist Photography', Styrsky describes his new interpretation and discovery of the latent symbolism of everyday objects and 'miraculous encounters': 'The entire problem of photography is to discover an object with a sense of surprise and to elaborate this discovery in a Surrealist way. The role of chance and being attuned to certain objects are paramount.' 5 At the first Surrealist Group exhibition in Czechoslovakia, held in the Manes exhibition halls in Prague, he presented pictures, collages and a collection of seventy-four photographs. Between 1930 and 1933 his work was available to subscribers of the Eroticka revue (Erotic Review) , and afterwards Edice 69 (Edition 69); both published literary and artistic works by a wide circle of artists. Styrsky was interest in pornography as a social phenomenon that broadened the sphere of personal freedom. In 1932 he published at his own expense the book Emilie pfichazf ke mne ve snu (Emilie Comes to Me in a Dream), containing his own poetry and ten audaciously erotic collages. (The 'de luxe' edition had twelve, the original colour versions being reproduced in black-and-white.) In these he employed fragments of pornographic photos in new contexts and meanings - the coffi

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From the Time Persists series 1930-34 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

From the Time Persists series 1930-34 Private collection , Prague

Jindi'ich Styrsky Dust jacket for Josef Kopta's novel Chleb a vino (The Bread and the Wine), Sfinx-B. Janda, Prague 1936

and the skeleton (the Surrealists were fascinated by the conjunction of Eros and Thanatos - Sex and Death - so opular also in Drtikol 's work), a light bulb, a close-up of lips resembling the vulva, an open parachute, and a Blossfeldt photog raph of part of a fragment of a phallic-shaped plant. He placed the main motifs against the unlikely backgrounds of a starry sky, an underwater world, or a beach, and created new contexts and metaphors with themes of eroticism,

Toyen Dust jacket for Vitezslav Nezval's novel Pan Marat (Mr Marat), Melantrich, Prague 1932

death, and frustration. This often bordered on slapstick. 6 The publication is now considered one of the most original works of Czech Surrealism. In an advertisement for the book, Styrsky wrote: 'The sister of the erotic is an involuntary sm ile, a feeling of comedy, or a shudder of horror. But the sister of pornography is always only shame, a feeling of dishonour and disgust. You 'll view some of these shamelessly erotic photomontages with a smile on your lips, and others ith a sense of horror. ' Except in works by Hans Bellmer, Man Ray, and Georges Hugnet, one would be hard pressed o fin d such a provocative, original use of sexual motifs in other Surrealist collages and photographs of that time. Styrsky also used elements of the erotic, though not so frankly, in the Portable Cabinet series. Another member of the Surrealist Group was the poet Vitezslav Nezval, whose photos of miraculous encounters, in many respects akin to Styrsky's, were almost unknown until recently.7 From 1935 until his death in 1951, the versatile artist and theorist Karel Teige worked on a large set of 374 collages with frequently erotic allusions. In these he often employes details from photographs by famous photographers such as Blossfeldt, Man Ray, Moholy-Nagy, Renger-Patzsch, Kertesz, Funke, Sudek, and Hak, as well as paintings by de Chirico or Toyen. Fragments of the female body constitute the main subjects, but the collages also contain a wide range of alternative motifs such as eyes, girls, crucifixes and other religious symbols, stamps, trees, an artificial leg, and a clock. Items cut from photographs (mostly from illustrations in magazine) were placed against backgrounds of a landscape, the sky, or architecture. Many collages contain details of engravings or paintings. Teige's collages, which vary in artistic quality, contain not only parallels to French Surrealist collages or the works of Max Ernst, Hannah Hoch,

I 97

KarelTeige Collage No. 23 1936

Collage on paper Museum of Czech Literature, Art Collections, Prague

ezval of th e newly founded Surrealist Group in Czechoslovakia (the same Surrealist group to which the poet Ivan Blatny and th e photographer Frantisek Povolny belonged, though it did not maintain close relations with other Prague Surrealists). In addition to Surrealism, f5's work was sti ll influenced by New Photography. The spatial compositions of Hugo Tabo rsky employed the photogram techn ique; in his other works , he inventively used the expressive destruction of the negative, similar to what Frantisek Povolny was doing in his abstract photographs, anticipating the post-war move towards structural abstraction . Josef Jiri Kamenicky explored the subject of the female nude in distorted perspective, and Bohum il Nemec used radical photographic methods of deformation of form and the Sabatier effect. Jaroslav Nohel, who also showed works at the 'Photo Exhibition of Three' in Olomouc, in 1935, was more poetic in outlook. The best-known participant in the exhibition , as well as the author of a manifesto, was the multi -talented Karel Kasparik, whose oeuvre comprises 'sandwich ' photomontages, dynamic Constructivist compositions , collages, close-ups in the style of New Objectivity, and non-traditional portraits, as well as modern social documentary photos and to this day still almost unknown erotic photographs. The third exhibiting artist was Otakar Lenhart , who made a number of experimental portraits, nudes, still lifes, and commercial shots, combining photography and photograms, as well as the stylistic possibilities offered by the Sabatier effect. 11 Another important centre of Avant-garde photography was the town of Geske Budejovice, south Bohemia, with the lefti st Avant-garde group Linie, active between 1930 and 1938. Its photographic section , Fotolinie, included several promi nent figures, the most noteworthy of whom was Josef Bartuska, its main organizer. A poet, photographer, graph ic arti st, theorist, and writer, Bartuska achieved fame particularly for his photographs of shadow plays, which he also employed in his collections of verse. Playfulness, wit, and delicate poetry are typical attributes of his art, but when Fascism was threatening he did not hesitate to stand up in defence of civil rights . The painter Karel Valter experimented with photography for a shorter time; his domain was work with assembled photog raphic shots , resulting in a new pictorial quality. Of an entirely different character are the photographic portraits made by Ada Novak, who applied lessons learnt from Avant-garde film . His fragments of faces depicted in

and Franz Roh , but also, in some instances, even to the anti-Fascist photomontages of John Heartfield , a German citizen who lived in Czechoslovak exile from 1933 to 1938. Teige did not publish his Surrealist collages , choosing instead to distribute them amongst his friends . He used similar works in his graphic design for books. 8 The magazine Svetozor, published by Pavel Altschul, had a special issue entitled Po vitezstvi surrealismu (After the Victory of Surrealism) on the eve of Breton's visit to Prague 1935. Altschul 's black humour and Marie Stachova's collages are a commentary on Surrealist activities, which the magazine generally kept a close watch on. The painter Frantisek Vobecky, not a member of the Surrealist Group, made photographic compositions employing the technique of material assemblage. He used makeshift arrangements that he destroyed after photographing them, leaving the photographs as the sole result. 9 Eugen Wiskovsky employed metaphors both in his older close-ups of technical objects and in the fragments of landscape subjects, an example being the famous Catastrophe photograph of 1939, in which the shot of a farmhouse roof protruding above a field of flattened corn evokes the picture of a ship sinking in a stormy sea.10 Surrealism influenced the oeuvres of members of Avant-garde groups outside Prague as well, for example, the works of Moravian Avant-garde photographers from Brno and Olomouc, members of Linie (Li ne) from the town of Geske Budejovice, the Ra group, and the future Skupina 42 (42 Group). The unique atmosphere of interwar Brno (the second-largest city in Czechoslovakia) and its diverse cultural activities was due in part to the Brno branch of Devetsil in the 1920s, which published the Avant-garde journal Pasmo (Zone). In the 1930s this trend was taken up in the journals and anthologies Index, Telehor, and Horizont, and the Film foto group of the Left Front. Brno was an important industrial, business, and trade-fair centre, and the Czech and German population of the city was traditionally international in outlook. In 1933, the f5 group (Fotoskupina peti - the Pho-

98 1

Otakar Lenhart

tography Group of Five) was established by Emanuel Hrbek's students at the School of Arts and Crafts (Skola

Frantisek Povolny Untitled (Self-portrait)

Self-portrait

umeleckych remesel) in Brno, which, after the model of the Bauhaus, taught photog raphy both for advertising pur-

1933-34

1935

poses and as a fine art. It had a distinctly experimental orientation, based in part on personal contacts with the poet

Moravian Gallery in Brno

Moravian Gallery in Brno

199

natural light remain to this day refreshing and unconventional. The versatility of the Linie group was reflected in its exhibition activities, featuring not only the work of its members but also of Moholy-Nagy, Drtikol , Styrsky, and members of the German photographic club in Geske Budejovice. 12

'

In the mid-1930s, in the town of Nova Paka, located in the foothills of the Giant Mountains (Podkrkonosf), the painter Frantisek Gross, the sculptor Ladislav Zfvr, and the photographer Miroslav Hak formed the nucleus of the future Prague-based Skupina 42, whose members employed the ideas of civilismus, focusing on everyday life and attributes of technological civilization. Around this time Hak conducted several expressive experiments with photographic materials, which he called 'structages'. He also collaborated with the 'D' theatre of the Avant-garde director E. F. Burian, whose productions often experimented with film projections and photography, most notably by Jaromfr Funke, Al exandr Hackenschmied , and Hak himself.13 Burian also provided the vestibule to his theatre for exhibitions by Avant-garde artists. Hak, in addittion, made several nudes, figure studies, and photographs of the outskirts of Pragu e. 14 At the same time , in Rakovnfk , just west of Prague, a circle of young poets and fine artists formed around Vaclav Zykmund and the painter Bohdan Lacina, later emerging in Brno as the Ra group. Zykmund 's unprecedented self-portraits, self-nudes, and staged scenes indicate his interest in 'Surrealist games' and 'revelries' (radeni) , which he later produced during the war. Some of these anticipate the 'happenings' or body art that were to follow about twenty years later.15 Karel Valter NOTES

Lenka Bydzovska and Karel Srp (eds), Gesky surrealismus 1929-1953, Prag ue: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy and Argo, 1996; Antonin Dufek, 'Surrealist Photography.' in Vladimi r Birgus (ed.), Czech Photographic Avant-Garde 1918- 1948,

Josef Bartuska

Untitled

Untitled

1930s

1930s

Moravian Gallery in Brno

Private coll ection , Pragu e

Cambridge, Mass. , and London: MIT Press, 2002, pp. 216-61.

2

Ludvik Soucek, Jaromir Funke: Fotografie, Prague: Odeon , 1970; Antonin Dufek, Jaromir Funke (1896-1945) : Prukopnik fotograficke avantgardy I Jaromir Funke (1896- 1945): Pioneering Avant-Garde Photography, Brno:

Moravska galerie, 1996.

3 4 5 6

'Profesor J. Funke o moderni fotografii ', Geske slovo, 27 March 1935, p. 12. Karel Srp, Jindrich Styrsky, Prague: Torst, 2001 ; idem , Jindrich Styrsky, Prague: Argo, 2008 . Jindrich Styrsky, 'Surrealisticka fotografie', Geske slovo, 30 January 1935, p. 10. Jindrich Styrsky, Emilie prichazi ke mne ve snu, Prague : Edice 69, Vanity Press, 1933; idem , Emilie kommt in Traum zu mir, Fra nkfurt am Main : Neue Kritik, 1994; idem, Emilie Comes to Me in a Dream, New York: UBU Gallery, 1997.

vn,m Reichmann Untitled

7 8

1930s

David Voda (ed.), Hra v kostky: Vitezslav Nezval a vytvarne umeni, Olomouc: Muzeum umeni Olomouc, 2004. Karel Srp (ed.), Karel Teige, 1900-1951, Prague: Galerie hlavn iho mesta Prahy, 1994; Manuela Castagnara Codeluppi and Marco de Michelis, (eds), Karel Teige, Architettura, Poesia, Praga 1900-1951, Milan: Electa, 1996; Karel Srp,

Private collection, Prague

Karel Teige, Prague: Torst, 2001 ; Jaroslav Andel, Avant-garde Page Design 1900-1950, New York:

Delano Greenidge Editions, 2002.

9

Frantisek Smejkal (ed.), Frantisek Vobecky, Rana tvorba 1926-1938, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1985; Petr Krejci and Vladimir Birgus (eds), Frantisek Vobecky, Fotografie I Frantisek Vobecky, Photographs, Prague: Prazsky dOm fotografie, 1996.

10

Anna Farova, Eugen Wiskovsky, Prague : SNKLU , 1964; Vladimir Birgus, Eugen Wiskovsky, Prague: Torst, 2005; Vladimir Bi rgus , 'Eugen Wiskovsky and Czech Avant-Garde Photography', in Anna Auer and Uwe Schogl (eds), Congress of Photography in Vienna: Jubilee - 30 Years ESHPh, Salzburg: Fotohof Edition , 2008, pp. 254- 61 .

11 12 13

Antonin Dufek, Avantgardni fotografie 30. let na Morave, Olomouc: Oblastni galerie vytvarneho umeni v Olomouci , 1981 . Jaroslav Andel , The Avant-Garde Across Media: Josef Bartuska and the Linie Group 1931-1939, Prague: Obecni dOm , 2004. Vladimi r Bi rg us , 'Photography in the Czech Avant-Garde Theater ', in Birgus (ed .), Czech Photographic Avant-Garde, 19181948, pp. 273-80.

14

Jan Mlcoch, Miroslav Hak, Fotografie, Prague: Prazsky dOm fotografie and UmeleckoprOmyslove museum v Praze, 1994; Jan Mlcoch, 'Miroslav Hak a fotografie ve Skupine 42', in Eva Petrova et al , Skupina 42, Prague: Akropolis and Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1998.

15

Frantisek Smejkal (ed .), Skupina Ra, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1988; Ute Eskildsen (ed .), Tschechische Fotografie 1918-1938, Essen: Museum Folkwang , 1984.

100 1

1101

Jindi'ich Styrsky From the Portable Cabinet series

1934-35 Collage Galerie Maldoror, Prague

Jindi'ich Styrsky Collage from the book Emily Comes to Me in a Dream, Edition 69

1933 Collage Ubu Gallery, New York /Galerie Berinson , Berlin

Jindi'ich Styrsky Collage from the book Emily Comes to Me in a Dream, Edition 69

1933 Collage Ubu Gallery, New York /Galerie Berinson , Berlin

I 10 3 102 1

Marie Stachovii From the series In the School of Imagination and Instinct for the April issue of Svetozor magazine, on the topic 'After the Victorious Surrealist Revolution '

1935 Collage Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

KarelTeige

KarelTeige

Collage

Collage No. 40

1939

1937-40

Collage on paper Museum of Czech Literature, Art Collections, Prague

Collage on paper Museum of Czech Literature , Art Collections , Prague

1041

110s

Jaromrr Funke From the Time Persists series

1932 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jindi'ich Styrsky

1061

Jindi'ich Styrsky

From the Man with Blinkers series

From the Man with Blinkers series

1934

1934

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Dei;orative Arts in Prague

I 107

Frantisek Vobecky Memories

1935 Moravian Gallery in Brno

Eugen Wiskovsky Flag (Countryside near Prague)

1944 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Eugen Wiskovsky Disaster

1939 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

108 1

I 109

Vaclav Zykmund Self-portrait

1937 Private collection , Brno

Miroslav Hak

Miroslav Hak

Mask

Structage

1938

1937

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

110 1

1918-1939

German and Austrian Photographers in the Bohemian Lands

THE WORK OF PHOTOGRAPHERS of German ethnicity in interwar Czechoslovakia is among the least explored chapters of the history of Czech photography. Recent studies dealing with this subject are correspondingly scarce.1 More information can, however, be gleaned on the output of Austrian and German photographers during the years of the AustroHungarian Empire,2 when Czech , German, and Jewish cultures coexisted and it was often difficult to tell who was of what nationality. As a result, a lot of photographers of German or mixed origin have commonly been placed in the context of Czech photography - for example, Wilhelm Horn, Frantisek (Franz) Fridrich, Jindrich (Heinrich) Eckert, Carl (Karel) Pietzner, Moritz Klempfner, Josef Seidl, Josef Bettinger, Josef Schacht! (Sechtl), and Carl (Karel) Maria Chotek. Many of the photographers who were born in the Bohemian Lands achieved fame after leaving for Germany or Austria - for example, Hans Watzek, Rudolf Koppitz, Emil Mayer, Hermann Clemens Kosel, and Franz Lowy. Exhibitions on Czechoslovak interwar photography either entirely neglected the work of German photographers or only mentioned it in passing. The first time the subject received due attention was in 2005, when the 'Czech Photography of the 20th Century' exhibition, organized by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, 3 covered works by German photographers based in the Bohemian Lands and those who had found asylum in Czechoslovakia after Hitler came to power. Retrospectives, based on limited resources , yet accompanied by large catalogues, have in recent years been held to show the works of, among others, Franz Fiedler 4 and Grete Popper. 5 German photographic historiography has likewise paid little more than cursory attention to the question of Sudeten-German photographers from the former Czechoslovakia. 6 More is known about the work of Austrian photographers of Czech origin or born in the Bohemian Lands - for example, Anton Josef Trcka 7 and Rudolf Koppitz,8 both of whom studied at the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsantalt in Vienna and were influenced by Professor Karel Novak. (Novak later became the first head of the photography department at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague, and was the teacher of Josef Sudek.) The complexity of ethnic relations in interwar Czechoslovakia, which was home to more than three million Germans, greatly contributed to the growing separation of German and Czech photography. In the Bohemian Lands, Germans had traditionally established their own amateur photography associations and magazines. The Amateur Photographic Club (Club der Amateur-Photographen) was founded in Teplice in 1892 and held its first exhibition of members in the same year. The Photo Club in Liberec was established a year later. As early as 1898, the German Amateur Photographic Society in Prague (Klub deutscher Amateurfotografen in Prag) was founded. It held annual exhibitions of works of its members and other photographers, ran its own studio and darkroom, created a specialized library and photography Jindi'ich (Heinrich) Koch Untitled c. 1930 Galerie Kicken Berlin

collection, and organized lectures.9 The Prague Society worked closely with the Vienna Camera Club (Wiener Camera Club), which was one of the main centres of Impressionist and Secessionist Pictorialism, a movement that gradually grew in popularity among German amateur photographers in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. A high point was the 'Fine Art Photography Exhibition' (Ausstellung fur kunstlerische Photographie) in Prague, 1903, organized by the Prague Society in conjunction with six other photo clubs from Austria-Hungary. Taking part were members of other German photographic associations from the Bohemian Lands as well as the stars of contemporary Austrian photography, Hugo

112 1

1113

Henneberg, Hans Watzek, and Ludwig David. The most common kinds of photo shown were landscape and genre pic-

One of the most active German photo clubs of this period was the Amateur Photographic Society of Geske

tures, many of which were influenced by paintings and executed using various pigment processes . The influential Ger-

Budejovice (Klub der Amateurfotografen in B6hmischen Budweis), which from the beginning of the 1920s organized

man advocate of Pictorialism, Fritz Matthies-Masuren, who wrote Bildmassige Photographie (Pictorial Photography,

exh ibitions by its members (for example, Rudolf Piffl , Ludwig Langhans , Josef Seidl) in the town hall. Other photo clubs

1903), delivered a lecture to mark the opening of an exhibition of artistic portrait photography, which was accompanied

included the Photography Association in Liberec (Verein Lichtbild in Reichenberg), the Friends of Photography Asso-

by a large catalogue. The exhibition received a positive write-up in the Fotograficky obzor (Photographic Review), which

ciation in Jablonec nad Nisou (Verein von Freunden der Photographie zu Gab lonz a. d. Nisse), the Brno Camera Club

gave a special mention to the work of the Vienna and Graz photo clubs: 'The exhibition by the last two mentioned

(Brunner Camera-Club), and the Amateur Photographic Club in Teplice (Klub der Amateur-Photographen in Teplitz) .

photo clubs, which have long stood at the forefront of the German clubs in Austria, made the exhibition especially inter-

In 1925, the German Association of Amateur Photographic Clubs in the Czechoslovak Republic (Deutsches

esting . Any member unable to attend the major exhibitions abroad should view the work by members of these clubs, in

Lichtbildnerverband in der Tschechoslowakischen Republik) came into being, following on from a similar union founded

order to see the beauty of the work an amateur can achieve.' 10 Unfortunately, the German Amateu r Photographic Club

five years before. The Association expanded rapidly: in 1932 it comprised 48 societies and photo clubs with two thou-

was never to experience such success again .

sand mem bers ; 11 two years later there were 56 societies and clubs . Between 1927 and 1934 the Association held an

Although its members were published mostly in German magazines (especially Photographische Rund-

annual exhib ition of its members' work in a different town each year. In 1925 the publishing house of Josef Rimpler

schau) , many of the Club's activities were also covered by the Czech press, and members of the Czech Society of

began to issue Oas Lichtbild, the Association's official monthly, which initially had a circulation of 8,000, but this fell to

Amateur Photographers visited exhibitions by their German colleagues. Following the hiatus of the First World War

4,500 two years later. The periodical published articles on photographs and photographic technology, and had a size-

there was a certain renewal of activity, with new members in the German Club. (For example, Grete Popper joined

able picture supplement. From the mid-1930s this came under the influence of official Nazi ideology and began to

in 1932; her work combined traditional portraits and folklore pictures with more modern works in the style of New

publish more 'Heimatfotografie' (homeland photography) - patriotic, conservative pictures of landscapes and towns,

Photography.) The Club, which had a large number of Jewish members, was dissolved in the spring of 1939. In the

traditional portraits of Sudetenland inhabitants, and idealized ethnographic shots . The journal Sudetendeutscher Pho-

period before the First World War, the more prominent members of the Club of German Amateur Photographers in -

tograph was short-lived (1928-30). Der Deutsche Photograph, a fortnightly issued in Geska Lipa, published Pictorialist

cluded Gustav Mautner, Karl Augustin , Georg Wiener, Teresa Zuckerkandl, Jacob Nemirowsky, Elsa Hellmich , Otto

photography and articles on technical innovations, information about exhibitions, and legal and commercial articles.

Schlosser, and Max Wenisch.

The magazine Bergland Photo had a similar kind of content. Several German dailies (Prager Tagblatt, Reichenberger

Zeitung, Egerer Zeitung, and Deutsche Post) published supplements for amateur photographers. The most important was Photo-Ecke (Photo Corner), the Sunday supplement of the Prague daily Bohemia, which in addition to current affairs also brought articles on the aesthetics of photography. Gustav Mautner Portrait of the Painter Viktor Stretti 1908 Gum bichromate print Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Contacts between Czech and German amateur photographers were not particularly intense in interwar Czechoslovakia. This was due not only to growing nationality problems but also to the fact that Czech amateur photography was in general far more influenced by the Avant-garde. None the less, some sporadic cooperation did occur. For example, some younger members of the (German) Amateur Photographic Society of Geske Budejovice (Klub der Amateurfotografen in B6hmischen Budweis), Heinrich Wicpalek, Resl Chalupa, Willi Johannek, Ferry Klein, Rob Rohr, and Richard Nissl,

Anton Josef Trcka Portrait of the Painter Gustav Klimt 1914 Private collection, Pragu e

and others, who had begun to work in a more modern style of photography in the early 1930s, regularly took part in exhibitions by Linie, an Avant-garde group based in Geske Budejovice. In 1932, the newspaper Lidove noviny wrote of their works in the Linie exhibition: 'The most splendid photographs are exhibited by R. Chalupa. Of these, Cream on Snow and

Ellipses bear any international comparison . Their technical perfection is of the same level as the work exhibited by H. Wicpalek. The latter deserves notice not only for his still lifes but also for an excellent portrait whose beauty lies not simply in its uncommon conception but also in the fact that it does not seek to be art photography. Notable among the other works are those by Klein (Ultimo and Source), and Kocmoud (Dishes, 1931). The photomontages by Klein and Fiala are fine examples of applied photography.' 12 Two years later, the German photo club members joined Frantisek Drtikol and Josef Sudek in another Linie exhibition in Geske Budejovice. They also exhibited at the second Amateur Photographic Club exhibition in Znojmo, where Linie was represented with works by members of the Avant-garde Photographic Group of Five from Brno. Wicpalek, Klein , and Chalupa were amongst those taking part in the 'International Photography Exhibition' in Geske Budejovice in 1936, together with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Jindrich Styrsky. Work by the your19 Geske Budejovice photographers belonged to the more progressive current of German amateur photography in Czechoslovakia, which otherwise pursued more traditional landscape photography, portraits , and genre scenes. After Hitler came to power, Sudeten-German photographers began to use exhibitions and printed matter for German cultural propaganda. The Bohemian Lands were home to dozens of German photographic studios. Most of these worked in a traditional spirit, not venturing beyond the craft's standard dictates. One of the most prestigious centres for German cli entele was the Prague studio of Schlosser & Wenisch, based in Prikopy Street. Otto Schlosser, who had been the sole owner since the end of the First World War, became a sought-after and highly esteemed portraitist for the cultural world . His interests were broad , spanning music, theatre, dance, and fine art, in addition to his own photography. He was a personal friend of the composer and musical director of the Deutsches Landestheater (German Provincial Theatre) Alex-

114 1

111s

Rudolf Koppib: Untitled

1914-18 Bromoil print Galerie Kicken Berlin

regimes, and to its capital moved the editorial board of the AIZ (Arbeiter 11/ustrierte Zeitung, The Worker's Illustrated Newspaper, renamed Die Volks-11/ustrierte, The People's Illustrated, in 1936); after an interlude of a month this resumed publication in late March 1933, though with a greatly decreased circulation. (Whereas in Germany it had issued about half a million copies, in Prague this number fell to about twelve thousand.) Between 1933 and 1938, Heartfield published dozens of anti-Nazi photomontages in the AIZ and Die V~lks-11/ustrierte, which he made from fragments of photos by other photographers. Many of them ran k among his finest work. (Between 1930 and 1932 the AIZ published thirty-three photomontages by Heartfield, and this nu mber rose to 204 from 1933 to 1938.)18 At the 'International Exhibition of Caricature', held at the Manes exhibition halls in 1934, Heartfield exhibited thirty-five photomontages ridiculing Hitler, Goebbels, Goring, and other senior Nazis. This elicited an offic ial protest from the German ambassador, who called for the works to be removed . The Manes board at first refused the request but eventually acceded to police orders and removed seven photomontages from the exhibition. The interventio n provoked a demonstration of support for freedom of expression and the exhibition was soon visited by an exceptionally high number of visitors. In an article entitled 'Svobodne umeni' (Free Art), Teige wrote: 'Heartfield 's montages represent the culmination of Modern revolutionary caricature, and at the Manes exhibition were also the most valuable contribution fro m the entire collection of international caricatures. [... ] The police intervention provoked frequent protests and the international press referred to the prohibition on Heartfield's photomontages as an extraordinary cultural scandal.' 19 Many people came to Heartfield's defence, among them Henri Barbusse and Paul Signac, and at the initiative of Louis Aragon an exhibition was held in 1935 at the Maison de la Culture, Paris, where a hundred and fifty of Heartfi eld's photomontages and book covers were shown . Heartfield 's works were included in the 'International Exhibition of Photograp hy' at the Manes gallery in 1936, again leading to protests from the German embassy. A year later Heartfield, together with Oskar Kokoschka , who had also emigrated to Czechoslovakia, was accepted as a corresponding member of the Manes Fine Artists' Association.

ander von Zemlinsky and the composer Arnold Schonberg ; in his studio he took portraits of Franz Kafka, Karl Kraus, and other figures of German and Czech Prague. He also subsequently worked with several Czech society magazines (for example, Salon), in which he published dozens of actors' portraits (of Jan Werich and Jiri Voskovec, among others), as well as dance and figure compositions influenced by Expressionism and contemporary 'Decorativism'. The studio also had a branch in Karlovy Vary. The cosmopolitan Otto Schlosser died in Maly Trostinets in 1942 and his archive was lost. His work included not only portraits but also arranged figurative scenes influenced by mysticism , which today often seem somewhat kitschy. For a while, Schlosser employed Franz Fiedler13 of Prostejov, Moravia. After leaving for Dresden , Fiedler achieved fame with his portraiture , advertising photography, topographical photos , nudes, and heavily symbolic staged scenes (for example , the collection Narre Tod, mein Spielgese/1, 1921), and as an expert columnist. In Brno the studio of Frence (Franzi) Grubnerova and Lisa Mahler was much in demand amongst the cream of society. Closer relations existed between Czech and German Avant-garde photographers. Independent exhibitions were held in Czechoslovakia by Raoul Hausmann , Hannah Hoch, Kurt Schwitters, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Many other Avantgarde photographers from Germany took part in group exhibitions. Contacts with the Bauhaus played an especially important role, and several photographers from the Bohemian Lands managed to study there, including Jindfich (Heinrich) Koch , Marie Rossmannova, and Zdenek Rossmann, as well as the Slovaks Ladislav Foltyn and Irena Bluhova.14 The Bauhaus was a primary influence not only on Czech and Slovak photography, architecture, design and typography, but also on modern approaches to teaching at certain educational institutions, in particular the Schools of Arts and Crafts in Bratislava and Brno and the State School of Graphics in Prague.15 The Bauhaus-trained Werner David Feist, a German, lived and worked in Prague for nine years from 1930; he later emigrated by way of Poland to Britain, where he served in the British Army during the war. In 1951 he moved to Canada and remained there until his death in 1998.16 In Prague he worked first in a graphics studio and later earned his living as an independent photographer, graphic designer, and journalist. His work encompasses modern advertising , still lifes, portraits, and promotional photographs of the Vitkovice iron-works. Better known is the Prague work of the German exile John Heartfield.17 A pioneer of Dada collage and political photomontage, he fled to Prague in 1933 to escape the Gestapo. His decision to choose Prague over Paris or New York was

116 1

perhaps influenced by his Czech roots (his mother was the illegitimate daughter of the Czech writer Josef Vaclav Frie); more

Otto Schlosser

important, however, was the fact that the left-wing Malik-Verlag had relocated to Prague and Heartfield found employment

1928

there designing book covers. Czechoslovakia was then an island of democracy surrounded by Fascist and quasi-Fascist

Private collection , Prague

Opium Smoker and His Hallucination

I 117

returned to Prague briefly before his tragic and untimely death. Vilem Reichmann 22 is today generally considered one of the more prominent proponents of Czech Surrealist photography; his German origins, however, meant that he was forced to enlist in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War and he endured a long spell of detention as a prisoner of war in Russia. Erich Auerbach 23 emigrated to Britain, and often photographed for the local Czechoslovak government-i n-exi le led by Edvard Benes. Auerbach later specialized in photography with a musical subject matter. During the German occupation of Czechos lovakia and then the four decades of Communist totalitarian rule almost noth ing about the re lations between Czech and German photographers was published and many works by German photog raphers from Czechoslovakia were destroyed , lost, or neglected. Only more recent research has shown that th eir relations and influences were far more greater than had previously been assumed .

NOTES

Milan Knize, 'Nemecti fotografove v p'fedvalecnem Ceskoslovensku ', M.A. dissertation , Opava: Institute of Creative Photography, Silesia University, 1998; Petra Trnkova, 'Klub Deutscher Amateurphotographen in Prag a nemecka amaterska fotografie v Ceskoslovensku t'ficatych let', in Antonin Dufek, Zuzana Kopecka, and Petra Trnkova, Grete Popper: Fotografie mezi dvema svetovymi valkami I Grete Popper: Photographs from the Inter-War Period, Brno and Prague: Moravska galerie and KANT,

2005, pp. 13-17; Matthew S. Witkovsky, Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945, Washington, D.C., and London: National Gallery of Art and Th ames and Hudson, 2007. 2

Otto Hochreiter and Timm Star! (eds), Geschichte der Fotografie in 6sterreich, Bad Isch!: Vereins zur Erarbeitung der Geschichte der Fotografie in Osterreich , 1983; Pavel Scheufler, Galerie c. k. fotografu, Prague: Gracia, 2001 ; Timm Starl , Lexikon zur Fotografie in 6sterreich 1839 bis 1945, Vienna: Albumverlag, 2005; Petra Trnkova, Technicky obraz na malirskych staflich: Cesko-nemecti fotoamateri a umelecka fotografie, 1890-1914, Brno: Spolecnost pro odbornou literaturu - Barristar

a Principal 2009; Pavel Scheufler (ed .), Altvater/and, Gustav Ulrich: Fotograf z Rejhotic pred 100 lety I Altvater/and, Gustav Ulrich: Ein Photograph aus Reutenhau vor 100 Jahren, Prague and Odry: KANT and Gerlich Odry, 2002.

Grete Popper

Werner David Feist

Midday Sun 1930s Moravian Gallery in Brno

Kurt Stolp with a Pipe 1929 Galerie Kicken Berlin

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John Heartfield Dust jacket for Jaroslav Hasek's Dobry vojak Svejk (The Good Soldier Svejk) Synek, Prague, 1935

While in Prague, Heartfield worked for Czech publishers and period icals, creating numerous photomontages, for example, for Svet prace (The World of Work), and covers for several books from the Synek publishing house (his collages for the cover of the new, 1936 edition of Hasek's Good Soldier Svejk employ some of Josef Lada's original illustrations to the book), Odeon, and Druzstevni prace. He also enjoyed the friendship of many Czech artists, among them Ti bor Honty and Vladimir Hnizdo, and his influence is evident elswhere in Czech art, for example, in the collages of Teige (particularly the motif of a woman with a fish's head) and Josef Bartuska, whose anti-war collage with a skeleton comes close to plagiarism . When, in anticipation of the increasingly inevitable German occupation, Heartfield left Prague in 1938 and moved to Great Britain , where he remained until 1950, he always recalled with gratitude the five productive years he had spent in Czechoslovak exile. To mark this he dedicated big enlargements of seventeen of his photomontages dating from 1924 to 1960 to the Brno City Museum in 1967. The works were presented in a permanent exhibition in the chapel at Spielberg Castle, Brno, which the Nazis had converted into a ceremonial hall during the Occupation. After being closed for more than twenty years, because of the reconstruction of the castle and evidently also a disdain for the strongly ideological works of Heartfield , who had been an ardent Communist, a new version of the exhibition was reopened in June 2006. 20 The versatile Avant-garde artist Raoul Hausmann also spent time as an emigre in Czechoslovakia after leaving his place of exile in Ibiza, Spain. In the spring of 1937 the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague organized a solo ex-

JAROSLAV HASEK

hibition of his works . While in Czechoslovakia, he devoted himself to experiments with infrared photography, eventu -

DOBR'Y

ally publishing his findings in Fotograficky obzor. 21 A special place in German and Austrian photography in interwar Czechoslovakia was held by Jindrich (Heinrich) Koch. Originally from Moravia he studied first at the Bauhaus before moving permanently to Germany, where he eventually succeeded Hans Finsler as the head of the photography department at the School of Art in Halle. He only

VOJAK I

1119

Heinrich Wicpalek Finshing Touches 1931-32 Private collection , Prague

Artist unknown Poster for the Raoul Hausmann exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague 1937 Photograph, paper, Indian ink Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

3

Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch (eds), Czech Photography of the 20th Century: A Guide, Prague: Umeleckoprt'.Jmyslove

4

5

Antonin Dufek, Franz Fiedler: Fotografie, Brno and Prague: Moravska galerie and KANT, 2005. Antonin Dufek, Grete Popper: Fotografie mezi dvema svetovymi valkami I Grete Popper: Photographs from the Inter-War

6

Sigrid Ganz, 'Die sudetendeutsche Fotoszene 1918-1938 im Zeitschriftenspiegel', Adalbert Stifter Jahrbuch,

7

NF 11, 1997, pp. 81-100. Monika Faber, Anton Josef Trcka 1893-1940, Salzburg and Vienna: Rupertinum-Museum fur zeitgen6ssische

museum and KANT, 2005.

Period, Brno and Prague: Moravska galerie and KANT, 2005.

und moderne Kunst and Christian Brandtstatter, 1999; Zdenek Kirschner and Josef Kroutvor, Ceska fotograficka moderna , Prague: Umeleckoprt'.Jmyslove museum , 1989. 8

Jo-Ann Conklin and Monika Faber (eds), Rudolf Koppitz, Vienna: Christian Brandtstatter, 1995.

9

Petra Trnkova, 'Club deutscher Amateurphotographen in Prag a jeho umelecke smerovani na pocatku 20. stoleti', Historicka fotografie, 2004, no. 1, pp. 22-32; Petra Trnkova, 'Fotografove amateri a umelecka fotografie

1o 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23

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v kontextu umeleckych a umeleckohistorickych teorii (1890-1914)', 1/uminace, 2004, no. 3, pp. 99-119. Fotograficky obzor, 1904, no. 1, pp. 10-11. Lichtbildner Ka/ender, 1932, no. 9, pp. 52-55. V. Cernoch , 'Vystava Linie', Lidove noviny, 1 December 1932. Helmut Grunwald , Franz Fiedler und seine Zeit, Halle: Fotokinoverlag, 1960. Jana Novakova, 'Cestia slovensti fotografove na Bauhausu', B.A. extended essay, Opava: Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University, 2008. Susanne Anna, Oas Bauhaus im Osten: Slowakische und tschechische Avantgarde 1928-1939, Ostfildern: Gerd Hatje, 1997. Howard Greenberg , Anette Kicken, and Rudolf Kicken (eds), Czech Vision: Avant-Garde Photography in Czechoslovakia , Ostfildern : Hatje Gantz, 2007. Wieland Herzfelde, John Heartfield: Sein Werk und Leben, Dresden: VEB Verlag der Kunst, 1971 ; David Evans, John Heartfield. A/ZIV/ 1930-1938, New York: Kent Fine Art, 1992. John Heartfield en la colecci6n de/ IVAM, Valencia: IVAM , 2001, p. 132. Karel Teige, 'Svobodne umeni', Doba I, 1934, no. 9, p. 140. Marcela Macharackova, 'Fotomonteur John Heartfield a jeho vztahy k Ceskoslovensku', 62. Bulletin Moravske galerie, Brno: Moravska galerie 2007, pp. 132-40; Jindrich Toman, 'Emigre Traces : John Heartfield in Prague', History of Photography, 2008, pp. 272-86. Raoul Hausmann , 'Moznosti infracervene fotografie', Fotograficky obzor, 1938, no. 1, pp. 2-4. Zdenek Primus, Vi/em Reichmann, Berlin : Ex pose Verlag , 1989. Erich Auerbach, Vo/a Londyn: Ceskoslovenska vlada v exilu I London Calling: Czechoslovak Government in Exile 1939-1945, Prague: Sprava Prazskeho hradu , 2005.

1121

John Heartfield Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk 1932 Later authorized photograph of a collage Private collection, Prague

John Heartfield Nazis Playing with Fire 1935 Later authorized photograph of a collage Private collection , Prague

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1939-1948

Photojournalism and Documentary Photography during and after World War II

THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA, as elsewhere in Europe, rapidly deteriorated in the late 1930s. In September 1938 the Czechoslovak government declared a general mobilization, but the Munich Agreement was signed , followed by the ceding of the Sudetenland to Hitler's Germany. This was accompanied by the moving out of a large part of the ethn ic Czech population from the Sudetenland to the rump Czechoslovakia. After Germany had occupied what was left of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939, and after Slovakia, the day before, declared independence, the Germans established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Nominally autonomous, the Protectorate was in fact incorporated into the German Reich and its government and president were subordinated to German authority. The tragic moment of the start of the occupation in Prague was photographed, for example, by Karel Hajek and Lad islav Sitensky. The authorship of the most famous photograph of the arrival of the Wehrmacht in Prague, juxtaposing the obl iviousness of German troops with the anger and despair of the people on the pavement, was debated for many years. Initially it was attributed to Hajek, but Ludvik Baran published an article in Ceskoslovenska. fotografie in 1964, cl aiming that the photographer was actually Josef Novak.1 Baran later claimed that Hajek, when faced with the evidence, conceded that it was indeed Novak.2 None the less, Blanka Chocholova included this photo in the 1999 exhibition and catalogue Karel Hajek: Archiv 1926-1973. The Czechoslovak Press Agency (CTK) for some time attributed the photo to the photojournalist Josef Mucha on the basis of a claim by his late son . Today the photo is listed as the work of an anonymous photographer.3 Shortly after the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Germans closed down many Czech daily newspapers (including Na.rodni listy and A-Zet) and magazines. In their place, new, pro-German periodicals were published , including Ztec (Assault), the collaborationist fortnightly of the Board for the Upbringing of Young ZdenikTmej

People in Bohemia and Moravia (Kuratorium pro vychovu mladych v Cechach a na Morave), for which Svatopluk Sova

Wounded German Soldier, Prague, 5 May 1945

photographed , as well as the monthly Bohmen und Mahren, lushly illustrated with photographs. Periodicals, like Pestry

1945 Pri vate collection , Prague

tyden (Colourful Week), which ran photographs mainly by Karel Hajek, but also by Jan Lukas, Vaclav Jiru, Zdenek Tmej,

Jiri Jenicek, Oldrich Straka, and Josef Hanka, the more tabloid-like Praisky ilustrovany zpravodaj (The Prague Illustrated Reporter), Svetovy zdroj za.bavy a pouceni (A Global Source of Entertainment and Learning) , with photographs by Karel Ludwig, Zdenek Tmej, Vaclav Chochola, and Miroslav Hak, and Praha v tydnu (The Week in Prague), launched in April 1940, with photographs by Karel Ludwig , who briefly worked also as its editor-in-chief, Jan Lukas, Karel Drbohlav, Frantisek lllek and Alexandr Paul, and Aho} (Hello), which initially endeavoured to publish mainly genre photos and photos of people and places in the country, of animals, actors, and sports. After Reinhard Heydrich was made Reichsprotekto r in 1941 and the Nazi regime became even more oppressive, most of the periodicals were published with photos taken from agencies, which publicized the successes of the Wehrmacht or were of an antisemitic character.4 In 1942 several Czech and German journalists travelled together to the Eastern Front, from where they brought back retouched propaganda photos of Ukrainian and Russian inhabitants enthusiastically welcoming German troops, ruins of

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in a huge dance hall , where he and about a hundred other Czech men lived, and in the brothel next door, which employed foreign women only. Tmej managed to make a personal , profoundly involved, and yet universalizing documentary, in which the grainy, high-contrast photographs accent the bleak atmosphere of the milieu. Shortly after the war he managed to publish a set of these photographs in the book Abeceda dusevnfho prazdna (The ABCs of Spiritual Emptiness). 8 Though unique by any standards, this work did not achieve real recognition till much later. 9 Many superb photos were made both during the Prague Uprising against the Germans in May 1945 (for instance, by Vaclav Chochola, Karel Ludwig, Oldrich Smola, Karel Hajek, Zdenek Tmej, Slava Stochl, Miroslav Hak, Emil Fafek, and Emil Pardubsky) and shortly after the war.10 For ·Czech photographers, the Uprising was one of the few opportunities to capture truly dramatic historic moments as barricades were erected in the streets of Prague and people fou ght and died, but also committed acts of wanton violence against defeated Germans and collaborators. Whereas Tibor Honty's moving, perfectly composed photograph Killed in the Last Seconds of the War, showing the funeral of a Soviet soldier in front of the Rudolfinum , Prague, has been reproduced countless times , Svatopluk Sova's photos showi ng the humiliating shearing of German women and Czech women collaborators and the public execution of the former deputy mayor of Prague (attended by thousands of people in autumn 1945) could not be published till after the changes of late 1989. Sova's photograph of a German woman with a painted face and heavy paving stone in her hand contains no less emotional charge and timeless symbolism than the famous Robert Capa photo of a woman collaborator marched through the streets of Chartres. The same is true of the unforgettable photograph by Tmej, A Wounded German Officer, which was made right at the start of the Prague Uprising. So much fear and hatred can be read in the

bleeding face of this man as he lies helpless on the pavement. And the composition is highly effective. It is significant, Josef Nov6k (?)

Karel H6jek

of course that these photographs were not shown either at the big exhibition 'The Prague Uprising', in 1946, for which

German Troops Entering Prague 15 March 1939 Private collection , Prague

Adolf Hitler at Wilson Station, Prague 1939 Private collection , Prague

Jiff Jen fcek and Erich Einhorn selected works from tens of thousands of offered photos, or in the various publications about the Uprising, which came out shortly after it had ended. 11 A large series of photographs about the return of life to Budapest, Dresden, Berlin, Warsaw, and other war-torn cities , and the cleaning up of the rubble of war, was made by Jindrich Marco. To extraordinary emotional effect, he captured the strength of people who, after all the horrors, devastation , and impoverishment they had experienced, did

cities destroyed by the Bolsheviks, and ubiquitous misery. The book Gest[ novinaii na Vychode (Czech Journalists in

not, even amidst the ruins, lose hope in the restoration of a normal order and traditional values. His great talent as

the East), the concrete result of this journey, contains, however, mainly photographs by Germans, with the exception of

a reporter was used by leading magazines like Picture Post, Life, and Paris Match, and by photo agencies abroad like

the Czech photographer Vaclav Broz. 5 Most Czech photographers at the time preferred to devote themselves to photographing historical monuments, landscapes, children , and aspects of folk culture. Many photojournalists, however, continued to photograph everyday life or sports events. Photographs of animals were also frequent, and the highly popular books by Jan Vaclav Stanek, S kamerou za zve"ff nasich lesu (Tracking Animals in Our Woods with a Camera) and S kamerou za zve"ff na nasich vodach

(Tracking Animals in Our Waters with a Camera) were published during the war. Not all publications, however, were completely apolitical. For example, a book to mark the seventieth birthday of the President of the Protectorate, Jihocech Emil Hacha (Emil Ha.cha, a South Bohemian), was published in 1942. 6 Most of the photos in it were made by Karel Hajek.

Few Czechs took photographs right on the battlefield . Among the most important was Ladislav Sitensky, who made hundreds of photos of the hard training and daily life of Czechoslovak airmen in Great Britain and also from battles in France.7 Czech soldiers on the Western Front were photographed also by Julius Vymola, an amateur, and photos from the Eastern Front were made, for example, by Otakar Jaros. The book Nasi v pousti (Our Men in the Desert) was published in Prague in 1946 with photographs by Robert Kellner, showing Czechoslovak units in North Africa. A number of photojournalists of Jewish origin were deported to concentration camps. Some, like Rudolf Kohn and Pavel Altschul, never returned. Hundreds of thousands of young Czech men were conscripted to do forced labour in Germany. One of them, Zdenek Tmej, made a unique set of photographs showing , to extraordinary effect, the extreme circumstances of people who had been forced to leave friends and family to go to a place full of gloom and boredom, from which the only brief escapes were visits to a brothel 'for foreigners only'. Tmej , who in September 1942 left to do forced labour on the railway and in the travelling post office in Breslau (Wroctaw). Using experience learned from having been the assistant to Karel Hajek, Tmej photographed in poor light, out of sight of the German guards, which is why few of his photos show hard labour itself. Most of them were made during breaks in resting carriages,

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Ladislav Sitensky President Edvard Benes Visiting the Czechoslovak Fighter Squadron, North Weald, England 1944 PPF Art Collection , Prague

1127

Jan Lukas Before Deportation (or Vendulka)

1942 Private collection , New York

The Bitter Years 1939-1947: Europe through the Eyes of Czech Photographers, Prague and Opava:

Sprava Prazskeho hradu and Slezska univerzita, 1995. 5

Gest/ novinari na Vychode, Prague: Orbis, 1942.

s

Jihocech Emil Hacha, ed. by Karel Hajek with Theodor Josef Ha.cha , Adolf Hruby, Josef Kliment, Josef Kytka,

and Josef Menzel, Prague and Geske Budejovice: Ceskomoravske akciove tiskarske a vydavatelske podniky

7

and Jihoceske vydavatelske a nakladatelske druzstvo, 1942. Ladislav Sitensky, z valecneho deniku, text Ladislav Sitensky, Vaclav Straka, and Frantisek Fajtl , Prague: Nase vojsko, 1991.

8

Zdenek Tmej, Abeceda dusevniho prazdna, text Alena Urbanova, Prague: Zadruha , 1946.

9

Zdenek Tm ej ,'Totaleinsatz ': Breslau 1942-1944, text Diethart Kerbs, Berlin: Dirk Nishen , 1989; Anna Farova, Tomas Jelinek, and Blanka Chocholova , Zdenek Tmej: Totaleinsatz, Prague: Torst, 2001 .

10

Jan J. Dvor ak, 'Dejiny Prazskeho povstani ve fotografii ', extended essay for an M.A. , Prague: Katedra fotografie , FAMU , 1997. Ladislav M. Parizek, A lid povstal, Prague: Aventinum , 1945; Vladim ir Peroutka and Jiri Pechar, The Revolution in Prague, Prague : Orbis 1945; Jarka JavOrkova, Prazske povstani, Prague: Hlavni mesto Praha, 1945; Srdce Prahy v plamenech. 106 snimku Oldricha Smoly z Kvetnove revoluce, text, in Czech , Russian , and English, by Karel Doskocil , Prague:

Universum C.A.T. , 1946; Frantisek Hrubin (ed .), Pamatnik Prazskeho povstani 1945, Prague: Vaclav Sestak, 1946; 12

and Kvetnove dny, Prague : Nase vojsko, 1946. Jindrich Marco, Please Buy My New Song, Prague: Arlia, 1967; Vladimir Birgus, Jindrich Marco: Horka feta: Evropa 1945-1947 I Bitter Years: Europe 1945-1947 I Bittere Jahre: Europa 1945-1947, Prague: Orbis, 1995; Karel Cudlin and Jindrich Marco,

13

lzrael (50), Prague: Argo, 1998. ::Jan Lukas, Prazsky denik I Prague Diary 1938-1965, Prague: Torst, 1995; Josef Moucha, Jan Lukas, Prague: Torst, 2003.

Black Star. Later, Marco also demonstrated this talent, in photo-stories for the new Czechoslovak weekly Svet v obrazech (The World in Pictures) and in photographs of the first Arab-Israeli War (1948). He had a sense for eloquent detail and the witty juxtaposition of various subjects, which contributed to the fact that his photographs not only depict reality, but also interpret it. His contacts all over the world (one of his friends was Robert Capa) contributed to Marco's becoming a victim of Communist totalitarianism: in 1950 he was arrested and was sentenced in a show trial to ten years in prison. His photographs of post-war Europe and Israel were published together as a book only many years later. 12 Karel Ludwig also made powerful photographs from Germany shortly after the war. They are, however, only a small fraction of his work, because most of his exposed film was stolen shortly after he had taken the photos. In the three years of relative freedom between the end of the war in May 1945 and the Communist takeover of February 1948, several other excellent documentary photographs were made. These include the now practically unknown photos by Viktor Richter about the lives of Gypsies (anticipating the work of Josef Koudelka) and the lively, artistically effective snapshots of everyday life by Jan Beran. Many of the photographs that Jan Lukas made during the war and shortly afterwards which superbly capture the atmosphere of the times, were later published in Prazsky denik 1938-1965 (Prague Diary, 1938-65, 1995).13

NOTES

Ludvik Baran , 'Dokument doby- 15. brezen 1939', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1964, no. 5, p. 146. 2

An interview with Ludvik Baran , condu cted by Vladimir Birgus in November 1999.

3 4

Josef Moucha, 'Fotografie s tajemsvim ', Fotograf, 2005, no. 6, p. 96. Petr Vilgus, 'Fotografie za protektoratu Cechy a Morava', extended essay for a B.A. , Opava : Institute of Creative Photography,

Slava Stochl

Karel Ludwig

The Prague Uprising, May 1945

Melantrichova ulice, Prague, 8 May 1945

1945

1945

Association of Czech Photographers Collection , National Archive, Prague

Muse um of Decorative Arts in Prague

Silesian University, 1997; Vladimir Birgus, Horka feta 1939-1947: Evropa ocima ceskych fotografu I

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ZdenekTmej Card Players, from the Totaleinsatz series

1942- 44 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

ZdenikTmej Sleeper on a Bunk, from the Totaleinsatz series

1942-44 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

ZdenikTmej Eintopf for a Czech Student, from the Totaleinsatz series

1942-44 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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I 131

Svatopluk Sova German Women Paving the Streets of Prague Prague, May 1945 Private collection , Prague

Svatopluk Sova Shaving the Heads of German Women and Collaborators Prague, May 1945 Private collection , Prague

TiborHonty Killed in the Last Seconds of the War 1945 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Jindi'ich Marco Refugees on a Bridge, Berlin (Berlin: Refugees Returning from the East to the City)

1945 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jindi'ich Marco Souvenir, Warsaw (Warsaw: Street Photographer in the Old Town)

1947 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jindi'ich Marco The First Bookseller, Berlin (Berlin: Bookseller on Tauentzienstra/3e)

1945 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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1939-1948

JosefSudek At Noon in Winter, from the series The Window of My Studio 1945 Pigment print , Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

From Surrealism to Glamour Photography

IN KEEPING WITH THE NAZI views on art in general, most Avant-garde art in the Protectorate (March 1939 to May 1945) was also condemned as 'degenerate' (entartete Kunst). This was not an entirely new phenomenon; Modern art had been attacked by conservatives in Czechoslovakia and also, curiously, by some former left-wingers in the late 1930s. None the less, Avant-garde artists did not stop working in the Protectorate. (A far greater turning point for them would come later, with the Communist takeover in 1948.) But they continued most of their work illicitly, sometimes underground. A frequent form of their work was the anthology, made in only several copies, comprising typewritten articles and sometimes with original photographs pasted in. There were, however, also bold exceptions. Still in October 1939, an exhibition by former members of Avant-garde photographic associations from Brno and Olomouc opened in the Galerie U medvidku, Prague, including works by Karel Kasparik, Otakar Lenhart, Bohumil Nemec, and Jaroslav Nohel, who formed the new Fotoskupina ctyr {Photography Group of Four). The exhibition primarily included experimental photos influenced by Surrealism, but included some social documentary works as well. In the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, in late October 1939, the large exhibition 'A Hundred Years of Czech Photography' opened . Amongst almost a thousand exhibited works , employing a wide range of applications of the photographic medium, there were also examples of Avant-garde photographs. The

cover of the catalogue has an abstract composition by Jaromir Funke. The originally conservative periodical Fotograficky obzor (Photographic Review), of which Josef Ehm became the editor in October 1939 (and then , from January 1940, held

the position together with Funke), devoted a whole issue to Avant-garde photography as late as November 1940. Until March 1941, when the editors were changed , the journal published many serious theoretical articles. Even before the Occupation, the Group of Surrealists in the Czechoslovak Republic (Skupina surrealistu

v CS R), affected by internal conflicts, had begun to fall apart. One of the reasons was its members' different attitudes to the Stalinist show trials in the Soviet Union . At the same time, some members, like the poet Vitezslav Nezval , became increasingly involved in sanctioned , mainstream culture. In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Surrealism gradually began to be perceived as degenerate art. 1 Karel Teige , however, continued to make his Surrealist collages . From a set of more than three-hundred, he exhibited and published only a tiny fraction. Collage became the private field of study of this once publicly active man . His main topic increasingly was the female body, either whole or in parts , which he often placed against a landscape composition o monumental effect. In these works he applied his belief that 'All poetry is the fulfilling of desire, in spite of hostile reality; it is the negation of unacceptable reality, its transformation into the real ity of desire.' 2 Teige had also been devoting himself to the theory of photography and cinema since the 1920s. In 1943 he anonymously published the preface o the album Moderni ceska fotografie (Modern Czech Photography), in which five important contemporary Czech photographers , Josef Ehm, Jaromir Funke, Miroslav Hak, Karel Plicka and Josef Sudek, are each represented by two original prints. 3 Another member of the group, the young poet Jindrich Heisler, was in a particularly difficult situation. To avoid racial persecution he went into hiding in the small flat of the painter Toyen (real name Marie Cerminova). But even there he managed to make a number of original works. Among them was the clandestinely published limited edi-

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tion of 'poems brought to life' (realizovane basne) entitled Z kasemat spanku (From the Casemates of Sleep), which Heisler and Toyen made in 1941 together with the photographers Miro Bernat and Viktor Radnicky. The seven photographs show an imaginative arrangement of small two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects captured from above - for example, animals, trees, marbles, and soldiers , directly connected with the writing. Using a method similar to the one used earlier in Vobecky's assemblages the scenes were created with the sole aim of making photographs as the ultimate works . The fusion of verse and visual art also loosely follows on from the picture poems by members of Devetsil, in whose work Toyen had taken part. Heisler was convinced that 'the day is not far off when books will be made which encapsulate the unique, multidirectional movement developing between the word and the picture'. 4 In the same year he prepared the private publication of his book Na Jehlach techto dnf (On the Tenterhooks of These Days), in which his verse is accompanied by a selection of earlier photographs by Jindfich Styrsky. (The book was not published openly till after the Liberation in 1945.) During the war he also made the photographs for the series Of the Same Stuff. Loosely following on from the frottage that Max Ernst made in the 1920s, Heisler here has made dream-like pic-

tures of birds, horses' heads, human figures , and indefinite protoplasmic matter. His photos of Surrealistic objects, like rakes with burning candles, are from the same period , but are preserved only in photographs, not in a physical form. The Ra group was very diverse, but few of its artist-members were involved in photography. The leading figure was Vaclav Zykmund , who, apart from painting , devoted himself to Surrealist 'games', in many respects anticipating happenings and body art, of which we still have documentation made in collaboration with Milos Korecek. During the war, that entailed 'revelries' ('fadeni), participated in by a number of kindred spirits. Zykmund's photographs were used as a series with poetry by Ludvik Kundera in the typescript volume Vyhruzny kompas (Menacing Compass , 1944). 5 Vilem Reichmann followed on from Jindfich Styrsky, but the reality of wartime, which, because of his German ethnicity, he experienced as

Jindi'ich Heisler Untitled

1940s Galerie Maldoror, Prague (formerly the Andre Breton Collection)

a Wehrmacht soldier at the front and then in Soviet captivity, is projected so strongly in his work, that after the war he reacted to it with his raw, imaginative series Wounded City The atmosphere of wartime destruction was also projected

..... . ' .. ...

•

•

. ' . ... . . . . . . . ... .... ~--:... -.~-~. .

into the 'phocalques' (fokalky) of Milos Korecek and Josef lstler, developing the principle of decalcomania. 6

.

By the mid-Thirties another association of young artists began to crystallize, which we know as the 42 Group

'.•

\

(Skupina 42). Apart from its painters, poets, theorists, and one sculptor, there was also one photographer in the group, Miroslav Hak. The roots of the 42 Group are in the Surrealism of the period. Its 1940 manifesto 'Svet, ve kterem zijeme'

\

(The World We Live In), by Jindfich Chalupecky, already reflects the poetry of contemporary urban civilization (including the outskirts), depicting Man at the intersection of the forces of fate. Hak's works all have a purity of form; he was among the founders of Czech theatre photography.7 The photographer Jiff Sever,8 who compiled his series in original albums of his own works , was always a lone wolf. Art as a means of resistance in wartime was the driving force behind the emergence of another book published underground, Zachody (Lavatories), by the photographer Josef Prasek and the poet Jan Rezac.9 About three years before the war, in 1936, a group of young people came out with the miscellany Recesse (Pranks). The

• . ...

group continued its street happenings, characteristic absurdity, and black humour even during the German occupation . Some of their activities are documented in photographs; others are illustrated using anonymous found photographs. Surrealism , however, also continued to influence the work of the older generation of photographers, for example, Eugen Wiskovsky. He photographed details of landscapes from the environs of Prague, using them as metaphors.

•

,, '

kterou lomov al smutecni venec Chvilku z nl slehaly plameny a chvllku vyhazovala praskovj cukr Pak jsem lam chodll dennii poslouchat jeji plac Casto se myla mlekem a nikdy nezavlrala svflj slzavj prostor o nehoz padaly zlamane vetvicky

•

•

Two superb examples of his use of overlapping reality and imagination are Disaster (1939), which shows a field of corn

·•

that has been knocked down , from which protrudes the roof of a farm , suggesting a sinking ship on a stormy sea, and Jindi'ich Heisler and Toyen

Jindi'ich Heisler

Photographic collaboration: Viktor Radnicky and Miro Bernat From the Casemates of Sleep (Poems Made Real}

From the Made of the Same Stuff series

1944 'Photo-graphics' Galerie Maldoror, Prague

Banner (1944), in which a rolling field and the path beside resemble a banner flying on a mast.

The oppressive atmosphere of the Occupation was fundamentally projected in the development and character of other areas of art photography in the Bohemian Lands. There were at least two reasons for a nationally conceived pho-

1941

tography: first, to define oneself against the Germans and, second , to try to capture historically important places threatened

Private collection , Prague

by the war. That was how the yearbook Ceska fotografie 1940, with the subtitle Zeme ceska, domov muj (the Czech land, my homeland; quoting the national anthem), was understood, as was Karel Plicka's book of classic views of the Czech metropolis, Praha ve fotografii (Prague in Photographs), which went into many editions. The era of neutral subject matter began. It included landscapes, for example, those in Rudolf Janda's successful book Prates v Beskydach (The Ancient

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J

139

Forest in the Beskid Mountains, 1943); architectural monuments, for example, Funke's photographs of Prague churches; genre photographs and folklore studies, capturing a wide range of Bohemian and Moravian folk art (architecture, national costumes, Church holidays and festivities). Imaginatively conceived works, employing a wide range of subject matter and form used by the Avant-garde , were also made by Josef Ehm. Using the Sabatier effect, particularly in his nudes, he was following on from the work of Man Ray; at the same time he continued to make many portraits. 10 The style of Josef Sudek's work changed fundamentally in 1940. Up to that point he had been one of the most distinctive professional photographers. This was surely because of the interplay of internal and eternal influences, the strongly increasing political pressure in the oppressive atmosphere of the Occupation, the diminishing possibilities to get published, the subsequent uncertainty of making a living , and the persecution of his Jewish friends, such as the painter Emil Filla. Last but not least was Sudek 's own tragic experience of the trenches in the First World War. The studio of his new large series, The Window of My Studio (1940-54) , was also Sudek's Prague flat. On a dusty, hidden courtyard with a few trees, this studio-home was one of the few certainties he had during the war. He photographed views through the closed window at various times of the day and the year, often capturing the windowpane covered with raindrops, snow, or frost, through which often the only thing visible is the illuminated windows of the opposite apartment building or the stunted apple tree in the small garden . The window created the dividing line between the certainty of home and the uncertainty of the outside world. The photos he made strictly for himself were made without much of a chance of being shown in public or published. The subjective, existentially conceived photographs, in tune with the poetry of the then up-and-coming poets and artists, were made using approaches that the recent breakneck

Karel Ludwig

Karel Ludwig

Jii'rSever

Nude: Pear

Untitled

From the Masked Lucie se ries

1948

1941

1940-42

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Vaclav Chochola

developments in photography had allegedly surmounted - namely, contact prints and, sometimes, handmade pigment

Coat Stand

prints (wh ich Sudek was more intensively involved in making in the 1950s). The impressiveness, intimateness, and

1944 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

fragility of his still lifes, photographs of city secret corners, and psychological portraits are so exceptional that it fair to say that 1940 marks the birth of Sudek as a world-class photographer.11 With high-quality amateur works Jindrich Hatlak made a name for himself during the war. His nude study of Premysl Koblic is among the unique works of art in Czech photography of those days. Some of the wartime compositions by Vaclav Chochola employ ordinary everyday subjects. But the works of his friend, Karel Ludwig, 12 are different. In the 1940s Ludwig made a number of studio portraits and genre studies, sophisticatedly handling the subject and light. These photos have a distinctively erotic subtext, which was used in later nudes as well. Bohumil St'astny, a veteran photographer on the pre-war Pestry tyden (Colourful Week) dealt with the same subject matter but more abstractly, as variations of light and shadow. That, however, was during the short, hopeful period after the Second World War, which soon ended with the arrival of a new dictatorship.

NOTES

In the Czech milieu , this was later explored by Teige. See Karel Teige, Entartete Kunst: Vybor z di/a Ill. , Osvobozeni iivota a poezie, Studie ze cty"ficatych let, Prague: Aurora, 1994, pp. 59-86. 2

Karel Teige, 'K ceskemu prekladu Prokletych basnfku ', in Paul Verlaine, Prokleti basnici, Prague: Ceskoslovensky spisovatel,

1966, p. 87; Karel Srp (ed.), Karel Teige, 1900-1951, Prague: Galerie hlavnfho mesta Prahy, 1994; Manuela Castagnara Codeluppi and Marco de Michelis (eds), Karel Teige, Architettura, Poesia, Praga 1900-1951, Milan: Electa, 1996; Karel Srp, Karel Teige, Prague: Torst, 2001 ; Jaroslav Andel, Avant-Garde Page Design 1900-1950, New York: Delano Greenidge Editio ns, 2002; Anton in Dufek, 'Surrealist Photography', in Vladimir Birgus (ed.), Czech Photographic Avant-Garde, 1918-1948, Cambridge Mass., and London: MIT Press, 2002, pp. 217-62 ; Matthew S. Witkovsky, 'The Cut-and-Paste World:

140 1

1141

Bohumil Stastny Untitled 1947 Private collection, Prague

War Returns ', in Matthew S. Witkovsky, Fata: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945, Washington , D.C., and London: National Gallery of Art and Thames and Hudson, 2007, pp. 181-201. 3

Modern! ceska fotografie, a portfolio of original photographs, with an introduction by Karel Teige (published anonymously), Prague: Narodni prace, 1943.

4

Lenka Bydzovska and Karel Srp (eds), Cesky surrealismus 1929-1953, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy and Argo,

5

Ludvik Kundera and Vaclav Zykmund , Vyhruiny kompas: Cyklus basni, Brno: self-published , 1944;

1996, p. 335.

Surrealismus und Fotografie, Essen : Museum Folkwang , 1966; Ute Eskildsen (ed.), Tschechische Fotografie 1918-1938, Essen: Museum Folkwang, 1984; Frantisek Smejkal (ed.), Skupina Ra, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1988; Marie Mzykova, Vaclav Zykmund, Olomouc: Galerie vytvarneho umeni Olomouc, 1992. 6

Frantisek Smejkal (ed.), Skupina Ra, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1988; Ota Mizera and Miroslava Myskovska (eds), Roztrhane panenky, Prague, (1942] (antedated 1939).

JosefEhm

7

Jan Mlcoch, Miroslav Hak: Fotografie, Prague: Prazsky dl'.Jm fotografie and Umeleckoprl'.Jmyslove museum v Praze, 1994;

Imaginary Space 1940 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jan Mlcoch, 'Miroslav Hak a fotografie ve Skupine 42', in Eva Petrova (ed.), Skupina 42, Prague: Akropolis and Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1998. 8

Ludvik Soucek, Ji'fi Sever, Prague: Odeon , 1968.

9

Jan Rezac and Magdalena Wagnerova, Josef Prasek: Snad Praha, Prague: Artfoto, 1999.

1o 11

Jiri Masin , Josef Ehm, Prague: SNKLHU , 1961. Lubomir Linhart, Josef Sudek, Prague: SNKLHU, 1956; Jan Rezac and Josef Prasek, Sudek, Prague: Artia, 1964; Zdenek Kirscher, Josef Sudek, New York: Takarajima, 1993; Anna Farova, Josef Sudek: The Pigment Prints 1947-1954, ed. Manfred Heiting , Los Angeles: Cinubia, 1994; Jan Rezac, Josef Sudek: Slovnik misto pameti, Prague: Artfoto, 1994; Anna Farova, Josef Sudek, Prague: Torst, 1995; Anna Farova, Josef Sudek, Prague: Torst, 1995; Jan Rezac and Jan Mlcoch (eds), Ruie pro Josefa Sudka, Prague: Sprava Prazskeho hradu and Umeleckoprt'.Jmyslove museum, 1996; Anna Farova, Josef Sudek: The Window of My Studio, Prague: Torst, 2007.

12

Blanka Chocholova (ed .), Vaclav Chochola: Kabinety vzpominek, Prague: Arcadia, 1993; Blanka Chocholova (ed.), Karel Ludwig: Archiv 1939-1948, Prague: Prazsky dl'.Jm fotografie, 1997.

142 1

1143

Vaclav Zykmund and Milos Korecek Menacing Compass

1944 Moravian Gallery in Brno

Milos Korecek and Vaclav Zykmund Self-portrait

1940-43 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

144 1

I 145

Vilem Reichmann

Vilem Reichmann

Arabesque of Destruction, from the Wounded City series

Target, from the Wounded City series

1947

1947

Private collectio n, Brno

Private collection , Brno

Miroslav Htik In a Courtyard

1942 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

1147

1948-1968

From Socialist Realism to Humanist Photography

AFTER TH E COMMUNIST TAKEOVER of February 1948 all Czech photography underwent profound change, which influe nced it for the next several decades. The Communist government soon gradually nationalized, among other things, printers, publ ishers, and photographic studios, and introduced strict censorship. The owners of the studios were forced to handover their businesses to the centrally run umbrella organization , the Fotografia cooperative. Sometimes this also entailed the destruction of archives of negatives that had been built up for generations (for example, the J. F. Langhans studio in Prag ue, which thus lost more than two million negatives, including portraits of many eminent people). At the same ·me the government decided to transfer the network of amateur photographic clubs to the Revolutionary Trade-union ovement turning amateur photographers into 'workers doing artistic activity as a hobby in their free time'. Many periodicals were closed down ; others were put into the hands of new editors-in-chief, who were mostly meant merely to carry out ideological orders of the Communist Party. Censorship was introduced. The authorities began to demand of photographers the dogmatic application of Socialist Realism and the social and propaganda function of photography, an engage Com munist attitude, clear traditional composition , and easy to understand works. The range of themes and subjects of photos published in the state-controlled media was severely restricted . True pictures of reality were substituted for by repeated arrangements showing the happy lives and the determined work of the builders of Socialism . There was an almost complete break in the continuity of Czech photography. A great part of the Czech photographs that had been made so far, for example picturesque, abstract, and Surrealist, began to be labelled 'bourgeois', and were sharply criticized for allegedly breaking with reality. 'Reality, from which photography is drawn, had ceased to be the central subject of its depiction, and was increasingly becoming a pretext for various experiments or an aid to express unreal ideas, ideas detached from reality.' 1 The pages of photography magazines published discussions carried on in earnest about whether it was suitable to publish classic landscape photographs without tractors and agricultural workers .2 Instead of Ceskoslovenska fotografie, the Central Council of Trade Unions began, in July 1950, to publish the dogmatic monthly Nova fotografie, run

by Frantisek Dolezal, who, together with Frantisek Cihak, became the most zealous proponent of Socialist Realism in Czechoslovak photography. In terms of ideas, the periodical referred back to the socially critical work from between the vo world wars , particularly those shown at the international exhibitions of social documentary photography which had been organized by the Film-foto group of the Left Front (Leva fronta) in 1933 and 1934. Lubomfr Linhart, who led the Filmfoto group, also used the term 'Socialist Realism' in his 1934 book, Socia.In[ fotografie (Social Photography) in 1934, and pushed (though hardly as dogmatically as his successors would) for the Marxist view of the development and values of photography. The photography of this new period , according to the Nova fotografie editors' statement of intent, was meant 'to confron t workers in photography with the problems connected with contemporary events in society, our Socialist building projects, the needs of socio-political and cultural education, and our efforts to maintain lasting peace'. And they put Pavel Dias Spring Sleet Chysky, Bohemia, 1959 Courtesy of the photographer

148 1

the main emphasis on the 'ideological, class-conscious, Party element of work and on exposing the reactionary nature of non-ideological , formalist, and socially indifferent bourgeois photography'. 3 The Communist programme of Socialist Realism was meant to be ensured by the unified Czechoslovak Union of Socialist Photography.

1149

or example, on the pages of the collaborationist periodical Ztec (Assault). Attempts at more inventive pictorial compos· ion rem ained the exception. Amongst the more engage photographers were Frantisek Pajurek, Bohumil Straka, Vene Svorcik, Jiri Rublic, Milos Sukup, Oldrich Rakovec, Karel Soucek, Jaroslav Schaufler, Karel Prasek, Jan Tachezy, Karel Kania, Frantisek Krasl , Frantisek Preucil, Hynek Santi, Jaroslav Pacovsky, Vaclav Jin'.J , and Karel Otto Hruby. In the weekly Svet v obrazech (The World in Pictures) Karel Hajek7 had an exclusive position, again not hesitating to put his talent as a reporter fully in the service of another political regime. He always tried hard to be near representatives of he State. From these special contacts he managed to get exceptionally high-quality pictures and also to obtain privil eges for himself. In the 1950s he worked increasingly as a versatile, skilled, but unimaginative professional , carrying out any assignment. His former admirer and in many respects even successor, Jan Lukas ,8 on the other hand , had no illusions about the revolutionary changes taking place in Czech society. Without a hope of immediate publication, he captured moments of great historical change , but also noticed the apparently lesser symptoms of the times and their se ings. Many of his photographs had to wait more than forty years to be published in his native country. Th e books Socialisticka fotografie (Socialist Photography)9 and Thema v nave fotografii (Topics in New Phoography),10 as well as a number of articles by the chief ideologues of Socialist Realism in photography, were intended o prevent photographers from groping in the dark ideologically. Dolefal 's book Thema v nave fotografii clearly went oo far in its ideological frenzy, and was sharply condemned by Lubomir Linhart in a 1952 issue of Nova fotografie: 'It is a little book that is schizophrenically confused , often tract-like in its vulgarization of complicated ideological problems Frantisek Pajurek

Oldi'ich Rakovec

Come and Join Us (or May Day in Czechoslovakia) First half of th e 1950s Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

I Want to Be Like Him! First half of the 1950s Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

of photography, often directly deterring one from new subjects in its tone, almost inhuman towards everything that has so far been achieved in photography in its opinions about photographers'.11 The next year, in several articles in the renewed Ceskoslovenska fotografie, Jan Smok, a cameraman, theorist , and teacher at FAMU (the Film School of the Academy of Performing Arts), polemicized with the dogmatic interpretation of Socialist Realism . He also published the first ideas of what would become his own theory of communication. 12 At this time, following the death of the Soviet leader Stalin and his Czech disciple Klement Gottwald in early 1953, a moderate liberalization of the political scene

In terms of form , New Photography in the Czechoslovak context followed on from the works of many left-wing

took pl ace. At a session of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party in December 1953 criticism

photographers around the world. Among the Czech works of this kind are Vladimir Hipman's photographs from steel mills

as even voiced about the official arts policy of the preceding period. Although in periodicals, at exhibitions, and in

and the post-war activity of the Brno (later Prague) group of propaganda artists called the Working Five Programme (Pra-

amateur photographic competitions photos with engage subject matter continued to appear, they were now usually no

covni Petka Program). Its members included Bohumil Nemec and Frantisek Povolny, who for political ends used 'the means

longer so schematic in their depiction and their range of subject matter was markedly expanded. The period of hard-

of illustrated propaganda', which had been successfully tried out in advertising. From February 1948 onwards, all work in

line Social ist Realism was thus relatively short in Czech and Slovak photography. Today it receives little attention.

photography (and art in general) was meant to aid in the achievement of the ultimate victory of the Communist idea. Though it paid lip-service to the social documentary photography of the interwar years, which had often been a raw probe into the workings of society, Socialist Realist photography was quite different in practice.4 The schematic photographs said nothing about the reality of the early 1950s. On the contrary, in the form of staged scenes they were meant to provide instructions about how the new society of the near future was meant to look, and where the masses

Jan Lukas March 1953 (Stalin and Gottwald) 1953 Pri vate collection , New York

of 'workers , peasants, and working intellectuals' were heading. The majority of these tableaux vivants, showing the mostproductive workers and farmers and also Pioneers in their red scarves , included Communist symbols , slogans, and portraits of leaders at the top of each picture. Amongst the main subjects of the photographs of these years are Communist holidays, celebrations, and festivals , Party congresses , meetings, and political training sessions , the nationalization of industry and the establishment of farm cooperatives , shock-workers , 'volunteers' doing physical labour, Communist functionaries , meetings about work plans and obligations, workers and Pioneers on holiday, Socialist sport, as well as genre photos of families and children. The covers of magazines often used simple photomontage (for exam-

,..... ".

.. .......... "

..

nwiwn fiil (

[j]~

ple, photographs of enthusiastic crowds used as backgrounds for portraits of Communist politicians). Airbrushing was often used or the final form of the photograph was retouched so that politicians who had fallen out of favour with the regime were removed from group portraits or photos of historical events. Photographs of determined workers and people optimistically looking into the future , arranged down to the last detail, followed on from the works of engage Soviet photojournalists of the 1930s, like Semion Fridland, Arkady Shishkin , and Anatoly Skurikhin. 5 In some respects, however, they were also reminiscent of the Nazi German propaganda photographs made by Heinrich Hoffmann and the photojournalists of the periodicals Der Adler (the magazine of the Luftwaffe) and Signal (the periodical of the Wehrmacht).6 In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia this was used ,

1SO J

J

151

, as later published in Praha vsednfho dne (Everyday Prague, 1959). His wife, Milada Einhornova, made spontaneous photos of ordinary life and also unique photographic publications for children, in which she depicted the staged advenures of a nanny-goat on her own in the big city (Rickys Abenteur in einer grossen Stadt, Ricky's Adventure in a Big City, 1958) or Pavel Kohout's true-to-life story of a baby blackbird growing up amongst people (Rfkali mu Frkos, They Galled Him Frkos , 1963). 16 Among the pioneers of the photography of everyday life were Karel Otto Hruby, Jan Beran, Tibor Honty, ilos Budik, Marie Sechtlova,17 Vilem Kropp, 18 Jovan Dezort, Miroslav Jodas, 19 Oldrich Karasek, Bedrich Kocek, Daniela Sykorova, and, last but not least, Jiri Jenicek.20 After a rather long pause Jenicek again began to photograph more intensively. Beyond the context of Czech photography there are the lively photos of New York life in the 1950s "'nd 1960s made by Bedrich Grunzweig, 21 a native of Prague who had escaped the Shoah by leaving for the United States in 1939, and also snapshots of London and classical music rehearsals and concerts , which were taken by Erich Auerbach, the official photographer of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in Great Britain during the Second Wo rld War. It was thanks to Jiri Jenicek who, with his articles on the classics of modern Czech photography, and to Lubomir Linhart, Anna Farova, 22 and Ludvik Soucek, that Czech Avant-garde photographers again began to be appreciated in the second half of the 1950s. In the period following Khrushchev's criticism of the Stalin cult of personality, which he made in the 'secret' speech of 1956, there was gradually a thaw in the politics and arts of Czechoslovakia as well. The years 1957-59 were truly a watershed for Czechoslovak photography. At the impetus of Vaclav Jiru the Fotografie 57 anthology was published in 1957. It was the first volume of what later became the Revue Fotografie quar-

erly. In late December of that year the Fotochema exhibition space was opened in Prague, the first gallery in Europe Erich Einhorn He's Been Drinking Again 1956 Private collection , Prague

Milada Einhornova!i From the book Ricky's Adventures in a Big City Before 1958 Private collection , Prague

o specialize in photography. It was followed the next year by the Photography Centre (Kabinet fotografie) at Kunstat House (Oum pa.nu z Kunstatu) in Brno. A book about Henri Cartier-Bresson by Anna Farova was published by the Statni nakladatelstvi krasne literatury, hudby a umeni (SNKLHU, the State Publishing House of Belles-lettres, Music,

The heroism and pathos of the great social themes of the second half of the 1950s were gradually superseded by an interest in the little events of everyday life. The 'poetry of everyday life' was particularly prevalent in the Czech literature of those days, especially in the work of the writers associated with the periodical Kveten (May). But it also influenced cinema, sculpture, and painting, and was increasingly applied in photography as well, where it could follow

Josef Prosek Elections on Sunday 1960 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

on from the Skupina 42 and the pioneering works of photographers of real life. Gradually a vast number of shots were made by photographers seeking to achieve an unusual depiction of everyday life as was being undertaken at the time by the Italian Neorealist film-makers. These Czechs found their models mainly in the optimistically conceived, simply composed , and easily interpretable humanist photojournalism of members of the Magnum Photos agency. The legendary 'Family of Man' exhibition of 1955, though not shown in Czechoslovakia, received positive reviews in the special-

K.O.Hruby Volunteer Work on Sunday 2nd half of the 1950s Moravian Gallery in Brno

ist Czechoslovak press, and was an indirect influence. The far more pessimistic and difficult to interpret subjective documentary photographs of the 'New York School' (for instance by Lisette Model, Louis Faurer, Robert Frank, and William Klein), accenting subtext, rejecting traditional composition, and intentionally using graininess and blurriness, met with almost no response in Czechoslovakia in those days. Vaclav Jiru was among the outstanding practitioners of Czech real-life photography at this time.13 Before the war he became well known for his photographs in magazines and his social documentary photos. Both as a photographer and a theorist of photography, he later became a proponent of Socialist Realism , but relatively quickly moved away from it and towards lyrical photographs of the 'poetry of everyday life'. This kind of photo was also made by Vaclav Chochola,14 but in his shots of unusual everyday life he tended to apply the ghostly aspects found in Surrealist poetry. Snapshots of everyday life gradually began to be used also in the daily press and in magazines like Kvety (Flowers, whose picture editor was the versatile photographer Josef Prosek).15 In 1955 Erich Einhorn became picture editor at the newly established daily Vecernf Praha (Prague Evening News). His photos, often revealing the humour of everyday situations, became very popular. After its Prague premiere in 1957, his exhibition 'Moscow through the Eyes of a Photojournalist on Vecernf Praha' was held also in several cities of the Soviet Union and East Germany. A set of his photos

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I 153

and Art), in Prague, thus launching the 'Umelecka fotografie ' (Art Photography) series. And the following year, the Mlady svet (World of the Young) weekly was started up, which would provide great space for real-life photography.

The photographic look of this periodical was shaped mainly by Leos Nebor, 23 its first full-time photojournalist and , later, the head of its photography department. A trio of young photographers, Jan Bartusek, Pavel Dias 24 (who had already made many authentic photos of the everyday lives of ordinary people, which remain fresh to this day), and Miroslav Hucek began to work intensively with Mlady svet from the middle of the next year. 25 The three men first attracted attention with an exhibition tellingly entitled 'We Want to See Life in Everything' (Chceme videt zivot ve vsem , 1960). Mlady svet provided these photographers with an opportunity to publish photo-stories several pages long about the lives of young people, comprising shots from various parts of Czechoslovakia as well as snapshots from their travels abroad . Their individual photos, and also their large photo-essays, helped considerably to overcome the schematic nature of the photojournalism of the previous period, and became the model for many other photographers. Yet , despite their proclaimed authenticity, they were limited in their choice of subject matter, since Mlady svet was the official weekly of the Communist Party-controlled Czechoslovak Association of Youth. That is why their work lacks more critical views of society in those days. Of the works of the Mlady svet photographers the main ones to have stood the test of time are the unpolished spontaneous photographs by Pavel Dias and Miroslav Hucek. These photographs distinctly contributed to many Czech photojournalists' moving away from traditional photographic illustrations satisfied with simply recording events, and towards personally experienced humanist documentary photographs expressing the photographers' own points of view. A change in form also took place. Neither Dias nor Hucek (nor some other young photographers, like Oldrich Karasek or Miroslav Jodas) was afraid of untraditional composition, motion blur, or graininess caused by photographing in natural light without an electronic flash . A warm-hearted and predominantly lyrical view, in the spirit of a celebration of civi/ismus predominated in the works of Frantisek Dvorak, Miroslav Peterka, Jiff Vsetecka (though his street photography from this time also includes

Vilem Heckel

Stanislav Tereba

The Caucasus Expedition

Goalkeeper and Water

1962

1958

Collection of Eva and Helena Heckelova, Dobrichovice

Private collection , Prague

some emotionally tenser and compositionally more intricate photos), Josef Prasek (whose book Pa'fft v Pa'ffti, Paris in Paris, 1967, also reveals his love of Surrealism), and Jan Lukas, whose photographic books (for example, He/fas, 1958, Wir Menschenkinder, 1960, Athens, 1965, and Naples, 1965) were published mainly for the foreign market. The para-

doxes of the State-controlled publishing policy are evinced by the fact that whereas the German edition of Lukas's book about Moscow, published by Artia, was pulped in 1962 because Soviet functionaries claimed it showed Soviet life unfa-

vourably, a year later Arlia published the same volume for Spring Books in London. Vilem Heckel's books about mountain climbing, like Cesty k vrcholum (Paths to the Peaks, 1956), Hory a tide (Mountains and People, 1964), Expedice Kavkaz (The Caucasus Expedition, 1965), and Hindukus (The Hindukush, 1967) enjoyed tremendous popularity.26 One of the best documentary photography books published in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s is Milon Novotny's Londyn (London, 1968). 27 It superbly captures the atmosphere of the British capital in the 'Swinging Sixties', where traditions hundreds of years old began to overlap with the new way of life of young people. Before 1968, Novotny, who intensely devoted himself

V6clavJ1ru Spectator

1952 Association of Czech Photographers Collection , National Archive, Prague

also to theatre photography, made a number of lively universalizing photos while on short visits to other countries, including the USSR, the USA, Cuba, Egypt, and France. The dramatist and later Czechoslovak and Czech president, Vaclav Havel, captured the essence of Novotny's work in Divadelnf noviny (Theatre News) as early as 1961: 'Everywhere in his work we see an effort to capture a reality that says something about a specific human life, about the atmosphere of life today. Novotny is interested in Man, particularly Man in extreme or mentally tense situations, losing something or finding somethi ng, risking something or submitting to something.' In the World Press Photo competition Czech photojournalists achieved their hitherto greatest international success when the young photojournalist Stanislav Tereba's Goalkeeper and Water was named 'World Press Photo of the Year 1958' and won First Prize in the category of sports photography. Though Czech photojournalists, except in sports photography, could generally not compete with their top American , British , or German collegues, the quality of their photographs did improve during the political thaw. Several unrefined but powerful pictures of the times were also made by amateurs. Exceptional photos, among he best of Czech documentary photography at that time, were taken by Gustav Aulehla. 28 His rawly authentic yet universalizing photos of life in Krnov, a small town on the Czech-Polish frontier, in the 1950s and 1960s, stand out from the optimistically conceived trend of the poetry of everyday life, which predominated at the time. Compared to most other Czech photographers of this period, Aulehla had a huge advantage: he did not make his living by taking photographs, nor did he seek success in amateur photographic competitions . Consequently, he did not have to care whether his photographs would be seen as ideologically unproblematic and acceptable for publication or exhibition. That meant he

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11ss

Miroslav Jodas Will He Come? 1958 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

ments in Slovakia, where people lived without most of the modern amenities. Koudelka has depicted them with a coniderable dose of romanticism, showing mainly their freedom , unbridled nature, and spontaneity, their respect for old ays, and their love for children. This set is dominated by frontal views of people bewitchingly looking straight into the camera and, through it, at the viewer. But it also contains more dynamic photos of children 's games and of musicians; hat stands out here is Koudelka's inventive exploration of the possibilities of the wide-angle lens and his having removed all secondary elements from the depicted scenes. With its universally applicable humanist content and mastery of dep iction , Gypsies became internationally renowned mainly thanks to Koudelka's solo exhibition at the Museum of odern Art , New York, in 1975, and the French and American editions of the book. 34 But by then their photographer as already living in exile.

OTES

1

Frantisek Dolezal, Thema v nave fotografii, Prague: Osveta , 1952, p. 13.

2

Jaroslav Koupil , 'Nave cesty nasf fotografie ', Nova fotografie, 1951 , no. 4, p. 95; 'Tri odpovedi J. Koupilovi', Nova fotografie, 1951 , no. 6, p. 143.

3

'Redakcnf uvod', Nova fotografie, 1950, no. 1, p. 1.

4

Jan Svetlfk, 'Fotografie socialistickeho realismu publikovane v ceskych casopisech', extended essay for a B.A., Opava: Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University, 1997; Tomas Pospech, 'Ceska fotografie v dobe dogmatickeho spanku ', Listy o fotografii, 1998, no. 2, p. 67; Tomas Pospech, 'Socialist Realism in Czech Photography', Imago, 2003, no. 15, pp. 8-15;

Vladimfr Birgus and Tom as Pospech, Tenkrat na Vychode: Cesi ocima fotografu 1948-1989 I Once Upon a Time in the East: Czechs through the Eyes of Photographers, 1948-1989, Prague: KANT, 2009.

could be all the more unrefined in his photos, and indeed they often reveal absurd and even slapstick aspects of Communist celebrations , people's loss of individuality in the crowd , and contradictions between the optimistic propaganda slogans and grim reality. At the same time, he cogently, and often with a distinctly subjective eye, showed private life, which the regime had not managed to destroy: people continued to go to pubs, celebrate birthdays, go on excursions,

5

Sergej Morosow (ed .), Sowjetische Fotografen 1917-1940, Leipzig: VEB Fotokinoverlag, 1980; Margarita Tupitsyn , The Soviet Photograph, 1924-1937, New Haven, Conn. , and London: Yale UP, 1996; Leah Bendavid-Val, Propaganda & Dreams: Photographing the 1930s in the USSR and the USA, Washington , D.C. , and Zurich: The Corcoran Gallery of Art and Stemmle, 1999.

sunbathe at swimming pools, and make love. Aulehla managed to capture this side of life superbly. Only in recent years have his photographs begun to be published on a larger scale. The photos of everyday life by Miloslav Kubes, a long-neglected amateur, are more lyrical. The photos of everyday life of the Gypsies made, with varying degrees of quality, by the ethnographer Eva Davidova since the second half of the 1950s, also long remained unknown outside specialist circles .29 Similarly, Viktor Kolar received wider recognition belatedly, in Czechoslovakia not until the late 1970s.30 Already in his first mature photos of life in the industrial city of Ostrava, made in the second half of the 1960s, he was often

Miloslav Kubes

Miloslav Kubel

Untitled

Untitled

1960s

19605

Collection of Daniel Sperl , Prague

Collection of Daniel Sperl , Prague

uncompromising in revealing the depreciation of ethical values, shallowness, and alcohol-induced merriment of the pub, and yet he was poetical in discovering extraordinary moments of everyday life. The situations captured in his photos are often almost banal, but their exceptionally effective presentation, drawing on the contrasts of various subjects and parallel stories they contain, creates a subtext wide open to different interpretations. Kolar is thus , at least in part of his work, one of the first Czech photographers closer to Robert Frank than to the humanistic photojournalists of Magnum or Life magazine so generally admired and imitated. Some of the best works of Dagmar Hochova31 come from the 1950s and 1960s, in particular her large documentary series about the spontaneity of children and also about old people. In these works she frequently combined a lyrical style with a rawer view of reality and emphasizes the timeless topics of ethics, dignity, and sincerity in interpersonal relationships. As part of her final-year university project on religion in Slovakia the photographer-sociologist Marketa Luskacova 32 took effective photos of Roman Catholic pilgrimages and surviving traditions. They became documents of old rituals, profound faith, pride, and a sense of belonging, and reveal her personal involvement with the subject matter. The topic of religion played an important role in her photographs of rural life in the small Slovak village of Sumiac. She had travelled there for years in an effort to capture the vanishing world of old country-folk, in which hundreds of years of tradition, the bond between people and the natural order, and spiritual and ethical values held a strong place. The height of Czech documentary photography in the 1960s, however, is undoubtedly the work of Josef Koudelka. 33 Apart from expressive theatre photographs, highly stylized by means of sharp tonal contrasts, graininess, and motion blur, he also made photos that he included in his Gypsy series. He mainly photographed in Gypsy settle-

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21 22

Jolana Havelkova, Bedrich Grunzweig: Mezi nebem a zemi I Between Heaven and Earth. Prague: Kava/em , 1999. Zuzana Meisnerova Wismer (ed.), Anna Farova & fotografie I Photography, text Josef Chuchma, Prague: Langhans Galerie, 2006; Anna Farova. Dve tvafe, ed . Viktor Stoilov, Prague: Torst, 2009.

23

Anna Neborova (ed.), Leos Nebor: Fotografie, preface Otakar Soltys, Prague: Nakladatelstvi lvo Zelezny, 1996.

24

Jiri Votypka, 'Fotograf Pavel Dias,' extended essay for an M.A. at the Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University, Opava, 2000; Jan Havel , 'Pavel Dias ,' extended essay for an M.A., at the Department of Photography, FAMU, Prague, 2000.

25

Vladimir Remes, Miroslav Hucek, Prague: Odeon , 1987; Michal Bregant, Miroslav Hucek.

26

Karel Dvorak, Vi/em Heckel, Prague: Panorama, 1982.

27

Milon Novotny, Londyn, Foreword by A.G. Hughes , Prague: Mlada fronta, 1968;

28

Vladi mir Birgus , Gustav Au/eh/a: Fotografie I Gustav Au/eh/a: Photographs 1957-1990, Prague: KANT, 2009.

29

Anna Farova and Jana Horvathova, Eva Davidova, text in Czech and English, Prague: Torst, 2004.

Proc mit zivot rad: Fotografie z let 1954-2000, Prague: Alba studio, 2000.

Dana Kyndrova (ed.), Milon Novotny 1930-1992, Prague: Dana Kyndrova and KANT, 2000.

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30 31

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Bohuslav Blazek, Dagmar Hochova, Prague: Odeon , 1987; Frederic Ripoll , Dagmar Hochova: Photographe tcheque Ceska fotografka, Prague: Torst, 2000 ; Alexandr Kliment, 1520: Dagmar Hochova: Fotografie ze sedesatych let I

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-

Daniela Mrazkova, Viktor Kolar, Ostrava: Profil, 1986; Viktor Kolar, Banik Ostrava, Berlin : Ex pose Verlag , 1986; Jiri Cieslar, Viktor Kolar, text in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2002.

Photographs from the Sixties, Prague: self-published with Arborvitae, 2005. 32

, I . - -. . .- _ . . , .

Marketa Luskacova, Pilgrims, Foreword by Sir Roy Strong , Intro by Mark Haworth-Booth , London : Victori a and Albert Museum , 1983; Josef Topal , Gerry Badger, and Marie Klimesova, Marketa Luskacova, Prague: Torst, 2001.

33

Romeo Martinez, Josef Koudelka, Mi lan: Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri , 1982; Bernard Cuau , Josef Koudelka ,

From the People II series

Street

Paris: Centre National de la Photographie, 1984; Anna Farova, Josef Koudelka , text in Czech and English,

1967

1963

Prague: Torst, 2002; Robert Delpire (ed .), Josef Koudelka, Prague: Torst, 2006.

Association of Czech Photographe rs Collection , National Arch ive, Prague

Association of Czech Photographers Collection , National Archive, Prague

6

34

Josef Koudelka, Gypsies, New York: Aperture, 1975.

Rolf Sachsse, 'Germany: The Third Reich', in Jean-Claude Lemagny and Andre Rouille , (eds), A History of Photography: Social and Cultural Perspectives, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press , 1987, pp. 150-58; Klaus Honnef, Rolf Sachsse, and Karin Thomas (eds), German Photography 1870-1970: Power of a Medium, Cologne: DuMont, 1997.

7

Vladimir Rypar, Karel Hajek, Prague: SNKLHU, 1963; Blanka Chocholova, Karel Hajek: Archiv 1926-1973, Prague: Asociace fotografu, 1999.

Viktor Kolar Ostrava 1968

8

Jan Lukas, Fotograficky zapisnik 1930-1990, text in Czech and English , Prague: Asociace fotografu , 1995; Josef Moucha, Jan Lukas, in Czech and English , Prague: Torst , 2003.

Private collection , Prague

9 10

Socialisticka fotografie, with articles by Frantisek Dolezal, Frantisek Cihak, and Vaclav Korinek, et al., Prague: Prace, 1951 . Frantisek Dolezal , Thema v nave fotografii, Prague: Osveta, 1952.

11

Lubomir Linhart, 'Theorie musi presvedcovat, ziskavat a spravne vest ', Nova fotografie, 1952, no. 11.

12

Jan Smok, 'Konec strasidel', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1953, no. 6, p. 63; idem, 'Definice fotografickeho umeni', Ceskoslovenska fotografie 1953, no. 7, p. 75; idem, 'Umelecky obraz ', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1953, no. 9, p. 101 ; idem ., 'Funkce vymyslu v umelecke fotografii', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1953, no. 10, p. 115; idem , 'Typisace ve fotografii ', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1953, no. 12, p. 137.

13

Vaclav Zykmund , Vaclav Jiru, Prague: Odeon , 1971.

14

Jiri Kolar, Vaclav Chochola: Prague: SNKLHU and Artia, 1961; Blanka Chocholova (ed.), Vaclav Chochola Kabinety vzpominek, with English , French, and German resumes, Prague : Arcadia, 1993; Ales Kunes, Vaclav Chochola, in Czech and English, Prague: Torst, 2003.

15

Jan Rezac, Josef Prasek, Prague: SNKLHU, 1962.

16

Vladimir Birgus, Tibor Honty, Prague: Prazsky dum fotografie , 1997.

17

Marie Michaela Sechtlova (ed.) , Marie Sechtlova: Fotografie I Photographs 1960-1970, text Antonin Dufek and Jan Kriz, Tabor: Marie Sechtlova, 2009

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18

Vilem Kropp, Vaclavak- 50. - 80. feta minuleho stoleti I Wenceslas Square 1950s-1980s, Beraun: Knihkupectvi U radnice, 2008.

19

Antonin Dufek, Miroslav Jodas: Fotografie 1961-2009, Prague: Arborvitae, 2008.

20

Anna Farova, Jiri Jenicek, Prague: SNKLHU, 1962.

1159

Dagmar Hochova Funfair in Oejvice, Prague

1960 Courtesy of the photographer

Miroslav Hucek Reform School in Obofiste

1964 Courtesy of the photographer

Dagmar Hochova Funfair in Oejvice, Prague

1960 Courtesy of the photographer

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Milon Novotny In Front of the Bank of England London 1964 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Milon Novotny Man with a Wheel 1958 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Gustav Aulehla Tram-stop, Ostrava 1961 Courtesy of the photographer

Pavel Dias Gottwaldov 1960 Courtesy of the photographer

Marketa Luskacova Woman Passing by a Procession to St Anne's in Rudnik, from the Pilgrims series 1966 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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j 16S

Josef Koudelka From the Gypsies series Jarabina, Slovaki a, 1963 Magnum Photos, Paris

Josef Koudelka From the Gypsies series Strazni ce, Moravia, 1965 Magnum Photos, Paris

Josef Koudelka From the Gypsies series Jarabina, Slovakia, 1963 Magnum Photos, Paris

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1948-1968

JosefSudek Two Pears and a Glass (Still Life with Pears) 1951 Pigment print, photographer's own mounting Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Lyrical Tendencies, Surrealism, Art lnformel, and Staged Photography

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STALINIST REGIME in February 1948 unpropitiously manifested itself also in artistically oriented photography. Many of its important practitioners were criticized for alleged formalism , which was considered incomprehensible to the masses and far removed from social and ideological needs. It was not permitted to publish nudes (in 1949-56, no nude photograph appeared in a periodical in Czechoslovakia), still lifes, or experimental photos. Whole periods of art were called 'decadent.' The works of a number of interwar Czech photographers were rejected as bourgeois, including Frantisek Drtikol (despite even his short, but enthusiastic involvement in the Czech oslovak Communist Party beginning in spring 1945), Jaromfr Funke, Jindrich Styrsky, and Frantisek Vobecky. Many photographers, in order to make a bare living had to find neutral subjects for their work (as they had done during th e Second World War). In the centralized Union of Czechoslovak Artists, however, thanks primarily to the friendly relations between Josef Sudek and the painters, sculptors, and architects of the SVU Manes association and the Umelecka beseda (Arts Society), an independent photography section for photography was established. That change of status saved Sudek himself from being forced to hand over his studio to a cooperative. Like Josef Ehm, Josef Prasek, Ladislav Sitensky, Jmdrich Brak, Jan Lukas, Tibor Honty, and several others, Sudek too became a photographer-artist, as they were offici ally called even though they were in the division for applied arts. In Czech photography of the 1950s and 1960s the accent on 'artistic quality' was generally very strong and was applied also in real-life photography with a more pronounced authorial view and aesthetically effective composition. (The term vytvarna fotografie, artistic photography, is used here to this day in the broader sense as the equivalent of 'creative'.) Gradually a rule was established that these union members - later also artists registered in the Czech Arts Council (Cesky fond vytvarnych umenf) - could work freel ance, but their commissions would be paid for only upon approval by the committee for this field of art. None the less, the union members, most of whom were experienced professionals, were able to maintain a certain independence and even emphasis on craftsmanship and artistic quality. Right after its first public appearance in 1950, the department was attacked by the dogmatic periodical Nova fotografie (New Photography) and was called unnecessary, even detrimental to its members, 'because it lures them away from photographic work, brings them closer to the fine arts, and, though not necessarily directly, forces them to care more about the artistic aspects of photography than its content'. 1 The section managed, however, to avoid being closed down, and by 1952 already had 49 members and candidates for membership. It remained, nevertheless, in a very difficult situation. Outside the officially sanctioned sphere, art as a form of resistance persisted. 2 The work of the Surrealists continued to develop, for instance, in the objects and collages of Libor Fara.The poet Jirf Kolar began to paste together his 'confrontages' and 'reportages', later becoming one of the most internationally recognized Czech artists. 3 Vilem Reichmann 4 continued in the Surrealist line of his 'miraculous encounters', which comprise various static found objects,

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graphed them with their visual quality in mind. He later said : 'the still life was my laboratory; that's where a photographer is free to do what he wants.' His famous Last Rose is a synthesis of several subjects at once: the window of his studio, the still life, and the rose (which he was particularly fond of and wanted to devote a separate series to). He also made studies of light in photographic variations of classic works of Baroque and nineteenth-century painting, always with his own personal touch . Most of the photographs are contact prints of large-format negatives, achieving exceptional definition of detail. Others are pigment prints, each of which is an unrepeatable original. The resulting impression is emphasized by Sudek's own unusual mountings, which he made in collaboration with the architect Otto Rothmayer: the photographs are mounted with coloured paper, bits of aluminium foil, placed on each other between glass, or put into old frames. (These were shown together at a Prague exhibition in 1963.) Sudek used to work in Rothm ayer's small garden on the series A Walk in the Magic Garden and Memories, in which he masterfully used daylight and artificial light to make timeless works that brought a bit of needed harmony, beauty, tenderness , and quiet to ti mes full of tension, rushing about, and neurosis. Sudek used several large-format cameras, and also salvaged th e panoramic camera from the depths of photographic technology history. With the Kodak Panoram he made several hundred photos, later publishing a selection of 284 in their original size, under the title Praha panoramaticka Prague Panoramic). 9 This is one of the most broadly conceived projects in Czech photography and publishing, in

which, apart from the usual places, Sudek devotes much attention to the outskirts of town. In 1956, with an 'ideologically correct' foreword by Lubomir Linhart, the large monograph Josef Sudek was published. 10 Pointing to the book's success , Linhart then proposed to the same publishing house a large project to publish photography books. his uni que undertaking led to the Umelecka fotografie (Art Photography) series. 11 In the late 1950s and 1960s Sudek conti nu ed his work on a large series of panoramic photographs of north Bohemia, providing shocking photographic Emila Medkova

Vilem Reichmann Danced Out of the Dance Hall, from th e Enchantments series

Wind/I

1950

1948

Moravian Gallery in Brno

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

emphasizing visual metaphors (for example, the series Magic Tricks, Pairs, Metamorphoses, and The Abandoned One) . In the periodical Fotografie, in 1959, he wrote of his own works : 'The hint, abbreviation, ambiguity, and interpretational breadth - all these signs of modern poetry appear accessible also to the photographic poem composed for a series both semantically and aesthetically.' In 1968 Reichmann began to make macrophotographs of the fleshy leaves of the agave, in which he reacted in his own distinctive way to the impulses of abstract art. Emila Medkova, 5 together with her painter husband Mikulas Medek, staged scenes in a Surrealist spirit. Her later works went from unmanipulated metaphorical photos of configurations of objects in the spirit of 'Magic Realism', evoking something else, and moved towards structural abstraction. In two later series, Paris (1967) and Stage Scenery (1967-68), however, she again made associations with objects at flea markets, in shop windows , and in architectural details, following on from the Surrealist impulses of the 1930s and 1940s, as represented in Czech photography, for example, by Styrsky, Funke, and Sever. The similarity with the Surrealist photographs of three decades before, in terms of style, theme , and motif, is probably the main reason Medkova's work has still not achieved greater international renown , and yet it unquestionably includes many personally distinctive, profound photographs, which have rightfully ensured it an important place in Czech photography since the end of the Second World War. The still little-known works of Ludvik Soucek also come out of Surrealism.6 The poetic charm of the modern city was recorded by Miroslav Hak, whose photographs of the Prague outskirts inspired Vaclav Chochola and also the 'lyrically melancholic' Tibor Honty.7 Honty devoted himself mainly to the photographic interpretation of statues. His work was also enriched, however, with imaginative photos comparing and contrasting various sculptures in repositories and studios, and on the street, as well as with a number of wistful photo.s from the outskirts of Prague, which loosely follow on from the work of Skupina 42 (The 42 Group).

JosefSudek

In the 1950s the work of Josef Sudek acquired an extraordinary breadth and depth. Perhaps the most famous photos are the still lifes, which are simple in subject matter but for that reason all the more sophisticatedly composed.

8

Often these comprise ordinary objects (a seashell, a crystal tumbler, eggs, bread), but Sudek selected and photo-

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Lovers - Variation No. 4, from the Memories series

1953 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

I 171

evidence of the devastation of the land by the surface mining of brown coal, which was leading to whole villages and towns being gradually wiped out. The series expresses some hope (but not much) that land destroyed in this way, much like what Sudek had seen from the trenches during the First World War, has the ability to regenerate at least in part: Nature once again swallows up the reckless interventions of human beings. The series demonstrates Sudek's exceptional appreciation for apparently unattractive photographic subject matter and his emerging sense of environmen talism . It was not published as a book till many years after his death.' 2 One of Sudek's assistants on the Panoramic Prague book was Jiff Toman, and Sudek eventually gave him his panoramic camera. From his photos of the river Labe (Elbe) region of Bohemia, strongly influenced by Sudek's work, Toman gradually moved on to modernly composed photos, applying his own experience as a film-maker. In these photos an important role is played by motorcycles and cars. He also moved on to making ghostly images of beaches by the sea. Toman was a versatile artist, who, in addition to film and book design , devoted himself to untraditional areas of art, in which he showed himself to be ahead of his time.13 The painter and photographer Eva Fukova followed on from the civilismus of Skupina 42, concentrating on its experimental aspects in a number of photographic montages. These reveal a feminine delicacy and wit. 14 During the slow political thaw after Khrushchev's criticism of Stalin's cult of personality, which he made in

Jan Hajn

Antonin Gribovsky

a speech to the Twentieth Congress of the Soviet Communist Party in 1956, a cautious 'rehabilitation' of the interwar

Tea in a Smithy

Sputnik, from the Steel Century series

1962

1963

Avant-garde artists of Czechoslovakia took place. In Brno, in 1957, the 'Founders of Czech Modern Art' exhibition

Olomouc Museum of Art

Private collection , Prague

was held, presenting the works of members of the Eight (Osma) group and the Group of Fine Artists (Skupina vytvarnych umelcu), which the Stalinists had hitherto rejected as bourgeois and incomprehensible to the common people. (In this respect, official Communist ideology resembled that of the Nazis' in their condemnation of what they saw as 'degenerate art'. 15 ) The large exhibition called 'The Art of the Young Artists of Czechoslovakia', held in 1958, was also of great importance. It became a forum for the generation that followed on from the Avant-garde and was at the same time seeking inspiration in current trends in world art, particularly in various forms of abstraction from Lettri sme and Tachisme to Action Painting. 'The First State-wide Exhibition of Czechoslovak Art Photography', organized in Prague that same year, was a stock-taking of contemporary photography. The great success of the Czech oslovak pavilion at Expo 58, in Brussels, was confirmation of the return of Czech and Slovak art to its international context. This success was in no small measure thanks also to photographers such as Jindrich Brak, Jan Lukas, Alexandr Paul, Ladislav Sitensky, and Oldrich Straka. At least some of them had an opportunity to get to the other side of the otherwise impenetrable Iron Curtain and to become acquainted with new trends in photography, art in general , and other ways of life. The experience was absolutely fundamental to the development of the Czech arts scene. At Expo 58 the innovative projections of photographs and films using multi-screen technology and in the Latern a Magika (whose inventor, Josef Svoboda, became a world-renowned expert in this field) were extraordinarily well received by the public. 16 After a long pause, artists' groups again began to emerge. The founding of the Olomouc group D0F0 17 in 1958 was particularly important. As Milan Kundera said at the opening of its 1963 exhibition in Prague, 'us ing very concrete objects DOFO sought to demonstrate the real , artistically miraculous nature of the concrete world.' Many of its members had begun with snapshots of ordinary things, in the style of the poetry of everyday life, but gradually moved towards photographs influenced by current trends in painting and sculpture, particularly Fantastic Realism , Pop Art, and Op Art. After his 'found still lifes', taken in a factory (and similar to contemporaneous photos by Jan Hajn , Antonfn Gribovsky, and Rupert Kytka), lvo Precek moved on to photomontage, often employing symmetry, and to three-dimensional objects made of photographs. Jaroslav Vavra, after making lyrical photos of everyday life depicted in unusual ways, began to photograph nudes, using, among other devices, the projection of Op Art-style slides onto the naked bodies of his models. (Independently of him, the Prague photograph Zdenek Virt and Jan Smok were making similar photographs.18) Vavra later tried, but without success, to make coloured illustrations of Baudelaire's verse; their kitschy quality, however, was far-removed from the style of the author of Les Fleurs du ma/. Another photolvoPi'ecek

Rupert Kytka

Calendar

Tree

1963

1959-61

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Association of Czech Photographers Collection , National Archive, Prague

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graph er collaborating with the DOFO group since 1962 was Vilem Reichmann. Amongst the group's theorists were he painter Slavoj Kovarik and, later, a former member of the Ra group, the painter, photographer, and teacher Vaclav Zykmu nd . (In the 1960s, like Anna Farova, Lubomfr Linhart, Jiff Jenfcek, Jan Smok, Rudolf Skopec, Ludvik Baran ,

1173

Jiri Macku, Ludvik Soucek, Jaroslav Bocek, Karel Dvorak, Vaclav Jiru, and Petr Tausk, Zykmund also wrote about

tracti ng th e attention of up-and-coming artists who felt a need to express their innermost feelings in a raw artistic

photography for periodicals.) The work. of the DOFO group, reviving the interrupted tradition of the interwar Avant-

language. They drew upon the legacy of Surrealism, and also on the Bible, Franz Kafka , and existentially oriented

garde, and seeking to get photography recognized as being on the level of fine art, can reasonably be compared with

literature and philosophy.

the work of the German photographers from the fotoform group and Otto Steinert's exhibition of 'subjective photog-

Abstract and Surrealistic trends in the 1950s and 1960s were also developed by photographers who had been

raphy ', forming a bridge with the experimental works of the 1920s and early 1930s, which were unwanted in the Third

making art even before the Communist totalitarian regime took power. Discovering unstaged metaphorical configurations

Reich . In the 1960s, several other art groups came into existence, for instance, Profil, in Valasske Mezirici (compris-

of variou s motifs (drawn chiefly from the urban environment) was the field that Jiri Sever, Miroslav Hak, Vilem Reichmann ,

ing Milan Borovicka, Jiri Fojtik, Frantisek Janis, and Miroslav Bilek), oriented to poetic art photography, the land scape-oriented Rekrafo group in Brno (comprising Milos Spumy, Pavel Mazal , and Miloslav Cernousek), the Fotos

Emila Medkova, Josef Prasek, Eva Fukova, and others devoted themselves to. After a long pause, the Avant-garde photographer Jaroslav R6ssler20 returned, in the second half of the 1950s, to non-commercial photography. His experimental

group in Geske Budejovice (including Frantisek Dvorak, Jan Hampl , Jaroslav Luzum , and Bohdan Marhoun), and the

photographs of fragments of cityscapes, chimneys, electricity pylons, aeroplanes, ships, small objects, and various struc-

VOX group in Brno (for instance, Jan Beran , Milos Budik, K. 0 . Hruby, Antonin Hinst, and Josef Tichy) . Importantly,

tures were stylized by means of symmetrical montage, the Sabatier effect, negative prints, and combinations with photo-

most of the members of these groups did not make their living with photography. As in the interwar years , so too in

grams. In the 1960s he also began to make colour photographs by combining three different colour gels, with results

the 1950s and 1960s the most forward-looking amateu r photographers contributed considerably to the development

tending towards abstraction. A number of his works employ letters and numbers to form Letterist signs. The letter in com-

of photographic work in Czechoslovakia . Amongst the strongest currents in Czech photography in the period 1958-68 were the various abstract and

bination with the female nude was a frequent subject of the photographer and painter Eduard Ovcacek. The influence of Lettrisme also appears in some of the series by Bela Kolarova, 21 the wife of Jiri Kolar, for example, her Abeceda veci (An

Fantastic Realist trends , corresponding to contemporaneous trends in Czech painting and sculpture. 19 The long isola-

ABC of Th ings). In touch with the most current European trends, she made photographs of assemblages, which she had

tion of Czechoslovakia in terms of politics and the arts, however, meant that just as Czech Abstract Expressionist

created, for example, with hair, springs, and shells, and also made distinctive photograms and unique luminograms.

painting (Art lnformel) emerged considerably later than similar trends in American and west European painting , so too Czech photography of various kinds emerged many years after Brassa"f's Graffiti series or the works of the American

The Studio of Art Photography (Studio vytvarne fotografie), in Liberec, bringing together several distinctive artists, became a centre of Surrealist and abstract-oriented photography in 1962. Amongst its founders was Cestmir Kratky,22

photographer Aaron Siskind. Another contributing factor was the special status enjoyed by Surrealism in Czech art,

who went from photographing trees in the ancient Boubin forest to details of chipped enamel, wood , and asphalt, which

where a group of Surrealists (includ ing the painter, sculptor, and film-maker Jan Svankmajer) remain active to this day.

he interpreted as metaphorical scenes, often emphasizing ruin, decay, or depression. Under the influence of Surrealism,

Clearly, even in the 1960s, Surrealism continued to be perceived in Czechoslovakia as a relevant trend , always at-

Existentialism, and the works of the Czech painting in the style of Art lnformel, Kratky often sought his subjects in rubbish heaps and scrapyards. In details of destroyed surfaces he found echoes of his own feelings . Apart from that, he was also one of the first Czech photographers to make monumental photographs for public interiors. Ladislav Postupa's large body of works also draws on metaphorical sources. In the 1960s Postupa matured into one of the most striking figures of his

Karel Kuklik From the series Contaminated Countryside I 1960 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

generation. At the time, his works were oriented to the ghostly depiction of ordinary objects (for instance, a parcel, a wrench, a suitcase, a pair of gloves) taken out of their usual contexts by using effective studio lighting and large crops and giving them witty titles.23 Also in the works of Jan Pikous details of abstraction of old iron on scrap heaps and other structures appear. The primary place in his work was, however, held by stylized art photographs influenced by the 'subjective photography' movement of Germany. In his work Pikous also considered the topic of the Shoah.

Cestmir Kratky From the Animal (CK) series 1964 Museum of Decorati ve Arts in Prague

In Prague in 1960, two private studio exhibitions took place, both called 'Confrontation'. They included photographs by Jiri Putta and Karel Kukl ik, whose series Contaminated Land is today considered a forerunner of environmentalist thi nking in the Czech Republic. Kuklik photographed details of landscapes, which often had visible traces of the devastation caused by civilization, but he also focused on semi-abstract details of textures of wood, walls, and other objects. 24 The 'Confrontation Ill' exhibition, which was held in the Ales Hall (Alsova sin) five years later, now with the permission of the authorities, showed works not only by Kuklik and Kratky, but also by Stanislav Bene. Benc's photographs often exploit various special techniques, tending towards mere decorativeness. The work of a number of later Surrealists evinces the gradual wearing out of the stylistic devices of Surrealism and the repetition of motifs of objects of civilization , of things cast aside or ruined. Alois Nozicka, for example, gradually moved from photographing close-ups of textures in the late 1950s and early 1960s (stressing the qualities of those textures rather than looking for symbols, allegories, or formal analogies), to making increasingly stereotypical photos of ruined objects and close-ups of rubbish heaps in the spirit of the 'aesthetic of ugliness', all the way to superficially dramatic, brightly coloured collages and cheap nudes. Although Abstract and Surrealist trends in Czech photography in the 1950s and 1960s played an important role in reconnecting with the forcibly interrupted development, it is now clear that they have often been overestimated by Czech historians of photography. For example, when considered in the international context of the art of those days, Antonin Dufek 's judgement of the works of Bene and Nozicka as being 'amongst the best European photography' is hardly tenable.25 In contrast to them , the original, profound, and extraordinarily self-reflective works of Jan Svoboda 26 can be ranked there quite legitimately, even though Svoboda was never fully recognized internationally. He is without doubt the

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most distinctive of the Czech photographers who declared themselves strongly influenced by the works of Sudek. After making simple compositions of stones, flowers , fruit, and everyday objects, he increasingly made light itself his subject, and developed this fully in his work after 1968. His endeavour to find an optimal form for the final print led him to the original solution of pasting his prints on different mounts as pictures to be hung on the wall. Existential questions are projected into the works of Jindrich Pribik, who worked with the themes of jailers and jailed .27 In portrait photography, apart from Josef Prasek, Vaclav Chochola, and Dagmar Hochova, the young Clifford Seidling attracted attention in the late 1950s. In the characterization of his sitters (often important musicians, painters, or sculptors), Seidling, under the influence of the American portraitist Arnold Newman, used visually attractive settings and unusual arrangements. Seidling 's other domain was the male nude, in which , apart from Drtikol and SchneiderRohan , he had few predecessors in Czech photography. The chief practitioner of staged photography, Jan Saudek, 28 became a professional photographer in 1952. It was not until the late 1950s, however, after seeing the catalogue of 'The Family of Man' exhibition that he began intensively to devote himself to art photography. His works were staged very inconspicuously at first, and often recalled snapshots. Symbolically expressing elementary human values and the ordinary feelings of the many young people who were far removed from Commun ist ideology and were instead into a new way of life, the earliest of his strikingly staged photographs were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Saudek at first devoted himself chiefly to subtle juxtapositions of innocent, defenceless childhood and the world of adults. For

Clifford Seidling

JanSaudek

example, his famous 1966 photograph Life, depicting a half-naked young man determinedly yet tenderly protecting the

e Composer Jan Klusak, the Conductor Libor Pesek, and the Car Zofie 963 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

1967

baby in his arms, has become almost a cult work. At the same time, however, he also created ghostly nudes in the ap-

Kissing the Tears Away

Olomouc Museum of Art

parently unphotogenic outdoor setting of an industrial part of Prague or in front of the damp walls of his studio with a window onto the courtyard. Saudek's unconventional works caused both enthusiastically positive and negative reactions from his first exhibition at the Theatre on the Balustrade, Prague, in 1963. But it was not until the 1970s that he achieved more important recognition abroad. It was the fierceness, animalism, eroticism, and provocativeness of

crops and spotlighting, made his fundamental set, Fifteen Photographs for Henry Miller, in 1968-69. With their sensu-

a number of his photographs, sometimes alternating with melodrama and sentimentality, which together created his

ality and certain lack of refinement, these dramatically lit details of women's bodies, often capturing the texture of their

unique authorial style, recognizable even in an international context. Saudek's works, enjoying their first great interna-

ski n, are strikingly different from the almost de-eroticized Czech nudes that were predominant in those days. The nude as also inventively handled, for example, by Vilem Bohac, Jan Smok, Zdenek Virt, Ladislav Postupa, Josef Prasek,

tional success, were an inspiration to a number of younger photographers. The mid-1960s were when the genre of the nude fully returned to Czech photography. The Olomouc photographer Miloslav Stibor, 29 having previously made static nudes that reduce the body to elementary forms by means of

and Vaclav Chochola. 30 By contrast, advertising was a weak point of Czech photography at the time. The post-war shortage of goods on the Czechoslovak market, which was being surmounted in the centrally controlled economy only very slowly, simply did not need advertising photography. The situation on the international market was different and a number of Czecho-

Jan smok

slovak 'foreign-trade enterprises' tried to find a niche. Among the few striking photographers in Czech advertising and

Nude

fashion photography of the 1950s and 1960s was Fred Kramer.31 He often used sophisticated arrangements in the

1966

studio and the street, as well as colour photography and montages of several negatives. Another was Jindrich Brak,

Private collection , Prague

a specialist in photographing art glass. In Czechoslovakia the 1960s were an extraordinarily ferti le time for art. It was the period when the most im ZdenekVirt

---

Untitled

portant works of the New Wave of Czechoslovak cinema were made, for instance, by Milos Forman, Vera Chytilova,

1964

Jiri Menzel , and Evald Schorm , when Czech literature was enriched, for example, by Milan Kundera, Josef Skvorecky,

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

and Arnost Lustig, and when the Czech fine arts re-emerged on the international scene, thanks chiefly to Jiri Kolar, Zde nek Sykora, and the partnership of Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova. That is also true of photography, which was strengthened institutionally as well : in 1960, at the initiative of Jan Smok, the Department of Photography was established at FAMU. Apart from the Hochschule fur Grafik und Buchkunst, in Leipzig, FAMU was for many years the only post-secondary educational institution specialized in photography in the whole East bloc. Two years later the photography collection of the Moravian Gallery, Brno, was established. And, beginning in 1967, the first lnterkamera bienn ial international trade fair was held in Prague, accompanied by a variety of arts events, including a number of important exhibitions. These promising developments came to an end, however, with the arrival of Warsaw Pact tanks in August 1968

176 1

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177

NOTES

23

Frantisek Cihak, 'Fotografove vytvarnici', Nova fotografie, 1950, pp. 124 and 129.

2

Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotografie v ceskych zemich a na Slovensku 1945-1989', Revue Fotografie, 1989, no. 4, pp. 2-11;

Josef Kral, Ladislav Postupa, Liberec 1992. Jan Kriz, Karel Kuklik, Prague: Kuklik and Geske muzeum vytvarneho umeni, 1997.

cinnost, 1989; Ales Kunes, Surrealisticke incidence: Ceska fotografie sedesatych let, Prague: Prague House of Photography

24 25 26

1996; Antonin Dufek and Jana Tepla, Ceska fotografie 1939-1958, Brno: Moravska galerie, 1998; Vladimir Birgus and Pavel Scheufler, Fotografie v ceskych zemich 1839-1999, Prague: Gracia, 1999; Antonin Dufek, Fotografie jako umeni v Ceskoslovensku 1959-1968: Z fotograficke sbirky Moravske galerie I Photography as Art in Czechoslovakia 1959-1968:

27 28

Pavel Vancat, Jind'fich P'fibik, in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2008.

idem , 1990, no. 1, pp. 12-23; Petr Klimpl, Ceska amaterska fotografie 1945-1989, Prague: Ustav pro kulturne vychovnou

Antonin Dufek, Fotoskupina DOFO, Brno: Moravska galerie, 1995, p. 20. Petr Balajka, Jan Svoboda, Prague: Odeon , 1991; Antonin Dufek (ed.), Jan Svoboda: Fotografie I Photographs, Brno and Prague: Moravska galerie and Umeleckopr6myslove museum, 1995. Jan Saudek, The World of Jan Saudek, Intro. Anna Farova, Millerton: Aperture, 1984; Daniela Mrazkova (ed),,

From the Photographic Coll~ction of the Moravian Gallery, Brno: Moravska galerie, 2001; Josef Moucha,

Jan Saudek: Divadlo zivota, Prague: Panorama, 1991; Christiane Fricke, Jan Saudek, in English, German, and French,

'Fotogenie rezistence: 1939-1989,' in Josef Alan (ed.), Alternativni kultura: P'fibeh ceske spolecnosti 1945-1989, Prague:

Cologne: Taschen, 1998; Daniela Mrazkova, Saudek, fotograf cesky, Bratislava and Prague: Slovart, 2005;

Nakladatelstvi Lidove noviny, 2001 , pp. 307-75; Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie 1948-1958,' in Rostislav Svacha and

The Best of Jan Saudek, Prague: Saudek.com, 2005; Sara Saudkova (ed.), Jan Saudek: Pouta lasky I Chains of Love,

Marie Platovska (eds), Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni V, Prague: Academia, 2005, pp. 409-33; Anton in Dufek,

Prague: Saudek.com, 2007.

'Fotografie 1958-1970,' in Svacha and Platovska (eds), Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. VI , no. I, Prague:

29

3

Academia, 2007, pp. 255-93. Charlotta Kotik, Jiri Kolar: Transformations , Buffalo: Buffalo Fine Arts and Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1978; Thomas M. Messer,

30

4

Prague: Gallery, 1999. Zdenek Primus, Vi/em Reichmann, Berlin: Ex pose Verlag, 1989; Antonin Dufek, Vi/em Reichmann, Geske Budejovice: Foto Mida, 1994. Lenka Bydzovska and Karel Srp, Emila Medkova, Prague: KANT, 2001.

31

Ales Kunes, Ludvik Soucek, Prague: Galerie Maldoror, 2008. Ji'fi Masin, Tibor Honty, Prague: SNKLHU, 1965; Ji'fi Masin , Tibor Honty, Prague: Panorama, 1986; Vladimir Birgus,

Siegfried Merkel, Madchenlandschaften: Praxis der Bildgestaltung mit Miloslav Stibor, DOsseldorf: Wilhelm Knapp,

1980; Karel Dvorak, Miloslav Stibor, Ostrava: Profil , 1984; Miroslav Hornicek and Ludvik Baran, Miloslav Stibor, Ostrava: Profil , 1990; Vladimir Birgus, Miloslav Stibor: Fotografie I Photographs 1960-1970,

Kolar - Chiasmage: Selections from the Guggenheim, Katonah, NY: Katonah Gallery, 1988; Jiri Kolar, P'fibehy Ji'fiho Ko/are,

5 6 7

Ji'fi Janacek, Fotografie Ladislava Postupy, Liberec: Severoceske nakladatelstvi, 1967;

Opava: Slezska univerzita, 2006 ; Stepanka Bieleszova (ed.), Miloslav Stibor, Olomouc: Muzeum umeni, 2007. Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch, Akt v ceske fotografii I The Nude in Czech Photography, Prague: Sprava Prazskeho hradu , Umeleckopr6myslove museum v Praze, and KANT, 2001. Miroslav Vojtechovsky, 'Fred Kramer', Revue Fotografie, 1982, no. 2, pp. 42-51 ; Jan Mlcoch , 'Fred Kramer', in Konstantina Hlavackova et al. , Czech Fashion, 1940-1970: Mirror of the Times, Prague: Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and Olympia, 2000.

Tibor Honty, Prague: Prague House of Photography, 1997.

8 9

Jan Marius Tomes, Josef Sudek: Still Lites, Prague: Torst, 2008. Josef Sudek, Praha panoramaticka , Prague: SNKLHU, 1959; also published in French , German , and English versions: Prague Panoramique, Prag panoramatisch, Prague Panoramic, with an afterword by Zdenek Kirschner, Prague: Odeon, 1992.

10

Lubomir Linhart, Josef Sudek: Fotografie, Prague: SNKLHU , 1956.

11

The 'Umelecka fotografie ' editions began to come out in 1958. Apart from employees of the publishing house, the editorial board included Lubomir Linhart, Jan Lukas, Josef Prasek, and Josef Sudek. Jan Rezac, Editor-in-Chief of the publishing house, had the last word .

12

Antonin Dufek, Dalibor Kozel , and Bohdan Kopecky, Josef Sudek: Smutna krajina (Severozapadni Cechy 1957-1962),

13 14

Vit Boucek and Martin Dostal (eds), Ji'fi Toman, Prague: Prague House of Photography and KANT, 2006. Emanuel Frynta, Eva Fukova, Prague: SNKLHU, 1963; Zdenek Primus, Eva Fuka(ova): Tvare casu I The Faces of Time,

15

Prague: Art et Afact, 1996. Stephanie Barron, 'Degenerate Art': The Fate of the Avant-garde in Nazi Germany,

16

Jan Mlcoch, 'Ceska fotografie v ere atomu, Sputniku a umelych hmot', in Daniela Kramerova and Vanda Skalova (eds),

Fred Kramer

Bruse/sky sen: Ceskoslovenska ucast na Svetove vystave Expo 58 v Bruselu a zivotni sty! prvni poloviny 60. let, in Czech ,

Fashion photography c. 1955 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Litomerice and Brno: Galerie vytvarneho umeni with Moravska galerie, 1999.

Fred Kramer Fashion photography 1950s-60s Museum of Decorative Arts in Prag ue

Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.

English , German, and French Prague: Arborvitae, 2008, pp. 330-39.

17

Antonin Dufek, DOFO fotoskupina, Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 1995; Antonin Dufek, Helena Rislinkova,

18 19

Zdenek Virt, Op-art Akte, Hanau am Main: MOiier und Kieppenheuer, 1967.

and Ladislav Danek, Iva P'fecek, Prague: Torst, 2004. Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie', in Mahulena Neslehova (ed.), Cesky informel: Pr6kopnici abstrakce z let 1957-1964, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesty Prahy, 1991, pp. 159-92; Zdenek Primus, Art is Abstraction: Czech Visual Culture of the Sixties, Prague: KANT, 2003.

20

Vladimir Birgus, Jaroslav Rossler, in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2001; Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch (eds), Jaroslav Rossler: Czech Avant-Garde Photographer, Cambridge, Mass ., and London : MIT Press, 2004; Josef Moucha, Jaroslav Rossler, Abstraktni fotografie I Abstract Photography 1923-1978, Chrudim: Galerie Art, 2005.

21

Bela Ko larova, Photographies 1956-1964, Alfortville (France) : Editions Revue K, 1989;

22

Ji'fi Valoch , Bela Kola'fova , Prague: Narodni galerie v Praze, 2006. Jan Koblasa, Cestmir Kratky, Liberec: Severoceske nakladatelstvi, 1969; Zdenek Primus (ed.), Cestmir Kratky: tvorba jako pokus o existenci I Art as an Attempt at Existence, Prague: KANT, 2007.

178 1

1179

TiborHonty Liben 512

1958 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

TiborHonty Early Evening in Summer

1952 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Vaclav Chochola Le Fiacre de Nuit

1949 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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I 181

JosefSudek

JosefSudek

Still Life after Caravaggio - Variation No. (A Daytime Variation) 1956 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Still Life after Caravaggio - Variation No. 2 (A Night-time Variation) 1956 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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I 183

JosefSudek

JosefSudek

Forsaken, from the Memories series

Evening Walk, from the Memories series 1956 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

1956 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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I 185

Jii'IToman Untitled

1960s Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jii'rToman Untitled

1960s Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Eva Fukov, Time Stood Still

~~!:h Center of Photography/Ji'ii Jaskmanicky Gallery, Prague

186 I

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187

La dislav Postupa Enemy

1964 Private collection, Prag ue

Emila Medkova

Ladislav Postupa

Five

Timidities

1951 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

1966 Private collection, Prag ue

188 /

/ 189

Bila Koltii'ovti Rings 1963 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

1901

Bila Koltii'ovti Signs 1964 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

( 191

Jan Saudek Above the City- Woman (or Daybreak No. 1)

1959 Museum of Decorati ve Arts in Prague

JanSaudek Life

1966 Olomouc Museum of Art

192 1

Miloslav Stibor From the Fifteen Photographs for Henry Miller series

1968 Olomouc Museum of Art

Miloslav Stibor From the Fifteen Photographs for Henry Miller series

1968 Olomouc Museum of Art

Clifford Seidling Male Nude in the Woods

1965 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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1968-1989

From Humanist Photojournalism to Subjective Documentary Photography

THE SOVIET OCCUPATION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA beginning in late August 1968, which put a bloody end to the

hopes for reform and greater freedom in the short period known as the 'Prague Spring', was documented by hundreds of photographers. 1 Apart from the photojournalists, like the German Hilmar Pabel and the Englishman Ian Berry, of the leading foreign agencies and periodicals, these photographs were taken mainly by Czech professionals and amateurs: Bohumi l Dobrovolsky, Jiff Vsetecka, Dagmar Hochova, Pavel Stecha, Marketa Luskacova, Libuse Kyndrova, Milos Polasek, Gustav Aulehla, Jiri Egert, and Jindrich Marco. Marco even managed to get his photographs published in Austria under the pseudonym Vaclav Svoboda in the book Genosse Aggressor: Prag im August 1968. 2 None of them, however, made such stunning and universally valid works as Josef Koudelka, who just before the invasion was making photos of theatre and documentary photos, and had no experience as a photojournalist. None the less, during the first week of the military intervention , with extraordinary courage he took thousands of photos in various places throughout the centre of Prague. These dramatically sum up the resistance of unarmed people faced with soldiers, as well as their unity, hope, despair, and disappointment. Some of his photographs of the dramatic events in front of the Czechoslovak Radio building , where the most violent clashes between Soviet troops and Czechoslovak protestors took place, as well as his visually powerful documentary photographs of attempts to persuade the unpersuadable, of hope, disappo int, and despair, were smuggled out of the country. A year later they were published by the Magnum Photos agency in many newspapers and magazines as the work of an 'unnamed Czech photographer'. Concerned for his parents ' safety, Koudelka long remained silent about his having been the photographer, even after emigrating in 1970. Josef Koudelka

Several dozen of the photos were published together in 1990, just after the collapse of the Communist regime, in

From the Invasion series Prague, 1968 Magnum Photos, Paris

a small

book by the Centre national de la Photographie, Paris, 3 and also in a special supplement to the new Prague

weekly, Respekt. The vast majority of Koudelka's photographs, adding expressiveness by means of a wide-angle lens, grainin ess, and sharp contrasts of black-and-white tones, long remained only as negatives. A selection of 249 of them has ju st recently been published, in several language versions in a number of countries, in a book entitled Invasion 68.4 This volume once again confirms that Koudelka's photographs of August 1968 remain unsurpassed in Czech

photojou rnalism. In the early months of the Soviet occupation several other high-quality works were made in documentary photography and photojournalism. These include a set of photos by Milon Novotny and Pavel Dias, which were taken at the funeral of Jan Palach, the student who set himself on fire in the centre of Prague in January 1969 to protest the Czechoslovak leadership's concessions to the Soviets. 5 After April 1969, when Gustav Husak took over from the more liberal Alexander Dubcek as the leader of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, and Communist totalitarian control was gradually restored under the byword 'normalization', hard times began for Czech photojournalists as well. Periodicals again began to demand obligatorily optimistic photos dominated by schematization , rigidity,

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Milan Pitlach Usti nad Labem 1974 Moravian Gallery in Brno

half of the 1970s by Iva Loos in the Faces series. In undramatic and intentionally almost chaotic shots of resolute members of th e People's Militia, vigilant officials, and bored ordinary people driven by their employers to May Day parades, Loos superbly captured the beginning of another stage of Communist totalitarianism . The officiousness and emptiness of the Communist mass demonstrations were also depicted with ironic distance by the photographers Gustav Aulehla, Milon Novotny, Jindrich Streit, Viktor Kolar, Dana Kyndrova, Vladimir Birgus, Jaroslav Kucera, Jan Reco, Milan Pitlach, Ondrej Kavan, Karel Cudlin, Tomki Nemec, Michal Bartos, and Lubomir Kotek. Most of them had already given up on the idea that they would have an opportunity to show these photographs anywhere except in alternative exhibition spaces because sporadic attempts to publish them in state-run periodicals or in books from state-run publishing houses were as a rule misused by editors as if the photos were praising the regime. And many readers understood them in that way too. One of the most shocking examples of this kind of manipulation is the two-part publication Si/u nam dava strana (The Party Gives Us Strength) from 1982.7

Two opposite interpretations - as an example of mature political enthusiasm and a daring and self-sacrificing surmounting of obstacles on the one hand and as a superb example of the humiliation of human dignity and individuality as well as a symbol of political dictatorship on the other - were possible, for example, in the impressive photographs that Zdenek Lhotak made of the performance by soldiers on the muddy field during the Spartakiad (1985), which earned him considerable international renown .8 Lhotak, who made a number of other sets of documentary photographs (for example, a many-sided look at the Sparta football club and its fans), could not, however, be suspected of wanting to and the unimaginative inventory-taking of reality, without any search for broader contexts or personal style. A con-

praise the Husak regime. Similarly, Jaroslav Barta, whose photos of the opening ceremonies of new stretches of mo-

siderable role in this was played by the Federal Press and Information Office, which issued instructions and made

torway were made as part of his job as a photographer for the state-owned Stavby silnic a zeleznic (Roads and Railway

restrictive interventions, essentially excluding any photograph of events at home if it did not comport with the of-

Constructi on). The photos were exhibited in the display window of this enterprise on Narodni trida, Prague, and were

ficial view. Not even the move, made by most periodicals, from black-and-white to colour printing helped to improve

used in its official printed matter, even though they are full of subtle irony.

the situation , because for colour prints many printers continued to demand medium-format slides , thus excluding

Jaroslav Kucera made photographs of student dormitories, reform schools, and night-time Prague that were

work made with easy-to-handle 35 mm cameras. Many photojournalists, moreover, willingly submitted to the ideo-

far more authentic than what could be seen in the press (on which the State continued to have a monopoly).9 Frantisek

logical demands of the regime, and did not even push to get less conventional , more inventive works published.

Dostal devoted himself chiefly to humorous photos, which for many years tended to overshadow his far more profound

Consequently, Czech photojournalists usually achieved good results only in sports photography (for example, Jiri

explorations of various phenomena of life in those days (for example, the Summer People series, 1968-90).10 Many of

Pekarek, Jiri Kolis, Vojtech Pisarik, and Miroslav Martinovsky). Occasionally the photographs in the periodicals Svet v obrazech (The World in Pictures; for example, photographs by Bedrich Kocek) and Signal (with photos by

Antonin Bahensky and Jaroslav Valenta) stood out from the grey mediocrity. The tradition of spontaneous snapshots of everyday life was maintained by the weekly Mlady svet (Young World) , where Miroslav Zajic took the place of Miroslav Hucek as the picture editor. Zajic , however, became increasingly satisfied with the established stereotypes, and except for frisky photos from the lives of popular actors and singers or from his own travels abroad,

Ota Richter Making a film about Batman, from the Americans series 1975 Association of Czech Photographers Collection, National Archive , Prague

he did not scruple to take photos at congresses , glorifying the Party and the State-controlled unions. In 1987 Jan Sibik was hired as a photojournalist for Mlady svet. He gradually worked his way to being the most distinctive

Oldi'ich Karasek

Czech photojournalist of his generation . Karel Cudlin also worked briefly at Mlady svet (1988-90), but had by then

San Francisco 1969 Courtesy of the photographer

already made a number of superb photographs of dances at the Lucerna, in Prague, the bizarre milieu of a crematorium , and the streets of the Prague district of Zizkov. Outside the local context in the 1970s and 1980s, Antonin Kratochvil , a Czech with American citizenship , made excellent works of photoreportage in Latin America , Afghanistan , and central Europe. In American exile Jan Lukas and Ota Richter also achieved success in photojournalism . A special place was held by Oldrich Karasek, who in the first half of the 1970s managed to photograph for foreign agencies, and made visually effective photos with a generalizing view, particularly in Great Britain and the USA. Liba Taylor, a Czech living in Great Britain, photographed for many important periodicals and various international organizations . The situation in documentary photography was far better. Photographers could capture the sad reality of the times when so little was allowed and so much was demanded by the State more easily than film-makers or television employees, who, considering the far greater dependence on expensive equipment, team work, and official permission, had far fewer opportunities. Perhaps documentary photography never held a more important position in Czech photography than it did in the 1970s and 1980s. 6 Some photographers sought to create works that show the absurdity of mass Communist ceremonies and celebrations or the bleakness of 'real Socialism'. Distinctive photos were made in the first

198 1

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Petr Velkoborsky From the series Primary School for the Blind

the rawly authentic photographs made in the 1970s and 1980s were not published till after the collapse of the Communist regime. Josef Moucha created an exceptionally effective picture of the life of his fellow-recru its . Showing the

1987 Courtesy of the photographer

military drill , brainwashing, loss of human dignity, and shocking lack of hygiene, but also moments outside barracks, his series Army Training Company, Mosnov (1982) was of course not published till twenty-seven years after it was 11

made. And most of Gustav Aulehla's photos, depicting the hullabaloo around the start of the school year or the 'democratic' elections, as well as people's escaping to sex and alcohol, for decades remained only as negatives, as did the photos that Libuse Jarcovjakova made in a Prague gay bar from 1982 to 1984. A number of photographic books that were already prepared to go to press were not permitted to be published. Others were pulped immediately after publication . For example, 10,000 copies of Vladimir Birgus and Pavel Jasansky's Mesto (City) were pulped on ideological grounds in 1982; two years later, a new version of the book was published, in which , however, Miroslav Hucek used his own photos instead of a number of allegedly 'problematic' ones. If a good book of documentary photos did manage to get published , such as Jiri Vsetecka's Prazsky chodec (A Prague Flaneur, 1978), Pavel Dias's book about horse-racing, Kone formule 111 (Formula 1/1 Horses, 1986), or Jan Sagl 's book of impressive colour photos of the French capital, A co Parfz? Jaka by/a? (What about Paris? What Was It Like? 1987), it was a small wonder. The book Deseti objektivy (Through Ten Lenses, 1983), with works by FAMU graduates, also provides evidence of just how dif-

ficu lt it was then to publish documentary photographs about the present day. Though it contains a number of good photos, as a whole the book fails because of the unclear conception of the man who compiled the photos and wrote the commentary, Kristian Suda, and also because of the timidity of the editors of the publishing house. It ended up

as the group exhibition of works by Marketa Luskacova, lvo Gil, and Pavel Stecha, held at the Gallery of Fine Art in

unsellable not only when new but also in second-hand bookshops. Not only did the publication lack an implied audi-

Roudnice nad Labem, in June 1972. Each of the photog raphers presented a sociologically eloquent set on a different

ence, but in order to serve as a souvenir of Czechoslovakia it would have needed to contain shots of many tourist spots

theme. Lu skacova showed the Pilgrims series about religious faith and old traditions, far removed from Communist

and if it were meant to appeal to photography lovers, it should not have contained so many banally descriptive photos.

ideology. Gil showed unrefined photos of ambulances at work, including views of victims of traffic accidents or suicides,

Even though there was no official censor at the time, the watchful eyes and the fear of the ed itors-in-chief and manag ers of the publishing houses fully made up for that.

which in the Czech photography of those days were otherwise never seen . Stecha's raw photographs of a retirement

A strong current in this period was formed by sociologically oriented documentary photography. With its accent

FAMU since 1975, Stecha12 was a particularly strong influence on the young generation of photographers. He made

home are emotionally powerful. Teaching documentary work in the just-established Department of Photography at

on authenticity it became the opposite pole to the lyricism of the photos made in the spirit of the 'poetry of everyday

several of the pithy photographic parts of the sociological-research project on the Prague working-class district of

life' or the clear-cut optimism of the humanist photojournalism of the previous decades. The impulse for its development

Zizkov (1972), the historic centre of the town of Tabor (1972), and pedestrian traffic in Prague (1975-77), as well as the gently ironic, loosely conceived set of documentary portraits Cottage Owners (1970-72, continued after a ten-year break), and High Water (1976) . In his photographs he preferred clearly defined and easy-to-read topics , a rational ap-

lvoGil From the Leontyn Institute se ri es

proach, technical brilliance, and sober composition . He had little time for allegory, pictorial symbols, or ambiguity.

1970-72

Consequ ently, in comparison with the contemporaneous, though more subjectively conceived works of Viktor Kolar, for

Courtesy of the photographe r

example, his photos now seem almost too austere. Many other photographers soon began to do sociological documentary work as well . Marketa Luskacova13

Jan Reco From the Institutions seri es

at first wo rked on her expanding series about pilgrims and the Slovak village of Sumiac. After marrying the poet Franz

1978-85

Wurm in 1971, she moved to Switzerland and later settled in London. In 1975 she began intensively to photograph

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prag ue

he street markets in Brick Lane and Spitalfields , as well as making more lyrical photos of children . The tradition of humanist photography was developed by the young Dana Kyndrova . From the early 1970s onwards, in unguarded moments she used to photograph her contemporaries at school , at dances, in pubs, or at parties, thus creating an unadorn ed picture of the young generation of those days. She later systematically depicted the pomposity and schematic nature of official Communist celebrations , and showed how many people willingly become part of a manipulated crowd .14 With humility towards reality and a lyrical tinge Pavel Vavrousek for years depicted folk customs , Eastern Orthodox religious holidays, and everyday life in the village of Nova Sedlica, east Slovakia. Beginning in 1973 Miroslav Pokorny photographed ordinary life and also dances in the village of Bukova. Jan Reco was oriented to hum ani st photos taken in institutions of social work. Jaromir Cejka focused on life in prefab concrete houses on uninviting housing estates and also in a village on the outskirts of Prague, which was increasingly being encroached upon by big-city life. The Czech -Swiss graduate of FAMU, lren Stehli ,15 systematically documented Prague shop wi ndows, in which the goods displayed together with ideological slogans and portraits of politicians create absurd jumbles. Her most important photographs , however, were made in Zizkov, where she managed to create effective portraits of many local inhabitants in their own homes (in the series At Home, 1975-81) as well as for years following

200 1

1201

the ups and downs of the lives of a Gypsy woman called Libuna Sivakova (1974-2001) and a man called Slama the Tailor (1976-81). Stehli managed to win her subjects' full trust, making it seem in her simple, timeless photos that the people in front of her lens have not even noticed her presence. Gabriela Capkova did her final year's project about children in an institute in Dolni Poustevna. Ivan Lutterer, Libuse Jarcovjakova, and, many years later, Pavel Nadvornik showed the lives of homosexuals. In photos of half-naked female and male dancers, cabaret artistes, and entertainment-hungry visitors dressed up as characters in the fairytales on children's television. in his series New Year's Eve in the Hotel Ja/ta Jan Jindra captured a world most Czechoslovak citizens did not know at the time. Even from this brief list it is clear that FAMU documentarists, despite the relatively liberal atmosphere at its Department of Photography thanks to the skilful direction of Jan Smok who founded it in 1975, preferred to depict the microcosms of special milieux and groups rather than openly criticize the regime. Students from the Institute of Art Photography (established in 1971) of the Association of Czech Photographers were oriented to similar themes: Pavel Sesulka made expressive photos in a reformatory, Petr Velkoborsky observed the lives of a Roman Catholic priest and the pupils at an elementary school for the blind, and Vaclav Podesta!, in his series Life without Dreams, focused on mentally handi-

Josef Pokorny

PetrKlimpl

capped chi ldren and their attitudes towards other people. Some series of photographs of eloquent static subjects are more

From the Visiting Day series

From the Colleagues series Mental Hospital , Kromeriz

general, as well as politically and socially more critical. They reveal much about people even in their absence - for example,

1977 Private collection , Prague

1982 Courtesy of the photographer

Jaroslav Barta's series Windows, showing the insensitive remodelling of old houses, Jiri Polacek's spectral night photographs of fragments of the Prague district of Smichov, or Jaroslav Koran 's photos of the ruins of the architecturally valuable Praha-Tesnov railway station, which was demolished in 1985. A special place is held by a large project on the boundary between documentary and portrait photography,

In the 1970s photographic projects were also undertaken by various groups of photographers. One example

Czech People. Here, with a tent as their improvised mobile studio, Jan Maly, Ivan Lutterer, and Jiri Polacek made hun -

is the project (unfinished) documenting slum clearance in part of Zizkov, a district of Prague, which was undertaken,

dreds of sociologically eloquent portraits. Extravagant types of people appear in the Arbus-like photographic portraits

for examp le, by Pavel Stecha, Dusan Simanek, lren Stehli, Jaroslav Barta, Vladimir Birgus, and Dana Kyndrova.

made by Jan Glozar. The sarcasm and slapstick quality of the photos is increased by the statements of the sitters. For

Vlad imir Birgus, Petr Klimpl, and Josef Pokorny, who were all originally oriented to art photography, came together

16

17

the Imprints of a Generation series Jiri Hanke used dozens of simply composed portraits of parents and their children

in th e Document group18 in 1977 for a few projects and exhibitions about the life of the middle generation . In some

to create a study of social types. In these photos he effectively unites sociological information about the way of life in

of their works, Pokorny and Klimpl used the style of the 'indecisive moment', accenting the absence of drama, simple

Czechoslovakia with an exploration of identity and the differences of people who are physiologically very similar. At the

composition, and collaboration with the photographed subjects, who were usually depicted staring at the cameras

same time Hanke also made the People from Podpruhon series about the inhabitants of a working-class quarter of

and, through them, at the viewers . Later, Pokorny and Klimpl, as part of 'The Productive Age' project, photographed

Kladno and the outstanding documentary work of a single subject over the years, Views from the Window of My Flat,

young families at home. In addition, Pokorny focused on direct photos from the milieu of doctors. Klimpl mainly made

in which he has captured changes in part of Namesti Svobody (Freedom Square), Kladno, in the course of time, reveal-

portraits of certain social groups such as teachers and psychiatrists. At the same time, both men recorded their own

ing gradual social and political changes .

personal observations and feelings of the urban environment. Birgus slowly but surely moved away from sociological docum entary photography (for example, the Zizkov series or the large series of views of Communist ceremonies and Jaromrr Cejka

life during 'Normalization') towards more subjective photography. Since 1972 his series Something Unspeakable,

From the Petrovice series

made chiefly in large cities, is a po lysemic personal statement with an accent on visual metaphors, in which, accord-

1979

ing to the Tomas Pospech, 'he makes his subject human sadness, loneliness, and alienation, the fee lings of being

Courtesy of the photographer

uprooted amidst the crowd , often by capturing moments separating one particular person from the others.' 19 From PavelStecha Htasna Trebaii from the Cottage Owners series

1970-72 Private collection , Cernosice

the early 1980s onwards, the series began to include colour photographs as well. Among the other groups of photographers oriented to sociological photography was Oci (Eyes), which also began in 1977 (with , for example, Zdenek Fiser, Josef Bohunovsky, and Bohumil Kotas), sometimes seeking to achieve 'expansive presentations' of photos precisely in the milieu the photos had been made in, like a student cafeteria or a housing estate. The group is a good example of the considerable interlinkage between Czech and Slovak photography in this period .20 During the 1970s and 1980s, however, there were many more such examples. A number of Slovak documentarists were students in the Department of Photography at FAMU, Prague (Jan Reco, l'..ubo Stacho, Tibor Huszar, Jozef Sedlak) or at the Institute of Art Photography of the Association of Czech Photographers (Ivan Kovac and Helena Siskova). Stano Pe kar made one of his rawest series, Dormitory (1975), in north Bohemia. Galeria Fin Banska Bystrica, run by Tomas Fassati , a Czech, held a number of exhibitions of Slovak and Czech documentary photography, and in 1980 organized a symposium of theorists, called 'Socially Concerned Photography'. Many Czech photographers also exhibited in th e Galeria Profil and the Galeria na okraji, Bratislava. The periodicals Ceskoslovenska fotografie and Revue Fotografie were distributed in Slovakia. By contrast, the Slovak periodical Vytvarnfctvo-fotografia-film rarely ap-

peared in the Czech Republic.

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Although candid documentary photographs of the times did not usually appear at the large, officially sanctioned exhibitions or in periodicals, sometimes an opportunity for Czechs to show work in public did arise in various peripheral arts centres , foyers of cinemas or theatres , or in small galleries (for instance, the Galerie v podloubi, Olomouc, the Fotochema exhibition halls, Prague and Ostrava, the Galerie 4, Cheb, the Maia vystavni sin, Liberec). The historian of photography Anna Farova, after signing the Charter 77 human-rights appeal, had to resign her job as curator of the photography collection at the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague. Beginning in October 1978, she presented two series of small exhibitions of documentary photographs in the entrance hall of the Cinoherni klub, a small theatre in Prague. Most of the works are highly critical of the totalitarian Communist regime , evoking , as she said , 'the feel ing of the country in which we live, ranging from the metaphysics of Kafka to the absurd slapstick of Hasek, something between Svejk and Josef K, and , in the middle, a sense of a communication gap, fragmentation , and the search for one's own identity'. 21 A cumulative exhibition of these earlier exhibitions, called '9 + 9', was held in the dilapidated halls of the former Cistercian abbey at Plasy, west Bohemia, in summer 1981. Its participants were mostly students and graduates of FAMU, for instance Dusan Simanek, Pavel Stecha, Jaroslav Barta, lren Stehli , Borivoj Horfnek, lvo Gil , Libuse Jarcovjakova, Daniela Hornickova, Jan Maly, Miroslav Pokorny, and Ivan Lutterer, but also Jindrich Streit,

Frantisek Dostilil

Dusan Palka and Bohdan Holomicek. The inventive installation and the use of large-format prints intensified the

From the Summer People se rie s

From the Opening Ceremonies series

1972- 85

1983

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

gloomy impression left by this exhibition of works showing the devastation both of the environment and of life in gen -

Jaroslav Bilirta

eral under the Communist regime. The opening was attended by some of Farova's famous friends , like Henri CartierBresson and Marc Riboud. Surprisingly, the exhibition remained open and was even given a positive review in Tvorba , the arts and pol itics weekly of the Czechoslovak Commun ist Party. It thus briefly seemed at that point that the totalitarian regime was becoming somewhat more liberal , except

Prague, in 1985. The exhibition included photos from three earlier series, Maternity Hospital (1982-83), Carnival (1983),

that at the beginning of the 1980s the campaign against freedom continued with a number of acts of oppression , large

and Retirement Home (1983-86). His photographs are often harsh, not only because of their graininess and the limited

and small designed to deter opponents of the regime. The best known was the arrest, investigation, and harassment 22

of Jindrich Streit, whose photographs are unquestionably amongst the best of those exhibited at the Cinoherni klub

tonal scale of the prints, but also because of their subject matter depicted in extreme situations. Among his documentary photographs is the series New Landscape, New Inhabitants, whose eloquent detai ls of various milieux tell us much

in Prague and the exhibitions in Plasy. They show life during the Normalization period far more harshly and truthfully,

about the people of those days, their way of life, and the ubiquitous Commun ist propaganda (which was systemati-

and less aestheticized, than most of the works by the other participants. For many people who did not yet know his

cally photographed also by Jaroslav Krejci and Lubomir Kotek) . With his many photographs, Jasansky was one of the

harsh yet profoundly humanist photos of bleak reality in the rural areas of the Bruntal region or his gradual turning away

pioneers of the strikingly individual conception of documentary photography. Only a few photographers (for instance,

from earlier romanticizing photos of the Roma or actors and dancers, Streit's first Prague exhibition , in 1981 , came as

Helena Pospisilova-Wilsonova, Oldrich Skacha, Ivan Kyncl , Abbe Libansky, and Bohdan Holomicek) took the risk of

a revelation . Farova wrote about his photographs at the time: 'The boundary of the aesthetic has been crossed over to

docum enting underground music and arts events , meetings of dissidents from the circle of Vaclav Havel , or illicit

the most hard-to-cross barrier of ethics. And one talks endlessly about what makes for style and about the means used,

theatre performances held in private flats .

when suddenly here we are taken by surprise again and astounded by a statements that drive all other aspects far

In the course of the 1980s, however, other exhibitions were organized, which included a number of documen-

Streit showed life in the foothills of the Jesenik mountains as it really was , not as it was presented by the state-

tary photographs critical of the regime. Chief among them were the exhibition 'Current Photographs from the Collec-

controlled mass media. With an intimate knowledge of the places and the people he has captured the houses with their

tions of the Moravian Gallery' (1982), 'Current Photographs 2: The Moment' (1987) 25 and 'City' (1987) organ ized by

flaking plaster, dirty courtyards with animals, identical new prefab concrete apartment blocks, meaningless schooling ,

Antonin Dufek, as well as 'Photographs by Graduates of FAMU',26 presented in two different versions , one in Brno

boring meetings, and perfunctory celebrations of various anniversaries, but also frank and lively relations between

(1 985), one in Prague (1987), the exhibition '37 Photographers at Chmelnice' 27 in 1989, in which Anna Farova assem-

people in tightly knit rural communities . He photographed events that repeat during the year and in the course of human

bled wo rks of documentary and staged photography, and also the historically conceived 'Transformations in Czech

lives, like weddings , christenings , and funerals . He captured people at work in the fields, drinking in pubs, and at dinner

Documentary Photography'28 exhibition, held also in 1989. A view more in line with the politics of the regime, so there-

with their families , and he documented the ubiquitous TV sets, plastic kitsch , and other elements of modern civilization ,

fore lacking many key figures of Czech documentary photography, like Jindrich Streit, Josef Koudelka, and Antonin

away.'

23

which often , even to the point of absurdity, overlap with the old way of life. Despite all the roughness in the photos,

Kratochvil, was provided by the 1989 exhibition 'The Roads Taken by Czechoslovak Photography', organized by Dan -

Streit's respect for people and his efforts to find that 'little pearl at the bottom ' (to use the words of the writer Bohumil

iela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes. 29 To mark the 150th anniversary of the 'invention ' of photography, a huge exhibition

Hrabal) shine forth . In these photographs he openly shows the devastation of both the environment and the physical

was organized under the direction of Erich Einhorn and Daniela Mrazkova, at which works by Czech photographers

side of people, though he believed that needn 't necessarily mean the devastation of the human soul. So he endeav-

were shown together with works by many photographers from around the world. 30

oured, in awkward gestures or restrained caresses, to find expressions of most people's desire for something deeper

204 1

A different mosaic of human life was presented by Pavel Jasansky24 in his solo exhibition at the Foma gallery,

The subjective conception of the documentary photograph developed greatly in the 1970s and 1980s. Power-

and more beautiful than was being offered to them by the everyday life that was so destructive. Streit takes photographs

fu l evidence of the dismal life of many people who lived in the devastated industrial town of Ostrava and generally under

mainly of people he knows well and whose confidence he has gained . That's why he can often enter their homes and

the regim e of 'real-existing Socialism ', where the State required so much of its citizens and permitted them so little, was

work with them actively while photographing . His photographs, however, also have an almost bewitching authenticity,

provided by Viktor Kolar3 1 after his return from five years' exile in Canada. His photographs, however, became increas-

evoking a feeling of his and our living the depicted scenes together with his subjects. At one level they are a penetrat-

ingly rem ote from sociological and social documentary photography as they moved towards a more subjective and

ing sociological study; at another they are a generalizing portrayal of the elementary values of life and the threat to

ambiguous conception . An important role in these works is played by the unusual composition of images, reassessing

those values.

convention al meanings of depicted reality and emphasizing visual metaphor, symbol, and subtext. Kolar is no snapshot

120s

Jan Jindra From the series New Year's Eve in the Hotel Ja/ta

1982-84

penci l on the edge of the prints, making them even more effective.36 Polysemous juxtapositions of various subjects and

Courtesy of the photographer

parall el events appear also in Marketa Luskacova's North East Seaside series and in Vladimir Birgus's set of black-andwhite and colour photographs Something Unspeakable, begun in 1971, and also in Pavel Jasansky's photographs. Simil ar approaches appear also in the works of young Czech photographers, particularly Vaclav Podestat, Radovan Bocek, Ondrej Kavan, Lukas Kliment, Petr Kl iment, Jaroslav Pulicar, Jan Schybal, and Jan Jindra. Other photographers made a point of distancing themselves from social ly important topics and staked almost everything on unusual visual depiction of sometimes almost banal subjects. The then head of the Photography Department of the People's Conservatory in Ostrava, Borek Sousedik, whose opinions and works have influenced a number of students (including Martin Smekal, Josef Hradil, and Tomas Pospech), said: 'In the 1970s, photographs appeared in which one of the main problems is the banality of the subject. Whereas the subject of the photograph is banal, the mood and situation are decisive. This kind of photography is concerned only with the photographer, not with what is depicted, with what appears at first glance in the photograph. The photographers emphasize themselves.' 37 Some principles of subjective documentary photography were also applied in the unusually composed and lit fragments of reality by Stepan Grygar, 38 Karel Kamenik, and Josef Moucha (comparisons of parts of two negatives from the Vacilando series). A unique place is held by the colour photographs in Pavel Banka's Marginalia series and Jan Sagl's Galleries series, which fuse documentary and art photography. Trained as a painter, Miroslav Tichy created truly original photographs using cameras of his own making. Their hunter. Instead he searches in crowd scenes for the most precise photographic expression of his themes , including

subjects are predominantly women from the small Moravian town of Kyjov, who did not know they were being photo-

people's orientation in life, frustration , atrophy of the emotions and of faith, the relationship between the individual and

graphed. The unusualness of these photos is increased by Tichy's disregard for the usual rules of composition and

the social system, and the adoration of consumerism. In 1989 he said: Today, with the same urgency, I am looking for

technique and by his original mountings. Thanks to the intensive curatorial work and publicity of Roman Buxbaum,

new, more complicated forms to depict people just as I used to look not long ago for those simple scenes that most

Tichy's works recently became an international sensation, and were shown in exhibitions at such prestigious institutions

revealed the essence of traditional humaneness, which I longed to capture. My more recent photographs are different

as the Kunsthaus, Zurich, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the International Center of Photography, New York. 39

but I believe that they seek the truth with no less intensity. I'm trying to make Czech documentary photography finally

Czech theatre photography achieved a superb level in the works of Jaromir Svoboda, Miroslav Tuma, Josef

cease to claim that the typical Czech is a Svejk and that life is mainly a barrel of laughs. That 's why my recent photos

Ptacek, Oldrich Pernica, Viktor Kolar, Bohdan Holomicek, Josef Hradil, Viktor Kronbauer, and Vojtech Pisarik. The

are mainly in a minor key.'32 The element of kindness diminished in his photographs from the 1980s, while ironic detach-

greatest credit for that, however, goes to Jaroslav Krejci, 40 who gradually developed his own principles for work in

ment increased. Some leading curators and theorists of photography have unjustly ignored Kolar. For example, in

theatre photography. He photographed each production from the very first read-through all the way to the definitive

a recent anthology of articles by Anna Farova (more than 1,150 pages long) there is not a single mention of him (nor is

form . Following the example of Josef Koudelka's theatre photographs from the 1960s, Krejci sought to describe the

33

there any mention of lvo Loos, Jiri Hanke, Dana Kyndrova, Jaroslav Kucera or Antonin Kratochvil),

and yet his work

is unquestionably among the best of Czech documentary photography. Koudelka's dramatic photographs from the Exiles series, published as a book in Paris, London, and New York in 1988, 34 are in many respects similar to Kolar's photos. Perfectly composed, they show the mysteriousness of seemingly ordinary situations in various parts of Europe, and uniquely link reality and illusion , life and theatre, the conscious and the subconscious. They do not present only a universal picture of deracination and alienation; they are also symbolic of Koudelka's own fate. The photographer accentuates his own presence, for example, a photo of his feet, a newspaper on which he has spread out a modest lunch, or a blanket in the grass, on which he has spent the night. In the book, the photographs, made in Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain , Ireland, and other countries in the period 1969-87, are divided into five chapters and in the American edition they are accompanied by an introduction by another emigre, the Polish winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Czestaw Mitosz. Vaclav Podestat described the book Exiles as being 'about [Koudelka's] own uprootedness and the uprootedness of the surrounding world. It draws attention

to general contradictions, and touches upon problems of political exile. Koudelka was able in pictures to interpret his own opinions together with personal experience. The superb artistic compositions of the photographs, with the photographer's subjective view, enable the viewer to interpret the captured phenomena, subjects, and pictorial symbols in many ways.' 35 This is one of the most powerful works in documentary photography anywhere from this period. A strikingly personal view is also provided in the direct, spontaneous photos by Bohdan Holomicek, which together form a kind of photographic diary. Holomicek's approach is, however, far removed from the rigorous selection that Koudelka and Kolar make of their own works . Instead, he often exhibits large mosaics comprising dozens of photos of different content and quality, which, with inner harmony and contagious optimism, show himself, his family, his friends, and landscapes he has travelled through by car. To some of the photographs he has added brief remarks in

206 1

Jan Glo:z:ar Countess, from the Portraits series 'I was not yet fourteen , and had not yet known a man. I put on a nightgown of pink tulle, tore open my camisole, and said: Fire!'

1986 Courtesy of the photographer

I 207

play, production, and direction, as well as the acting, as appositely as possible, while making dynamic, emotionally

20

Aurel Hrabusicky and Vaclav Macek, Slovenska fotografia 1926-2000 I Slovak Photography 1925-2000, Bratislava: Slovenska narodna galeria, 2001.

powerful photographs. Many of his principles - including the imitation of expressive forms, striking graininess, a narrowing down of the tonal scale, and printing on thin paper - were also applied by his former pupils at FAMU, such as Petr Koubek and Jan Starek. Despite all the unfavourable political, social, and economic conditions, as well as the limited opportunities to get photos published or to find a social use for them, a number of important works were made in Czech documentary

21

Anna Farova, 9 + 9, Prague: n.p. , 1981.

22 23

Ladislav Danek and Tomas Pospech (eds), Jindfich Streit, text Antonin Dufek, Prague: KANT, 2007. Farova, 9 + 9.

24 25

Jan Kriz, 'Jasanskeho obrazova kniha zivota ', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1985, no. 11 , pp. 468-73.

26 27

Vladimir Birgus and Zdenek Kirschner, Fotografie absolventu F;AMU, Prague: Umeleckoprumyslove museum, 1987. Anna Farova, 37 fotografu na Chmelnici, Prague: Junior klub Chmelnice, 1989.

28 29 30 31

Pavel Scheufler, Katerina Klaricova, and Josef Moucha, Promeny ceske dokumentarni fotografie, Cheb: Galerie 4, 1989.

photography in the 1970s and 1980s, the years when hard-line Communism was being re-established.

NOTES

Dana Kyndrova (ed.), 1945 Osvobozeni I Liberation, 1968 Okupace I Occupation, text Jiri Fiedler, Prague : KANT, 2008.

2 3 4

Vaclav Svoboda [Jindrich Marco], Genosse Aggressor: Prag im August 1968, text Hugo Pepper, Vienna: Europa, 1968.

Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes, Cesty ceskoslovenske fotografie, Prague: Mlada fronta , 1989. Daniela Mrazkova (ed.), Co je fotografie I What is Photography, Prague: Videopress, 1989. Vladimir Birgus, 'Ostrava ve fotografiich Viktora Kolare ', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1978, no. 12, pp. 564-68;

Josef Koudelka, Prague, 1968, text Petr Kral, Paris: Centre National de la Photographie, 1990.

Viktor Kolar, Banik Ostrava, Berlin: Ex pose Verlag, 1986; Daniela Mrazkova, Viktor Kolar, Ostrava: Pro/ii , 1986;

Josef Koudelka, Invasion 68, text Jiri Suk, Jiri Hoppe, and Jaroslav Cuhra, afterword by Irena Sor/ova,

Jiri Cieslar, Viktor Kolar, in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2002.

London and New York: Thames & Hudson and Aperture, 2008.

5 6

Antonin Dufek, Aktualni fotografie ze sbirek Moravske galerie v Brne, Brno: Moravska galerie, 1982; idem, Aktualni fotografie 2: Okamiik, Brno: Moravska galerie, 1987

Dana Kyndrova (ed.), Milon Novotny, Prague: Dana Kyndrova and KANT, 2000.

32 33

Vlad imir Birgus, 'S Viktorem Kolarem o fotografickych svedectvich', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1989, no. 5, pp. 212-20. Anna Farova, Dve tvare, Prague: Torst, 2009.

Vladimir Birgus , Reinhold MiBelbeck, and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Tschechoslowakische Fotografie der Gegenwart, Cologne

34

Josef Koudelka , Exiles, text Czestaw Mitosz, London and New York : Thames & Hudson and Aperture, 1988; idem,

35

Vaclav Podesta!, 'Exulanti Josefa Koudelky ', in Listy o fotografii: Acta photographica universitatis silesianae opaviensis, 1994, no. 1, p. 46. Antonin Dufek , Bohdan Holomicek, in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2000.

pp. 308-75; Helena Rislinkova, Lucia Lendelova, and Tomas Pospech , Ceska a slovenska fotografie osmdesatych

36 37 38

a devadesatych let 20. stoleti I Czech and Slovak Photography of the 1980s and 1990s, Olomouc: Muzeum umeni,

39

Tobia Bezzola and Roman Bu xbaum , Miroslav Tichy, Cologne: DuMont, 2005; Roman Buxbaum and Pavel Vancat, Miroslav Tichy, in Czech and English, Prague: Torst, 2006.

40

Jaroslav Krejci, Divadelni almara Alfreda Rasoka a Jana Grossmanna, Prague: Divadelni ustav, 2003.

and Heidelberg : Museum Ludwig and Braus, 1990; Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotografie v ceskych zemich a na Slovensku 1945-1989', pt 4, Revue Fotografie, 1990, no. 4, pp. 60-65; Antonin Dufek, Spolecnost pred objektivem 1918-1989: Fotografie ze sbirky

Exils, texts by Robert Delpire, Alain Finkielkraut, and Daniele Sallenave, Paris: Centre National de la Photographie, 1988.

Moravske galerie v Brne I Society through the Lens, 1918-1989: Photographs from the Collection of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, Prague and Brno: Obecni dum and Moravska galerie, 2000 ; Josef Moucha , 'Fotogenie rezistence: 1939-1989',

in Josef Alan (ed.), Alternativni kultura: Pribeh ceske spolecnosti 1945-1989, Prague: Nakladatelstvi Lidove noviny, 2001 ,

Olomouc 2002, Josef Moucha and Helena Musilova, Fotogenie identity: Pamet' ceske fotografie I The Photogeny of Identity: The Memory of Czech Photography, Prague: Prazsky dum fotografie & KANT, 2006; Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie 1970-1989',

Borek Sousedik, (Jvod do studia dejin fotografie, Ostrava: Mestske kulturni stredisko, 1982. Antonin Dufek, 'Nova citlivost Stepana Grygara,' Revue Fotografie, 1984, no. 3, pp. 16-23.

in Rostislav Svacha and Marie Platovska (eds), Oejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. VI , pt 2, Prague: Academia, 2007, pp. 753-87; Antonin Dufek, Treti strana zdi: Fotografie v Ceskoslovensku 1969-1989 ze sbirky Moravske galerie v Brne I The Third Side of the Wall: Photography in Czechoslovakia 1969-1989 from the Collection of the Moravian Gallery in Brno,

Brno: Moravska galerie, 2008; Vladimir Birgus and Tomas Pospech, Tenkrat na Vychode: Cesi ocima fotografu 1948-1989 I Once Upon a Time in the East: Czechs through the Eyes of Photographers, 1948-1989, Prague: KANT, 2009.

7

Silu nam dava strana: Kapitoly z dejin mladeinickeho a delnickeho hnuti v Ceskoslovensku,

Prague and Bratislava: Mlada fronta and Smena, 1982. Zdenek Lhotak, Dis-torza, text Marek Pokorny, Prague: KANT, 2009.

8 9 10 11

Josef Moucha, Na vlastni stope: Mosnov 1982, Ostrava: Fiducia, 2009 ;

12

Pavel Stecha , U nas I In Our Country 1968-1990, text Ivan Hoffmann and Antonin Dufek, Lomnice nad Popelkou :

Daniela Mrazkova, Jaroslav Kucera: Lide, ktere jsem potkal I People I Have Met, Prague: KANT, 2002. Frantisek Dostal , Fotograf iije dvakrat, Prague: Ostrov 2005. Birgus and Pospech , Tenkrat na Vychode. Cesi ocima fotografu 1948-1989. Studio JB, 2001 .

13

Marketa Luskacova, Marketa Luskacova, texts in Czech and English by Josef Topal , Gerry Badger, and Marie Klimesova, Prague: Torst, 2001 .

14

Dana Kyndrova, Nepolepsitelna vira v lepsi budoucnost I An Inveterate Faith in a Better Future, Intro. Ludvik Vaculik, in Czech, English, French, and German , Prague: Prostor 1998; Dana Kyndrova, Zena mezi vdechnutim a vydechnutim I Woman Between Inhaling and Exhaling, Intro. Jaroslav Bocek, in Czech and English, Prague: KANT, 2002.

15

lren Stehli, Libuna: A Gypsy's Life in Prague I Libuna: Das Leben einer Zigeunerin in Prag, with essays by Anna Farova, Milena HObschmannova, and Martin Heller; intro. and interview by Franca Comalini, Zurich: Scala, 2004; Anna Farova and Martin Heller, lren Stehli, in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2006.

16

Jan Maly, Jiri Polacek, and Ivan Lutterer, Cesky clovek: Fotografie z let 1982-1996, with articles in Czech and English

17 18

Jiri Hanke, Fotografie I Photographs, text Josef Moucha. Rozmital pod nemsinem: Milan Job, 2008.

by Anna Farova and Kristian Suda, in Czech and English, Lomnice nad Popelkou: Studio JB, 1997.

19

208 1

Antonin Dufek, Skupina Ookument, Brno: Galerie mladych, 1978; Antonin Dufek, 'Skupina Dokument', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1978, no. 11 , pp. 488-91. Vladimir Birgus, Cosi nevyslovitelneho I Something Unspeakable, text Tomas Pospech , Prague: KANT, 2003 , p. 7.

1209

Josef Koudelka From the Invasion series Prague, 1968 Magnum Photos, Paris

Josef Koudelka From the Invasion series Prague , 1968 Magnum Photos, Paris

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1211

Milon Novotny The Funeral of Jan Palach Prague, 25 January 1969 Prague House of Photography, Prague

Gustav Aulehla In Portable Housing on a Building Site, Sumperk 1982 Courtesy of the photographer

2121

I 213

Josef Moucha From the Army Training Company, Mosnov series 1982 Courtesy of the photographer

lvo Loos From the Faces series After 1971 Private collection , Prague

lvo Loos From the Faces series After 1971 Private collection, Prague

214 1

121s

Dana Kyndrova From the May Day series 1981 Courtesy of the photographer

Dana Kyndrova

Zdenek Lhot6k

From the May Day series 1981 Courtesy of the photographer

From the Spartakiad series 1985 Courtesy of the photographer

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1217

Jaroslav Kucera Strahov Halls of Residence, Prague 1972 Courtesy of the photographer

Jaroslav Kucera Lovers for One Night 1972 Courtesy of the photographer

1219 218 1

Pavel Stecha From the series Retirement Home at St Thomas 's in the Lesser Town, Prague 1972

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

PavelStecha From the se ries Retirement Home at St Thomas 's in the Lesser Town, Prague 1972

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

1221 220 1

Jii'IHanke Ruzena Hankeova (b. 1916), Pensioner, and Her Son Jiri (b. 1944), Photographer, from the Imprints of a Generation series Kladno, 1987 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jii'IHanke Frantisek Stieber (b. 1921), Pensioner, and His Son Frantisek (b. 1945), Driver, from the Imprints of a Generation series Kladno, 1986 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jii'f Hanke Olbram Zoubek (b. 1926), and His Son Jasan (b. 1956), Sculptors, from the Imprints of a Generation series Kladno, 1986 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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I 223

lren Stehli From the At Home series

1978-79 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jan Maly, Jii'i Polticek, Ivan Lutterer

Jan Maly, Jii'i Polticek, Ivan Lutterer

From the series Czech People (Lanzhot)

From the series Czech People (Ostrava)

1982

1985

Courtesy of the photographers

Courtesy of the photographers

Jan Maly, Jii'i Polticek, Ivan Lutterer

Jan Maly, Jii'i Polticek, Ivan Lutterer

lren Stehli From the At Home series

1978-79 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

224 1

From the series Czech People (Strelecky ostrov, Prague)

From the series Czech People (Lanzhot)

1985

1982

Courtesy of the photographers

Courtesy of the photographers

122s

Bohdan Holomflek Prague 1981 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Bohdan Holomflek Pardubice 1984 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Bohdan Holomflek Pardubice 1971 Courtesy of the photographer

226 1

I 227

Jindi'ich Streit

Jindi'ich Streit

Huzova, from the Village Life series 1986 Courtesy of the photographer

Amo/lice, from the Village Life series 1990 Courtesy of th e photographer

228 1

1229

Jindi'ich Streit Kfiiov, from the Village Life series 1981 Courtesy of the photographer

- ~'· -- .. ~-.

;.."'

·:-.;

:

'

Jindi'ich Streit

Jindi'ich Streit

Arnoltice, from the Village Life series 1985 Courtesy of the photographer

Sovinec, from the Village Life series 1980 Courtesy of the photographer

230 1

I 231

Viktor Koh!ii' Ostrava

1979 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Viktor Kolai' Ostrava

1979 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Viktor Kolai' Ostrava

1978 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Josef Koudelka From th e Ex1/es . series Franee , 1973 Magnum Photos, Paris

Josef Koudelka From the Exiles series

S pain, 1971 Magnum Photos , p ans ·

Josef Koudelka From th e Ex,tes . series p ortugal, 1976 Magnum Photos, Paris

234]

] 235

Jan Sagi From the Galleries series , Stuttgart 1986 Courtesy of the photographer

Vladimir Birgus Kyrgyzstan 1981 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Miroslav Tichy

Miroslav Tichy

Untitl ed

Untitled

1970s

1970s

Private collection, Prague

Private collection, Prague

Josef Moucha Cap Arcana, Rilgen

1986 Courtesy of the photographer

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j 239

1968-1989

Conceptual, Land, Body, Action, and Performance Art

WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN the great variety of untraditional photographic work, for example the records of the Surrealist games of members of the Ra group, the wartime work of Jindrich Heisler, and the photographs of Emila Medkova and her Surrealist friends from the late 1940s. All of them completely parted ways with the photographic conventions of their time, usually ignoring them entirely. In many cases these were underground activities, both during the German occupation, as carried out, for example, by the Recesiste (Pranksters) group, and under the Czech Stalinist regime that followed shortly afterwards. In the 1950s some professional Czech photographers reacted to the doctrine of Socialist Realism, which was being forced upon them , by returning to traditional subjects (like ch il dren and the beauty of home). This enabled them o survive the hardest period. The opposite po le was represented by Vlad imir Boudnik, an experimental printmaker and th e fou nder of 'Explosionalism'. From 1947 to 1957, with the help of his friends (particularly the novelist Bohumil Hrabal, the philosopher-poet Egon Bondy, the sculptor Zbynek Sekal, and the painter Mikulas Medek), he developed his method of 'absolute visual association', combining drawing, print-making, collage, photography, and writing. In photography he made self-portraits, montages of self-nudes with photograms, and abstract drawings made with photograph ic developer and fixer on photographic paper. Today these rank among the early examples of Art lnformel. He was also the author of several manifestos and proclamations. The most important part of Boudnik's work comprises more than 150 public demonstrations of Explosionalism , in wh ich he demonstrated his method of free-asso ciation on flaking walls in Prague streets. Only a smal l number of his events, however, are documented on film and photographs .1 Jiri Toman, who died too young, is usually recalled as a man of true integrity. His small New Year's cards and photographic games, made from the mid -1950s onwards, as if they were peripheral to his other photographic and cin ematic works, are of a similar integrity. They frequently contain numerals, which are often written with sparfers and other sources of light using long exposure times, as well as objects of ice and small sculptures of stones. This was in fact an exploration of completely new forms of fine art and photography, which were developed later by other artists in the 1960s and 1970s.2 From the first half of the 1960s onwards, the provocative and inspirational Milan Knifak used the medium of photography in a different way, recording happenings, installations, and activities, which sought, by way of a contempo rary artistic gesture, to change society for the better. The photographs were also used to promote the activities of the Aktual (Now) movement, which was founded by Knifak and his friends. The authorized photographic documenta-

240 1

Jii'iToman

tion (whose photographers mostly remained anonymous) later became a secondary artefact of art, which Knfzak used

New Year's Greetings, 1956 1955 Private collection, Prague

in his collages and assemblages, combining writing, photography, and sometimes drawing and painting, in a single dy-

I 241

and solo, with photography, often in the form of illegally made offset prints. In his work from the mid-1970s, Jaroslav And el explored the connections between ideas and the medium of photography. At exhibitions on single themes, he also exhibited photosculpture-installations on the ideas of Heraclitus. At the same he published important theoretical articles on photography, and helped to organize a number of important exhibitions about Czech Avant-garde art, photography, and book typography. 8 Karel Miler's attitude to the medium of photography was also clearly defined. For him, his countless photographic activities were not a record of events, but a purely intellectual process. He commented on a set of five of his photographs, called Inspection, from 1972, with the words: 'This activity has no beginning, no end, no starting point, no aim; it has no purpose. It is only an expression of activity as such, a model.' 9 Some of his events existed only in photographs. Concerning the importance of photographic documentation, he wrote: 'The very idea required the photo as the appropri ate form. In my case it is absolutely impossible to divide documentation from the event! '10 The most distinctive figure in Czech Body Art of the 1970s was Petr Stembera. Apart from his many, sometimes brutal, Body Art events, he also made several works about the mass media. He also systematically translated arks by Marshall Mcluhan, Susan Sontag , and other theorists. 11 From 1974 to 1977 Jan Mlcoch created a number of radical art pieces in which , for example, he had himself suspended in an attic, had himself subjected to physical and mental pressure, and in various ways emphasized the actual boundary between himself and the spectators and the boundary in communications between them . Karel Miler described Mlcoch's work as follows: 'He modelled the experiences of his own body and own psyche. It was never a performance for a random audience. If spectators were present, Milan Knfiak

Eugen Brikcius

Demonstration of One 1964 Moravian Gallery in Brno

Fake Wedding (Real Mystification) Havlicek Square, Prague, 8 February 1968 Olomouc Museum of Art

the artist was supposed to include them in his work. Photo-documentation was a report to the world, to say that somehing had happened.' 12 Photography served Mlcoch also as documentation of his climbing Mount Kotel , in the Giant Mountains, north Bohemia, where, alone, he went out in the winter of 1974, dressed only in light clothing, and left his fate to the elements. Miler, Stembera, and Mlcoch wound up their own work in art in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

namic whole. 3 Another happenings artist, Eugen Brikcius, worked in a similar way, using (and misusing) traditional photographic records of wedding ceremonies in the spirit of his own style of 'real mystification'. The artistic director of the Galerie Vaclava Spaly in Prague, Jindrich Chalupecky, in the freer spirit of 1968, enabled Zorka Saglova 4 to carry out her Hay-Straw installation. We know it today, like several of her land art works, from the record made by her husband, Jan Sagi. The photographer Helena Pospisilova (later Wilsonova) worked with the unsanctioned art scene, which in the years of Communist 'normalization' policy became the arts and politics underground . The land was also the site of the poetic works of Jan Steklik and his Crusaders' School of Pure Humour without Jokes, as well as Olaf Hanel, Milos Sejn, and the Trebic poet Ladislav Novak.5 From the second half of the 1970s Ivan Kafka, a sculptor and installation artist, carried out his interventions in the natural environment. 6 In many of his works on the relationship between man and nature, their presentation in photographs has a fundamental role, much as it has with Slovak artists like Rudolf Sikora and Michal Kern. Not till 2008 did Tomas Vlcek first exhibit his art from 1967-71 , in which he worked in an untraditional way with the medium of photography. Perhaps the most striking today are the photographic compositions called 'true and false symmetries'. 7 'The art I call conceptual is such because it is based on an inquiry into the nature of art', wrote the American Joseph Kosuth, one of the founders of Conceptual Art. This art is the result of the 'dematerialization of art', denying the artefact of art, and chiefly following the idea of it instead. Photography seemed to be an accessible and suitable medium . One of the innovators recognizing this in Czechoslovakia was the Brno artist and curator Jiri Valoch. From the late 1960s onwards, he explored the nature of photographic works in a number of photo sequences. Before that he had been involved in the international movement of experimental poetry, and was in touch with artists throughout Europe. From 1969 to 1974 he documented in photographs the connection between writing and the natural environment or the human body. He was interested in the question of time and the medium of photography itself. He also made a series of photographs with reference to the Japanese poetic form, the haiku, and made records of minimal ist activities. Jiri H. Kocman worked with a similar sobriety. Another Brno artist, Dalibor Chatrny, worked with the photographic recording of untraditional sculpture in the landscape, but also with the photographs of others, which he remade in his own way. Jaroslav Richtr and his friends Milan Langer and Ladislav Pliva made their own works, jointly

242 1

Jaroslav Andel

Zorka Saglova

Untitled 1971-72 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

in collaboration with Jan Sagi (photography) Hay-Straw Vaclav Spala Gallery, Prague, August 1969 Private collection, Stredokluky

1243

Ivan Kafka Assembled Reflection earth and sun

1982-84 Olomouc Museum of Art

Vlasta Cihakova-Noshiro, Umeni akce, Prague: Galerie Manes, 1991 ; Pavlina Morganova, Akcni umeni,

5

Olomouc: Votobia, 1999; Ji'fi Valoch , 'Umeni akce, hnuti Aktual , happening', in Rostislav Svacha and Marie Platovska (eds),

Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. IV, pt I, Prague: Academia, 2007, pp. 240-52; Karel Srp, 'Akcnf umeni sedmdesatych let ', ibid., pp. 482-99; Ji'fi Valoch , 'Konceptualni projevy', in Svacha and Platovska (eds), Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. IV, pt II , pp. 554-73. 6

Karel Srp, Ivan Kafka, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1992; Josef Hlavacek, Ivan Kafka ,

7

Tomas Vlcek, Akce a fotografie 1967-71, Geske Budejovice: Dum umenf, 2008.

8

Anto nfn Dufek, 'Meditace o kruhu', Revue Fotografie, 1975, no. 3, p. 71 ; Ji'ff Valoch , 'Elementy kosmologie',

9

Karel Srp (ed.), Karel Miler, Petr Stembera, Jan Mlcoch: 1970-1980, Prague: Galerie hlavnfho mesty Prahy,

Litome'fice: Galerie vytvarneho umeni, 1997.

Revue Fotografie, 1976, no. 4, p. 77. 1997, p. 10.

Kare l Srp, 'Akcnf umenf sedmdesatych let ', in Svacha and Platovska (eds), Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni,

10

vo l. IV, pt I, p. 494. Susanne Neuburger and Hedwig Saxenhuber (eds), Kurze Karrieren, Vienna and Cologne:

11

Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig , 2004. 12

Karel Miler, 'Vzpomfnky na leta minula: K akcnimu umenf v Praze 70. let', Atelier, 1993, no. 6.

13

Vit Havranek (ed.), Ji'fi Kovanda: Nedokumentovano, 2005-1974 akce a instalace, Prague: Tranzit.cz and Akademie vytvarnych umenf v Praze, 2005; Zdena Koleckova and Michal Kolecek, 'Ji'ff Kovanda (Between Two Kisses)',

Fotograf, 2008 , no. 11 , pp. 48-57.

In the works of Jirf Kovanda ,13 a shift was clear mainly in his inconspicuous performances and street installations, which he often recorded in photographs and left alone where they were, so that with time they could deteriorate unnoticed; the preserved documentation is like a bureaucratic document, a technical record of standard format and layout, with no trace of artistic exclusivity. These works herald the coming of postmodernism. Kovanda, who remains active, is today an artist of international renown . Among other practitioners of action and conceptual art, whose work includes the medium of photography, are, for example, Jan Wojnar, Vladimfr Ambroz, and Vladimir Havlik. In the 1980s many conceptual approaches appeared in the works of younger artists, for instance, the action art as spectacle of the Brno-based Tomas Ruller, who combines photography and video in a single multimedia whole. In the greater freedom of the subsequent decade, conceptualism appears also in the curricula of art schools. The principles of performance art have also been applied in the more recent works of Vaclav Stratil , Jiri SurOvka, Frantisek Skala, Lenka Klodova, the Kamera skura group, Ondrej Brody, and Dominik Lang.

NOTES

Jind'fich Chalupecky, Na hranicich umeni: Nekolik pribehu, Munich: Arky'f, 1987; Hana Larvova (ed.), Vladimir Boudnik, Prague: Galerie hlavnfho mesta Prahy, 1992; Zdenek Primus (ed.), Vladimir Boudnik: Mezi avantgardou a undergroundem, Prague: Gallery, 2004; Vladimir Boudnik, 'Manifest des Explosionalismus Nr. 2', in Ji'ff Sevcik and Peter Weibel (eds),

.

Utopien & Konflikte: Dokumente und Manifeste zur tschechischen Kunst 1938-1989, Karlsruhe and Ostfildern: Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie and Hatje Gantz, 2007, pp. 130-34. 2

Vft Boucek and Martin Dostal (eds), Jiff Toman , in Czech and English , Prague: Prazsky dum fotografie and KANT, 2006 .

3

Ji'ff Valoch (ed .), Milan Knizak 1953-1988, Brno: Dum umeni mesta Brna, 1989; Elisabeth Jappe, Performance, Ritual, ProzeB:

Handbuch der Aktionskunst in Europa, Munich and New York: Prestel , 1993; Kristine Stiles, 'Uncorrupted Joy: International Art

.

.

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.

.

.

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.

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Actions', in Paul Schimmel (ed.), Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-1979, Los Angeles and London: Museum of Contemporary Art and Thames & Hudson, 1998, pp. 298-306; Milan Knifak, Actions for Which at Least Some

Documentation Remains, 1962-1995. Prague: Gallery, 2000. 4

244 1

Milan Knizak (ed.), Zorka Sag/ova, texts by Milan Knffak, Marek Pokorny, and Ji'fi Valoch, Prague: Narodnf galerie, 2006.

JifiValoch Situation I, II, Ill 1969 Moravian Gallery in Brno

I 245

Jii'r H. Kocman From the Touch Activity series 1971 Moravian Gallery in Brno

Karel Miler Inspection 1972 Courtesy of the photographer

Jii'1 Kovanda Fur Coat 1982 Photograph, Indian ink, cardboard Courtesy of the photographer

...

KOfICH / podle L. H. / ziaa 1982 Praha, Sttel e cky ostro Y

fLY ~

C.l1LUPEtl

i>OV"lliR

Jan Mlloch Hanging-The Big Sleep 1974, Prague Courtesy of the photographer

Petr Stembera Grafting 1975 Moravian Gallery in Brno

246 1

1247

1968-1989

Jan Svoboda Blue Picture 1972 Private collection , Prague

From Minimalism to Postmodernism

TH E END OF THE 19608 and the beginning of the 1970s did not witness quite the change in Czech photography that was experienced in Czech literature, film, and the fine arts, which were observed far more for deviations from ideology and we re hit harder in practice by the normalization policy of the Husak regime. For the regime , photography was not so important or dangerous, and so was slower to experience the considerable limiting of international contacts and exhibition opportunities. For example, in 1971 the exhibition 'New Photography of the USA' was held in Prague, with examples of work by Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, and Lee Fried lander, and the works of Josef Sudek were exhibited in Rochester (New York), Aachen , and London, while Drtikol retrospectives met with success in Milan , Brussels, and Victoria (British Columbia). The closing of the frontiers and the subsequent efforts of the Communist regime completely to control and manipulate artistic life in the occupied country, with the help of umbrella organizations (like the Czechoslovak Union of Fine Artists) that carefully selected their members, put considerable constraints on free expression. As in other areas of the arts, works outside the sanctioned sphere were also made in photography in subsequent years.' At least several smaller galleries provided these outsiders with exhibition opportunities even in the hardest imes. A surprisingly high-quality quarterly Revue Fotografie, was published in the same period . Its editor-in-chief, Daniela Mrazkova, was a good tactician when it came to getting many high-quality works of Czech and foreign provenance publ ished when they did not always correspond to State policy on the arts. After 1978, however, with new ediors-in -chi ef, the level of the magazine significantly declined . Sudek's work came to a close in the 1970s. Amongst his last photographs were those in the three masterful series, Memories, Labyrinths, and Glass Labyrinths, with many depicted objects and intricate compositions, far removed from the lucidly simp le still lifes of the 1950s. They constitute a certain recapitulation of Sudek's past, revealing much of his distinctive way of life. With these photos, he invites viewers into his private life, his home, and his soul. These are wo rks full of harmony, calm , and beauty. His compositions contain , in a mature synthesis, the inspiration of much earlier art (the Mannerism of the court of Emperor Rudolph II in Prague and also Dutch still lifes), as well as the Cubism and abstract art of the interwar years. At the same time they are an implicit reminder and celebration of his long -dead friends, the Cubist painter Emil Filla as well as a photographer of his own generation, Jaromir Funke. Sudek's later works were subsequently considered a forerunner of Postmodernism - syntheses of a variety of quotaions, infl uences, and tendencies, not afraid 'to contaminate' photography with ideas from other fields of art. A little nown fact is that Sudek never ceased to search for new ways, and even made some of his later works with a pinhole camera. In 1976 he celebrated his eightieth birthday with large retrospectives in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, and the Moravian Gallery, Brno. They were organized by Sudek together with Anna Farova in Prague and An onin Dufek in Brno. Another Sudek retrospective, organized by Galerie Lichttropfen, Aachen , was held in Germany, S i zerl and, and Austri a. Sudek died that year.

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or in the work of another proponent of large-format Verism , Karel Kuklik,7 did the technical precision of the photographs - for example, in the series Grebovka (begun in 1974) and Courtyard (1976-79) - suppress sensitivity. In the more conceptually oriented sets There and Back (1981) and Traces and Projections (1985-86), Kuklik has focused on sym bols and signs of reality. Similarly, Bohumir Prokupek, in his still lifes and landscapes, devoted himself to the old masters' conception of work with a camera using a large-format negative, though he often employed a considerable degree of subjectivity. The line of photos with minimal subject matter, sometimes only the play of shadow and light, modelled on he pioneering abstract Czech photography of Rossler and ·Funke, also had several striking proponents in the 1970s and 1980s. Jaroslav Rajzik,8 at the Department of Art Photography, FAMU , followed on directly from the works of early abstract photography, with his series Studies in Light, Still Lites with Light, and Apocalyptic Light Pictures. Also in the more lyrical work of Stanislav Tuma, in addition to portraits of friends, nudes, found still lifes, and remote cor-rers of the city, there are photos of almost empty interiors, in which rays of light play an important role . For the series Studies of Light and Space, begun in 1973, Borivoj Horinek made abstract compositions coming out of Constructivism. Si mil arly, in his White Still Lites (1974), Stills Lites from Construction (1978), and Still Lites with Glass (1980) JosefSudek

Josef Ptalek

A Little Memory, from the Memories se ri es

Horovice, from the Parks seri es 1983 Association of Czec h Photographers Collection, Nat ional Archive, Prague

1972 Mu seum of Decorative Arts in Prague

iroslav Sychra was freely inspired by the works of Jaromir Funke. While some of his photos, with their clearly defin ed pictori al elements, give the impression of balance and harmony, others contain subjects intended to disturb. Semi -abstract details of static objects appear also in photographs by Hana Hamplova and the non-commercial work of Mirosl av Vojtechovsky,9 a teacher and theorist , whose photographic work has been mainly concentrated on tech-

Jan Svoboda, who continued Sudek's in his own distinctive way, often depicted even simpler subjects. He was an artist who throughout his life deepened the intellectual bases of his work , staying personally in touch with important artists of his day (including the sculptors Stanislav Kolibal and Zdenek Paler) and they considered him their equal. He also tried his hand at the latest trends in art (for example, Minimalism). In an interview in 1989 Svoboda said: 'I am concerned with realism . When one sees some of one's own work as a means of expressing oneself, then

nically preci se, artistically effective photographs of glass. In his series Mechanical Still Lites (1976-84). Pavel Mara10 reveals the artistic value of various plastic and metal obj ects with sharp contrasts of striking colour or with subtle, almost monochrome shades of several tones of colour. In their depiction he has achieved almost abstract geometric forms, using radical reduction down to elemen 11

tary lines, surfaces, colours, and reflections. Beginning in the second half of the 1970s, Dusan Simanek, a successful advertising and fashion photographer, made some of his most important works as part of his non-commercial

it always contains something that has been taken from reality. [... ] The only thing that I can justifiably make a statement on is my own world. Except then it is not only about me, but also about the world that I am a part of, see, experience, fee l. Talking about myself actually depends on this splendid world in which I live. Do my photographs seem sad? I believe that even sadness and loneliness reveal the essence of the world .' Another feature that is distinctively Svoboda's is the technical execution of a wide range of subtle tones of grey in his hanging photograph-pictures.

Fedor Gablan Ostrava Landscape (Seag ull) 1970 Collecti on of Miroslav Lekes, Brno

Jaroslav Andel , a theorist of art and photography, has written : 'Svoboda's work is a conscious attempt to find and establish a new continuity, to integrate contemporary visual sensitivity into the existing photographic traditions [...] Tonal values as a fundamental structural element of the pictorial space constitute the most basic feature of all Svoboda's works .' His original , profoundly experienced , extraordinarily sensitive, and broad interpretations of the open , 2

contemplative , and self-reflective work was enriched by a number of serious works in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of

Jan Splrchal From the Landscapes series 1974 Museu m of Decorati ve Arts in Prague

them were made in only one copy, or sometimes a few, which Svoboda often pasted on to thick mounts, making them into distinctive pictures to be hung on the wall. 3 Among other photographers following on from Sudek is his friend and occasional assistant, Petr Helbich ,4 who, with a cultivated eye for light, composition , and tonal richness of sub ject matter, took photographs at the Na Bulovce Faculty Hospital in Prague, on the outskirts of Prague, in the Beskid Mountains, and in the ancient forests of Mionsi and Sluzice. A freer relationship to Sudek's work and his predilection for large-format cameras appears in the photographs of Jan Reich, 5 particularly his still lifes, details of abandoned farms in the borderlands, the series Vanishing Prague, Outskirts, and City, which bear resemblances to the works of Miroslav Hak, as well as his classic photographs of typical Bohemian landscapes. Reich revealed the romantic, melancholic beauty and spiritual dimension of places in which time seems to have stood still. He often photog raphed when it was overcast or foggy, in autumn and winter, when most other landscape photographers would not even pick up thei r cameras. In that respect he was like Josef Ptacek,6 who, beginning in 1983, devoted himself to photographing the grounds of old manor houses, revealing the traces of time in crumbling Baroque buildings, damaged or dying trees , and solitary statues, and overlapping tended gardens and untamed nature. Despite their gloominess, his photographs radiate respect and admiration for time less values and the natural link between human beings and nature.

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sym bols , nor did they depict their subject matter with the lyrical enchantment of their predecessors from the period of the poetry of everyday life. With their work they sought symbolically to draw attention to the negative consequences of technological development and the debasing of values. Yet they did not avoid making their subjects aesthetic by means of carefully thought-out compositions and well-chosen details of reality. Unlike the purely descriptive style of the 'New Topography', which in the 1970s was particularly popular in the USA and West Germany (but did not make itself felt in Czechoslovakia till subsequent decades), their photos include a distinctively subjective view, and this aspect intensified in the 1980s. Miroslav Machotka13 continued to discover the magical quality of apparently unphotogenic fragments of the urban environment. His photographs, however, are sometimes on the borderline between the subjective documentary photo and the trend called 'Visualism'. In this respect, they are close to the works of Marie Kratochvilova .14 Similarly, some photographs by Stepan Grygar, diverse in style and content, accent the visual qualities of the unusual depiction of static objects. As Antonin Dufek has remarked: 'Grygar moves about in the realm of light and shade with an utterly matter-of-fact indifference towards efforts to find the established inventory of poetry in reality. His visual style Taras Kuscynskyj

Michal Tuma

Huddled

Memories of Love

1972

1972

Pri vate collection , Prague

Association of Czech Photographers Collection , National Archi ve, Prague

grew out of contemporary art, among other things, but his language is mostly photographic.' 15 In Czechoslovakia in this period , environmentally oriented photographs of the ravaged countryside and towns first began to appear to a noticeable degree. In their discovery of the strange beauty of devastated milieux they could be fre ely following on from Sudek's panoramic photos of north Bohemia in the late 1950s. Fedor Gabcan and Petr Sikula made photographs of industrial landscapes in the Ostrava region, superbly exploiting the stylistic possibilities of wide-angle lenses. Jiri Polacek and Ivan Lutterer made panoramic shots of predominantly urban milieux. Even though various currents of 'photography of the imagination ', coming out of Surrealism, receded to the backgro und in the 1970s and especially the 1980s, giving way to newer trends, they still enriched Czech photography

photography: the Silence series , composed of colourful details of abandoned flats in buildings earmarked for demo-

with new works. After a rather long pause, Milos Korecek returned to photography, and made a number of new

lition in the Prague district of Zizkov. This work blends sociological aspects of the period's interior design, which he

phocalques with associative pictures of fauna (in the My Zoo series) and flora (My Herbarium and Les Fleurs du ma!)

captured in an artistically polished , technically precise depiction of details of colourfully painted and papered walls

as well as with more abstract geomorphological and cosmological subjects. Vilem Reichmann 16 reveals metaphors of

resembling abstract paintings. Personal contact with Jan Svoboda influenced the work of lvo Precek.12 This former

form and also accents the aesthetic qualities of various textures in macro photographs of blistering paint and other

member of the Olomouc-based DOFO group, who has yet to be fully appreciated, sought to depict minimal static

things (as in the Tabularia series, begun in 1971), bits of bark (Arbograms and Arboglyphs, begun in 1976) and tar forms

subjects to maximum effect, for example, in the Gardens series (1978-88), in radically reduced fragments of land -

(Macroteria, begun in 1976). Towards the end of the 1980s he joined in the Postmodern fusion of various media with

scapes in View from a Hill (1983), and in the phantastic photographs of haystacks from the Pyramids series (begun

his series Graphograms, in which he enlarged artificial patterns brushed onto the negatives. Emila Medkova17 gradu-

in 1975). Jaroslav Benes expanded his series of details of interiors of the Prague Metro. Making maximum use of large-format cameras and a feel for the values of art and symbolic aspects, these works capture reflections of light on shiny metal and marble surfaces. At the beginning of the 1980s Pavel Banka, in his series Doubting, made photographs of spatial structures with panes of glass, narrow strips of mirror, and optical prisms, where the main subject is light itself, but an important role is also played by the juxtaposition of nature and artificial light and the relativization of spatial perception . In some works, for example, Flowers behind Matt Glass: Homage to Josef Sudek (1981), he explicitly admits his having been inspired by some of Sudek's works . From 1984 onwards , using large-format equipment and a flash at night, he began to make ghostly colour details of shacks in allotment gardens (in the series Environments, later called Marginalia). Into the unmanipulated photographs of static objects and vague works situated between documentary and art photography one can justly place Jiri Polacek 's mysterious black-and-white and colour photographs of the Prague district of Smichov at night, Jaroslav Barta's series of photos of insensitive changes made to the pavement (Streets, 1978-81) and new windows installed in the fronts of old houses (the Windows set , 1981-83), Jindfich Spicner's thematically similar photos, lren Stehli 's matter-of-fact photographs of shop windows, Pavel Jasansky and Lubomir Kotek's photos of propaganda panels and Socialist Art sculpture, or Vratislav Hurka's photos of the artificial flowers and kitschy wallpaper which were meant to beautify otherwise grey architecture. A number of young photographers following on from Svoboda's work , particularly his earlier photographs, began to concentrate on analysis and the artistic appreciation of minimal subjects from the urban environment. They

252 1

looked for subject matter of modern civilization , which was unspectacular but typical of the period : cars covered in

Petr Sikula Civilization

Nude in a Field

tarpaulins , motorways intersecting town centres, signs on walls, battered pavements, and details of grey prefab con-

1973

1971

crete architecture. But, unlike the Surrealists, they did not look for metaphorical imagery, personification, or phantastic

Courtesy of the photographer

Courtesy of the photographer

Miroslav Myska

I 253

ally turned away from autonomous sign-like photos of textures , returning to a Surrealist style. In various rubbish heaps she looked for -pressed metal , reminiscent of the works of Arman and Cesar, and photographed their phantasical shapes. In the series The End of Illusions (1978) she reveals anthropomorphic forms in wastepaper, and has made photos of various objects recalling works by renowned artists. The works of some other photographers who called themselves Surrealists, however, became empty decorations and sometimes even kitsch . The photomontage enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Among its most distinctive practitioners was Jan Splfchal. 18 A number of his works reveal an interest in transcendental topics, some clearly Christian (like the series Cathedrals and · Creation) , some more general. Among his best series is Landscapes, in which he effectively employs multiplication and shifting motifs of cliffs, rocks , fossils, and trees . He also made nudes, juxtaposing the bodies of his models with things from nature. Similar sandwich photomontages were also employed by Miroslav Bilek in Variations on the Nude (1969-73). Martin Hruska, in the three series Interrupted Observations, I'll Awake Only When You Call My Name, and The Impatience of Light, exploited traditional Surrealist subjects, as well as transpar-

ency and the repetition of the depicted motifs and motion blur. Lyrical photomontages inspired by the poems and prints of Bohuslav Reynek were made by Jiff Skoch . The combination of photomontage using old found negatives, often with visible traces of damage, and various special techniques was employed in the Montages series (1963-2002) by Jindrich Pribfk,19 who settled in Belgium in 1973. Whereas various methods of 'photographic archaeology', re-interpreting the photographs of others, were relatively common abroad (in the works, for example, of Jerzy Lewczynski, Chris-

Pavel Hefko Se/I-portrait after a Photograph from the 1963-64 School Year 984 Hand-coloured photograph , and documentary photograph made in 1964 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

tian Boltanski, and Richard Prince), they rarely appeared in Czechoslovakia (an exception being the works of Fero Tomfk). In the 1970s and 1980s photomontage was used by a number of other photographers, including Jaroslav world of the imagination, absurd scenes, and symbols of many meanings. A high degree of stylization was typical ;

Rossler, lvo Precek, and Ales Kunes. One of the most powerful currents of Czech photographic work of the 1970s is staged photography. It follows

many photographers often distorted their subjects by using wide-angle lenses. The use of coarse-grain material was

on from earl ier works Jan Saudek made in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Many of its proponents, however, were

popular, as were sharp tonal contrasts and sometimes also toning . Jan Saudek 20 chose another path - in the second

also inspired by Romanticism, Symbolism, Art Nouveau , Expressionism, and Surrealism , as well as newer works of

half of the 1970s he began to hand-colour his prints, thus giving them the stamp of handmade originals. Technically

cinema (in particular, the powerful influence of Antonion i's Red Desert and Blowup, but also the films of the Czechs

and the matically he drew on the studio photography of the second half of the nineteenth century. Time was one of

Vera Chytilova and Jaromil Jires). They may also have been inspired by the fashion photographs of William Klein

the most frequent themes in his work. From the earlier fragile juxtaposition of the world of children and adults, he

and Helmut Newton, the hippy movement, and the Theatre of the Absurd . Staged photography was the opposite pole

gradually moved to photographs with the predominant themes of sex, ageing, death , and the battle of the sexes. In

of humanist photojournalism and the poetry of everyday life. It was an escape from 'real -existing Socialism ' into the

so me compositions he uses photomontage. From his earlier delicate juxtapositions of the world of children and the world of adults Saudek gradually moved to often quite bizarre photographs, the main topic of which was sex, love and hate, reversing the traditional roles of women and men , changing the appearance and identity of people naked and clothed , the battle of the sexes, and also inevitable old age and death . In his photographs he often accentuated the du ality of current relevance and timelessness, juxtaposing old costumes and scenery beyond a specific time with typical products of the late twentieth century, such as the Sony Walkman . He also made diptychs and large sets and series linked by a line of action. Up to that point, he had exh ibited his works in Czechoslovakia only a few times. He did not achieve true recognition till later, when his works were shown in exhibitions abroad and publ ished in books. The expressive staged scenes by members of the Epos group in Brno - Jiff Horak, Rostislav Kost'al , and Frantisek Marsalek - enjoyed great popularity in this period . The works often capture absurd scenes outdoors with figures dressed in black or with naked girls and men with absent expressions and exaggerated gestures. Many scenes were made in dramatic landscapes with cliffs , castles, and chapels, against a background of clouds, sometimes with added silhouettes of a flock of birds. Horak, however, often photographed in urban settings as well, with motorways and bridges. The repeated pattern of juxtaposing of a large portrait in the foreground with several figures (often only in silhouette) in the background was , for example, interpreted as follows : 'There is a central figure and what happens behind him or her is a view into the world of the central figure 's mind, which is represented here by a landscape filled with figu res in a wide variety of activities. Sometimes there is only a single figure in the background, which may be seen as

Stanislav Friedlaender

Jii'1V1sek

Self Portrait with Father 1987 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Vilem Rei chmann, Photographer 1988 Mu seum of Decorative Arts in Prague

the central figure 's alter ego.' The eroticism appeared mainly in the photographs of Kost'al, who sometimes also paraphrased famous paintings.21 The Epos group, however, became boring relatively soon. Their range of subject matter was exhausted and th eir artistic forms became worn out by works without content made by a number of imitators. Today they are, on the on e hand , appreciated again as a fresh current in the photography of those days, which sought to express

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12ss

was alien to them; instead they employed lightness, merriness, irony, and the erotic. A typical manifestation of these trends was the powerful new wave of staged photography. Its practitioners in many ways distinguished themselves from their 1970s predecessors. The centre of gravity of this up-and-coming generation was the Slovak students in he Department of Photography at FAMU - Tona Stano, Rudo Prekop, Miro Svolik, Vasil Stanko, and Kami! Varga . After graduating, they remained in Prague, and eventually became Czech citizens. Consequently, their works belong to both Slovak and Czech photography (un like the works of most Slovak photographers of the previous waves of staged photography, such as L'.uba Lauffova, Anton Sladek, Jana Simkova, and Peter Breza, who, after graduating from FAMU, returned to Bratislava).26 They no longer sought out Romantic scenery of castle ruins and the like, but photographed mainly in studios with electronic flashes and medium-format cameras. In their works from this period , which often include naked women and men, there is less impersonal expression, less bittersweet Art Nouveau, and less com plicated symbolism relating to the problems of humankind . Instead , there is more playfulness and sex. It co nstitutes a personally distinctive escape from the grey reality of the normalization years into a world that they created the mselves and in which there is no room for politics. 27 It was largely thanks to Jan Smok, head of the Photography Department at FAMU, that these students could, deep in ? ommunist totalitarianism, graduate with these often provocative photographs.

Vladimir Kozlik

Tona Stano 28 held a key position amongst the proponents of the new wave of staged photography. In his

Flame 1-111

1975

aesthetically and technically polished photographs he frequently arranged men and women models in exaggerated

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

poses and gestures, and often strikingly accentuated the erotic. He was following in the footsteps of Drtikol and the tradition of working in the studio. In addition to sought-after nudes, he also concentrated on portraits and photographs feelings of the young generation. On the other hand their literariness and overstatement is criticized . Highly expres-

for advertising. Vasil Stanko 29 moved from pairs of photos, juxtaposing different phases of captured scenes, to absurd

sive juxtapositions of human figures and various settings were also made by Petr Balicek and Milan Michl. Amongst

arran gements with a number of figures set in empty interiors, which do not invite unambiguous rational interpretation .

the outstanding proponents of a more romantic, lyrical conception of stage photography is Taras Kuscynskyj .22 With

To his photographs of tableaux vivants of men and women models Rudo Prekop 30 added various real objects and

his nudes, portraits of well-known figures, and distinctively individual advertising photos, he became one of the most

decorations cut out of paper, as well as fragments of mirror and scraps of paper, placed on a photosensitive surface

popular photographers in Czechoslovakia. His photo Huddled became an icon of photography at the time, and, unlike

during enlargement. One of the most distinctively personal and most inventive works in staged photography in

many other works, remains effective to this day. In the 1970s, Kuscynskyj, who enjoyed success in advertising photo-

Czechoslovakia is the result of collaboration between Stano and Prekop and their Prague friend Michal Pacina. The

graphy as well, was criticized not only by the guardians of official Communist prudery, but also by some knowledge-

Picture Consequence set {1985-86) was made by joining together photographs of heads, torsos, and legs in an

able critics, who reproached him for allegedly superficial spectacle, pandering to low-brow tastes , and excessive

original trio of photos, in which they have manually made changes in the photographs or joined them to pieces of

dependence on foreign examples. Milena Lamarova, for instance, wrote in Vytvarna prace (Art Work) in 1970: 'He

tinfoil and other material. The poetic works of Miro Svolik 31 were a bit outside the mainstream of staged photography.

uses clearly Western fashion magazines as his model, which he then, in addition , heaven knows why, makes lyrical,

Of these, it was his playful tableaux vivants that met with the greatest positive response. Here he has placed human

presenting Woman as a concoction of sweet demon after repeated washing in hot water and detergent. [... ] All we

figures lying in various arrangements on the ground, to which he has added silhouettes painted with water and sand,

need is one more artistically presented hole in a pair of blue jeans - and not even a bust perfectly sprinkled with

and then photographed them from tall buildings, bridges, or cranes. These photographs, originally made for his final-

a watering can will save the provincial nature of Veruschka von Thesticks.' 23 In the early 1980s, the terminally ill Kuscynskyj made a series of expressive photos of a woman model wrapped in white fabric, probably an allegorical expression of the nearness of death. Even more lyrical are the staged photos by Milan Borovicka,24 who is most successful in his simple portraits and details of figures, and also Michal Tuma, who even made a large photo-story called To Love and Die on themes

Peter Zupnik My Mum 's Cake

1986- 87 Hand -coloured photograph Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The blue-toned, staged photographs by Petr Zhof, on the other hand, often employ elements of slapstick and irony, and in some ways anticipate the work of the next generation. A truly unique place is held by the photographs of staged scenes with little figures, which were made by Tom Drahos, 25 a Czech photographer living in Paris. In these he anticipated some features of Postmodernism. Later, he considerably expanded the range of his works and became fully integrated into French art. With its byword of 'anything goes', Postmodernism in the 1980s considerably influenced the up-and-coming generation of photographers in particular. They were not afraid of eclecticism , mixing styles and kinds of art, reinterpreting earlier works , and making manual changes directly in the negatives and prints. Most of these young photographers had no desire to change the world, but they did seek to demonstrate that perception, knowledge, and judgement are relative, and poked fun at stereotypes and cliches. They refused to moralize and rejected rational models of conceptual works for their intellectual exclusivity and lack of feedback from the viewers . The self-destructive process of art seeking to penetrate the deep layers of the human consciousness , particularly the unconscious,

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Tom Drahos

year project at FAMU, also met with considerable international recognition. The International Center of Photography, New York , for example, gave Svolik the Infinity Award for the Best Young Photographer. In some respects the opposite

From the Fantassins de surface lisse series (S mooth-surface Infantrymen) 1975 Co urtesy of the photographer

pole to the lightness and humour of these photographers is provided by the metaphysically and transcendentally conceived photos of Kamil Varga, in self-referential , yet sometimes ritual, arrangements of his own body, to which he has often added drawings with light using longer exposures. Though it was the young Slovaks (born in or around 1960) of FAMU who played the most important role in the energetic rise of the new wave of staged photography, that does not mean that this trend was without outstand ing Czech practitioners. This is evident, for example, in the subtly toned figure compositions of Pavel Banka 32 (who is nearly of the previous generation), with elements reminiscent of Art Nouveau , Art Deco, and Constructivism. Other examples are Ivan Pinkava's33 expressively arranged portraits of people with their eyes shut, symbolically dedicated to various eminent figures, and the existential photographs of Michal Macku 34 made of his own naked body multiplied or destroyed, symbolizing violence or the loss of identity; in these works Macku cleverly uses his 'gellage' technique, enabling him to manipulate large-format negatives using wet emulsion. At the end of the 1980s, the Bratrstvo (Brotherhood) art group was founded in Brno but its work d_id not fully develop till the early years of the next decade. Apart from painters, musi cians , and writers, the group included the photographers Vaclav Jirasek, Martin Findeis, Petr Krejzek, Roman Muselfk, and Zdenek Sokol. They presented their photos to the public as collective works . At first, the group freely paraphrased the propagandistic works of Socialist Realism from the 1950s, but later sought inspiration in the legacies of Mannerism , the Pre-Raphaelites, mythology, and Decadence. 35 The Postmodernist reassessment of the long-recognized principles of the pu rity of the photographic me dium increasingly led to crossing the boundaries between photography, painting, print-making, and sc ulpting . More

ea -Expres sionism, as in the works of Arnulf Rainer, and in the even more radical overpainting of original photo-

frequently various fusions of photography and painting have also appeared, for example, in the now almost forgot-

graphs in the sculptures and re liefs of Nadja Rawova. Inventive combinations of photographs and works by re-

ten sequences and individual photos by Vlad imir Kozlik ,36 which he partly hand-coloured in. A striking example of

nown ed artists (including Picasso and Modigliani) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. were made by Josef Snobl ,

the fusion of various media is the work of Vladimir Zidlicky, 37 who moved from almost abstract compositions that

a Czech photographer living in Germany since 1979 and devoting himself mainly to portraiture and intermedia. Mak-

frequently employed light-painting to dramatic scenes with naked figures , which he intensified by brown toning ,

ing later changes to a number of his diary-like snapshots , he has created expressive intermedia works. A similar

engraving and scratching parts of the negatives, or drawing with light in a strongly stylized form, as, for example,

approach was employed by Viktor Kopasz , a FAMU graduate. Far more subtle additional painting and overpainting

in the works of Jiri Korecky and Martin Vybiral. Painterly interventions directly into the enlarged print appear, for

of photographs was done by Peter Zupnik ,38 who in this way often wittily changed the original meaning of the de-

instance , in Pavel Jasansky's series Bodies , where destructive overpainting in black follows on in some ways from

picted subject. Amongst the outstanding intermedia artists is Ales Kunes. In the 1980s, he inventively combined photographs and photograms, made imaginative assemblages of large-format, mostly transparent negatives and sma ll three-dimensional objects, and experimented with presenting photographs in public spaces other than galleries and museums. After making ghostly photographs of 'flying furniture ' and combinations of photographs and

Josef Snobl A Drink at Picasso's 1988 Courtesy of the photographer

three -dimensional objects, Jan Hudecek made the distinctive Self-portrait series assembled from photos of typical parts of clothing from various periods of his life. Photographic assemblages and combinations of photographs, fou nd objects , and writing were made by Jaroslav Fiser. Monumental photographs to adorn the public interiors of airports, sc hools, and restaurants were made, for instance, by Ladislav Postupa, Cestmir Kratky, Jaroslav Krejci, and Miloslav Stibor. lntermedia work was occasionally made also by the photographers Vilem Reichmann, Iva Precek , Jan Hudecek, Jiri Foltyn, Josef Vojacek, and Jan Pohribny, as well as the fine artists Jiri Kolar, Libor Fara, and Dalibor Chatrny. During the final two decades of Communist rule, photographic work underwent considerable change here and, as in many other countries, increasingly became an important part of contemporary trends in art.

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I 259

16

Antonin Dufek, Vi/em Reichmann, in Czech and English, Geske Budejovice: Foto Mida, 1994.

17

Lenka Bydzovska and Karel Srp, Emila Medkova, in Czech and English , Prague: KANT, 2001.

18

Jiri Serych , Jan Splichal, in Czech and English, Geske Budejovice: Foto Mida , 1993.

19

Pavel Vancat, Jindfich Pfibik, in Czech and English, Prague: Torst, 2008.

20

Daniela Mrazkova, Jan Saudek: Divadlo zivota, Prague: Panorama, 1991 ; Jan Saudek, Jan Saudek, Cologne: Taschen , 1998 ; Daniela Mrazkova, Saudek, Prague: Slovart, 2005; Jan Saudek, The Best of Jan Saudek, Prag ue: Saudek.com , 2005.

21

Rostislav Kostal: Retrospektiva, with articles by Tomas Sniegon , Jiri Patek, and Ladislav Pich, in English and Czech,

Brno: Lyn x, 2008; Jiri Patek, 'lnscenovana fotografie 70. let: Lekce Epos a diskuse nejen o manyre,' 62. Bulletin Moravske galerie, Brno: Moravska galerie, 2006, pp. 109-20.

22

Jaroslav Fiser

Jii'1Foltyn

Photo for Mir6 1988 Courtesy of the photographer

Events with a Rope Courtesy of the photographer

Jiri Serych, Taras Kuscynskyj, in Czech and English , Geske Budejovice: Foto Mida, 1992.

23

Mi lena Lamarova, 'Viznerova - sperky, Kuscynskyj - fotografie ', Vytvarna prace, 1970, no. 8.

24

Vladimir Birgus, Milan Borovicka, Ostrava: Profil, 1984.

25

Tom Drahos, Metamorphoses, Paris: Creatis, 1980.

26

Aurel Hrabusicky and Vaclav Macek, Slovenska fotografia 1925-2000 I Slovak Photography 1925-2000, Bratislava:

27

Slovenska narodna galeria, 2000. Anna Farova, 11, Prague: 1988; idem , 37 fotografu na Chmelnici, Prague: OKD Praha 3 and Junior klub Chmelnice, 1989; Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch , Akt v ceske fotografii I The Nude in Czech Photography, Prague: KANT, 2001 .

28

Tona Stano 1980-1996, Prague: Posam , 1998; Magdalena Jurikova , Tona Stano, in Czech and English ,

29

Pragu e: Torst, 2005. Vaclav Macek, Vasil Stanko, Dagmer Friedlandaerova, Stanislav Friedlaender, Prague 2002; Anna Farova and Jiri Machalicky, Vasil Stanko: Prfbehy pozpatku!Vasil Stanko: Stories in Reverse, Prague:

30

Print Design & Production, 2008. Vaclav Macek, Rudo Prekop: Kniha fotografii, Martin: Osveta, 1994.

31

Vacl av Macek , Miro Svolik: One Body, One Soul I Jedno telo jedna dusa, Martin: Osveta, 1992; Miro Svolik,

32

Pavel Baiika, Vzpominky a predstavy I Recollections and Imaginations, texts by Pavel Banka and Tomas Vlcek,

Cesta do stredu I The Way to the Centre, Bratislava and Prague: Fotofo and Argo, 2005.

NOTES

Vladimir Birgus, Reinhold MiBelbeck , and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Tschechoslowakische Fotografie der Gegenwart, Cologne and Heidelberg: Museum Ludwig and Edition Braus , 1990; Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotografie v ceskych zemich a na Slovensku 1945-1989', pt 4, Revue Fotografie, 1990, no. 4, pp. 60-65; idem , 'Geska a slovenska fotografie osmdesatych let ', in Ceska a slovenska fotografie dnes, 1991; Helena Rislinkova, Lucia Lendelova, and Tomas Pospech , Ceska a slovenska fotografie osmdesatych a devadesatych let 20. stoleti, Olomouc: Muzeum umeni, 2002; Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie 1970-1989',

in Rostislav Svacha and Marie Platovska, Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. VI, pt 2, Prague: Academia, 2007, pp. 753-87; Antonfn Dufek, Treti strana zdi: Ceska a slovenska fotografie 1969-1989 ze sbirek Moravske galerie v Brne, Brno: Moravska galerie, 2008; Jiri Patek, Prijemne zavislosti: lnscenovana fotografie 70. let I Sweet Fixations: Staged Photography of the 1970s, Brno: Moravska galerie, 2009 ; Dusan Simanek (ed .), Mimo z6nu: Fotografie z let 1970-1989. I Outside. Photographs from the Years 1970-1989, Prague: Galerie Langhans, 2009.

2

Jaroslav Andel, 'Jan Svoboda', Revue Fotografie, 1975, no. 3, p. 74.

3

Petr Balajka, Jan Svoboda, Prague: Odeon, 1991 ; Anton in Dufek, Jan Svoboda, fotografie I Jan Svoboda: Photographs, Brno:

4

Petr Helbich, Chvaly: Uvahy o fotografii, with articles by Zdenek Kirschner and Jiri Klucka, Frenstat pod Radhostem

F. I. K. Publishing, Prague, 1991; Pavel Banka: Vsechno a nic, text Martina Pachmanova, Karlovy Vary: Galerie umeni, 1998. 33

Ivan Pinkava: Dynastie, intro, by Josef Kroutvor, in Czech, English, German, and French , Prague: Erm , 1993;

34

Michal Macku , Vize Gin Sen Smrt!Vision Deed Dream Death, Brno: Galerie Brno, 2005.

35

Jiri Simacek, Bratrstvo, Brno: Moravska galerie, 1996.

Ivan Pinkava: Heroes, intro. by Martin C. Putna, in Czech and English , Prague: KANT, 2004.

36

Vladimir Kozlik, Slova nestaci, Prague: KANT, 2008.

37

Vladim ir Zidlicky, Zidlicky: 1970-2007, with articles by Paul Bogaers et al. , Brno: David Zidlicky, 2008.

38

Vaclav Macek, Peter Zupnik, Martin: Osveta,1993.

Moravska galerie v Brne, 1994. and Prague: Muzejni a vlastivedna spolecnost and Geske centrum fotografie; Jiri Jaskmanicky (ed .), Petr Helbich: Fotografie, Prague: Greisen and Geske centrum fotografie , 2008. 5

Jan Reich , Praha, intro. Bohumil Hrabal , Prague: Petit and Public History, 1993; idem , Jan Reich, intro. Pavel Bilek, Geske Budejovice: Foto Mida, [1996] ; Jana Reichova (ed .), Jan Reich: Bohemia , intro, in Czech and French , Jan Rubes, Prague: Galerie Novy Svet, 2005.

6

Josef Ptacek, Zeme krasna , Prague: Knizni klub, 2009.

7

Jan Kriz, Karel Kuklik, Prague: Kuklik and Geske muzeum vytvarneho umeni, 1997.

8

Jan Smok, 'Svetelne kompozice Jaroslava Rajzfka', Revue Fotografie, 1990, no. 4, pp. 34-44.

9

260 I

Vera Smokova , 'Ctitel sklenene krasy ', Revue Fotografie, 1985, no. 2, pp. 52-59.

10

Jan Smok, 'Mechanicka zatisi', Revue Fotografie, 1984, no. 1, pp. 48-51.

11

Anna Farova and Lenka Lindaurova, Dusan Simanek, in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2006.

12

Antonfn Dufek, Helena Rislinkova, and Ladislav Danek, Iva Precek, in Czech and English, Prague: Torst, 2004.

13

Antonin Dufek, 'Obraz skutecnosti Miroslava Machotky', Revue Fotografie, 1985, no. 4, pp. 72-77.

14

Pavel Vancat, 'Marie Kratochvilova. Subjektivni sociologie', in 62. Bulletin Moravske galerie v Brne, 2006, pp. 179-86.

15

Antonfn Dufek, 'Nova citlivost Stepana Grygara', Revue Fotografie, 1984, no. 3, pp. 16-23.

J

261

Jan Svoboda Table No. XX 1971 Moravian Gallery in Brno

Jin Svoboda Space for a Pink Picture 1972 Moravian Gallery in Brno

262

Jan Reich From the City series

1979 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jan Reich From the City series

1979 Museum of Decorative Arts in Pragu e

Petr Helbich From the Bulovka series

1970-72 Private collection

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Dusan Simanek From the Silence series

1977-79 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jan Sagi From the 1984 set

1984 Courtesy of the photographer

Dusan Simanek From the Silence series

1977-79 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Stanislav Tuma Still Life for Iba

1984 Private collection , Prague

Jaroslav Rajzfk Geometric Study of Light

1971 Private collection , Prague

Miroslav Vojtichovsky Untitled 1976 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

268 1

1269

Miroslav Machotka

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Stepan Grygar Prague 1981 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Jaroslav Benes Untitled 1982 Courtesy of the photographer

270 [

f

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PetrZhoi' Photograph No. 8010 1983 Tinted photograph Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Frantisek Marsalek Comics 1972 Private collection, Prague

Rostislav Kostal Evening Sonnet I 1973 Courtesy of the photographer

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1273

Jan Saudek Wafkman

1984 Hand-co loured photograph Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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JanSaudek Desire No. 164

1985 Hand-coloured photograph Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Michal Pacina, Rudo Prekop, and Tono Stano Picture Consequences

1985-86 Courtesy of the photographers

TonoStano Who 's That?

1984 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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I

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Rudo Prekop The Sea

1986 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

.

.

I •.

,,..A.,,

Vasil Stanko Watch Out, We 're Mad

1989 Pri vate co llection, Prague

Jindi'ich Pi'ibik Teacher and Pupil

1969 courtesy of the photographer

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1279

PavelBanka Little Ladder, from the Touching series

1986 Courtesy of the photographer

MiroSvolik My Wife, from the series My Life as a Man

1986 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

PavelBanka Vertical Construction

1985 Collection of Miroslav Lekes, Brno

MiroSvolik On June 21st, I Crowned Myself Emp eror, from the series My Life as a Man

1986 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Pavel Jasansky From the Body series 1985 Mixed med ia, photograph, plywood , acrylics Courtesy of the photographer

Vladimir Zidlicky

/

You and I

1982 Moravian Gallery in Brno

/

/

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1283

Jan Hudecek Self-portrait for the Year 1988

1988 Private collection , Prague

Ales Kunei

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Ales Kunei

Campaign

Vegetarian Balance

1989

1990

Courtesy of the photographer

Courtesy of the photographer

I 285

1989-2000

Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, since Late 1989

TH E DRAMATIC EVENTS OF 1989, starting for Czechs with the brutal breaking-up of protest demonstrations during 'Palach Week' in January, then the mass exodus of tens of thousands of East Germans to West Germany by way of Prag ue from late summer to early November, and finally the 'Velvet Revolution ', beginning in mid-November, were documented by many photographers, including Lubomfr Kotek, Radek Bajgar, Karel Cudlfn, Old'fich Skacha, Radovan Bocek, Pavel Stecha, Jaroslav Krejcf, Tomas Stanzel, Josef Ptacek, Jan Sibik, Herbert Slavik, Jaroslav Kucera, Ji'fi Vsetecka, Jan Silpoch , Roman Sejkot, David Neff, Pavel Jasansky, Josef Hnik, Petr Rosicky, and Tomki Nemec. Particularly during the initial demonstrations in November, especially when people in towns outside Prague were getting only incomplete and often distorted news from the state-run mass media, photography again played the important role of providing basic visual information, which it had previously played, before the great development of television in the 1950s and 1960s. Students in the Department of Photography at FAMU - including Pavel Nadvornik, Petr Lukas, Gabina Farova, and Radovan Bocek, together founded the Radost agency. It printed and distributed throughout the country and abroad thousands of photographs of the dramatic events in Prague, as well as publishing the short-lived Mesfcnfk obrazove vlny POST (Post: The Picture Wave Monthly) and supporting the establishment of a Museum of Photography. As early as 5 December 1989 exhibitions of photographs of the November events, called 'Czechoslovak November 1989', opened in the Prague galleries anes (curated by Anna Farova), Fama (curated by Vladimir Birgus with Radovan Bocek), and the Gallery of the Associallon of Czech Photographers (under the auspices of Jan Smok), and were visited by tens of thousands of people. They ere held again the next year in a number of places in Czechoslovakia and abroad. Czech photography finally once again had a large, internationally attractive topic, which, for a short while, drew the attention of the whole world . Antonrn Kratochvrl Suspicion, Hungary 1992 Courtesy of the photographer

The radical changes in the Czechoslovak political system and society after the return of democracy had a striing impact also on Czech photography and its platforms.1 The long period of direct and indirect censorship ended. Czechoslovakia was now wide open to the outside world . Barriers that had prevented intensive exchanges of informa·on were quickly removed . Czech and Slovak photographers could now enjoy a period of freedom the likes of which , with the exception of the period between the end of the Second World War in May 1945 and the Communist takeover o February 1948, they had not experienced for more than fifty years. Works that had not been published by the Communist-controlled publishing houses and mass media were now included in Czech photography for the first time, or • ere returned to it. They included photos by many emigres, for example, among the photojournalists and documentary photographers, the works of Josef Koudelka (known at least from foreign books and periodicals after 1969, though most were unavailable from sanctioned sources in Czechoslovakia), Jan Lukas, Antonin Kratochvil , Vojta Dukat, Bob Krcil, Jifi Jiru, Ivan Kyncl , Ladislav Drezdowicz, Libuse Taylorova (known abroad as Liba Taylor) , Helena Wilsonova (nee Pospisilova) , Milan Horacek, Pavel Sticha, and also the documentary works of Tom Drahos, Jindrich Pribik, Jaroslav Poncar, Ji'fi Erml , Josef Snobl, Vladimir Spacek, and Ivan Nemec.2 The pressure of omnipotent ideology was in many cases superseded by a no less powerful pressure of economics. This new pressure led to the closing down of the Revue Fotografie and some photography galleries, including the oldest in Europe, the Fotochema gallery, Prague,

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Lubomrr Kotek Demonstration to Mark the 20th Anniversary of Jan Palach 's Self-immolation Prague, January 1989 Courtesy of the photographer

Opera and Fiducia galleries, Ostrava. In the 1990s the Prague House of Photography was very active, organizing a number of important exhibitions of old and new photography from all over the world and publishing a number of high-quality cataLogues. In the next decade, however, its activities petered out considerably as a result of having to move several times, disputes amongst its members, and complicated relations with the founders. It remains uncertain, however, when its large new exhibition spaces will open . Much of the research on the history of nineteenth and twentieth-century Czech photography, and its popularization, was done in the 1990s by Pavel Scheufler in particular, while Antonin Dufek, Anna Farova, Vladimir Birgus, Jan Mlcoch, Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Jaroslav Andel, Ales Kunes, Josef Moucha, Karel Srp, Zdenek Kirschner, Jana Vranova, Josef Kroutvor, Petr Nedoma, Blanka Chocholova, Tomas Fassati, Daniela Mrazkova, Vladimir Remes, and Martina Pachmanova, put together a number of exhibitions, books, and catalogues from the field of twentiethcentury Czech photography. They were joined in the following decade, for example, by Tomas Pospech, Lucia LendelovaFiserova, Helena Musilova, Jirf Patek, Evzen Sobek, Pavel Vancat, and Jan Freiberg. Photographs of course also appeared at many art exhibitions, whose curators were not specialists in this medium. After Jaroslav Rajzik, Miroslav Vojtechovsky became the head of the Department of Photography at FAMU, Prag ue, in 1990. Several other post-secondary institutions were established in the country with specialized courses in photography, for example, the Institute of Creative Photography at Silesian University, Opava (1990), which, under Vlad imir Birgus, was transformed from the Institute of Art Photography of the Association of Czech Photographers into the largest Czech photography school (with many foreign students). Other similar institutions include the Photography

founded in 1957, as well as the dissolution of many clubs of amateur photographers. Photographers , who as a rule had

Studio at Jan Evangelista Purkyne University in Ustf nad Labem , founded by Pavel Banka in 1994, the Photography

no experience of the free market, soon found themselves in the midst of a highly competitive milieu brought by interna-

Stud io of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, established a year later by Pavel Stecha, and the

tional advertising and picture agencies and by foreign ownership of most of the mass media. At first, when the post-Communist countries of Europe were briefly the centre of attention of the rest of the world ,

Stud io of Advertising Photography at Tomas Bat'a University, Zlfn, in 1997 where Pavel Dias has taught from the beginning and Jaroslav Prokop is now in charge.

it seemed that Czech and Slovak photography would be fully incorporated into the context of world photography. Right

There was a marked improvement in the level of Czech photojournalism. Traditional photography was gradually

away, in 1990, exhibitions of Czechoslovak photography were held in many prestigious places , including the Museum

superseded by the far quicker digital technology. Complicated ways of sending photos from remote locations were sub-

Ludwig, Cologne, the Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne, and the photography festivals in Aries and Houston. 3 There was even

stituted for by the World Wide Web. After the daily newspapers switched from black-and-white to colour printing, colour

a special festival of Czech photography organized in Tours. It soon became clear, however, that it would not be so easy for

photographs began to dominate. Owners of large print media with high overhead gradually became international publish-

Czech and Slovak photography to be shown at the leading festivals and in the most prestigious galleries, because funding was lacking for large exhibition projects and there was a shortage of knowledgeable curators and institutions. Moreover, the art world's interest soon turned from central Europe to Japan, China, and Latin America. Nevertheless, thanks to large projects like the exhibitions of Czech Modern Art in Valencia and Dijon, the exhibition 'Czechoslovak Photography Today', held in eight European and two American cities, the exhibition 'Vision de l'homme' at the Chateau d'Eau, Toulouse, and 'What's New: Prague' at the Art Institute of Chicago, 'Czech Photography of the 1990s', held in almost twenty cities in Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Lithuania, Greece, the USA, and Slovakia, the travelling exhibition 'Modern Beauty: Czech Photographic Avant-Garde, 1918-1948', held in Barcelona, Paris, Lausanne, Prague, and Munich, and, thanks also to a number of solo exhibitions of contemporary photographers, it gradually became clear on the international scene too that Czech photography has many other original photographers in addition to Drtikol, Sudek, Saudek, and Koudelka. This was largely thanks to well-printed photography books and catalogues in Czech and English, chiefly from Karel Kerlicky's KANT and Viktor Stoilov's Torst publishing houses. Many of these publications managed to find international distributors. There was a further rise in the social standing of photography and a market for photographs was gradually established. Auctions of photographs began to be held in Prague in 1990 and works by Czech photographers increasingly appeared also at large auction houses abroad. Usually, however, they included works of a few classics of Czech photography. Nevertheless, Czech photography in this area holds a far more important place than, say, the photography of Poland or Slovakia. Most of the museums and galleries, however, lacked the funds to acquire additional photographs, so their collections were expanded mainly with gifts. The National Gallery in Prague, however, as one of the few similar institutions in Europe and the USA, has yet to establish its own collection of photographs, and only sporadically holds photographic exhibitions. The official break-up of Czechoslovakia in January 1993 not only led to Czech and Slovak photography gradually growing apart from each other, but also decreased the market for professional photography books and periodicals. Consequently, most non-commercial photography books today cannot be published without grants and sponsors. New photography galleries were opened, for example the Leica Gallery Prague, at Prague Castle, the Langhans Gallery Prague , and the

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Jan Silpoch

Jaroslav Krejfr

Narodni tfida, Prague, 17 November 1989 Courtesy of the photographer

Vaclav Havel at Melantrich Publishing House, November 1989 Prague, 1989 Private collection , Prague

I 289

VitSimanek From the Ziikov Republic series 1997

ing corporations that, as a matter of course, supplied their photojournalists with the latest equipment and often also

Courtesy of the photographer

covered their travel costs to places where events of interest to the whole world were taking place. But it also forced them to work much harder than before. It is no surprise, then, that in the new circumstances it was mainly photojournalists of the younger generation, who succeeded. Some had experience of the previous era, but could not fully demonstrate their talents till the arrival of these new conditions. The 'Czech Press Photo' exhibition 4 now annually provides an opportunity to take stock of Czech photojournalism , and repeat showings of the 'World Press Photo' competition from Amsterdam provide an opportunity to compare it with photojournalism from around the world. On the other hand, the great rise in tabloid journalism has also meant a continuous demand for scandalous snapshots of Czech celebrities and pseudocelebrities and also the rise of the Czech paparazzi , unscrupulously intruding into the privacy of their subjects. The attempt to publish the Prostor (Space) daily newspaper, whose picture editor, Pavel Stecha, provided more print space to a few staff and stringer photojournalists than had been customary in the Czech press, was short lived. One photographer who became a true star among local photojournalists was Jan Sibik. 5 He is successful not only because of the courage he has shown when plunging into the hotspots of conflict and natural disaster, including the wars in Chechnya, Abkhazia, and the former Yugoslavia, the unending fighting in Palestine, the genocide in Rwanda, the massacres in Sierra Leone, and the earthquake in Turkey. His renown also stems from the high quality of his photographs, in which he has shown a talent for capturing the most telling moments, with a strong sense of composition and colour or contrasts of light and shade. In many of his photos the horrors of the photographed situations are interwoven with the beauty of the

been focu sed on large series that he made mainly for himself. In his sets about the withdrawal of Soviet troops, about

photo itself. The weekly Reflex, one of the few Czech periodicals today to stress photojournalism , has provided Sibik with an

refug ees in Czech refugee camps, and in diverse views of everyday life of ordinary people in the Ukraine and in Israel

extraordinary base to work from. (Other periodicals that consider photographs an important part of their content are Respekt,

he was able to link specific topics with universalizing pictures of ethical values and traditional ways of life, demonstrating

lnstinkt, and Tyden, as well as some supplements to Hospodarske noviny, Mlada fronta Ones, and Lidove noviny) . Reflex

that he is one of the distinctive figures of Czech photojournalism and documentary photography, able to develop the

also helps Sibik to organize humanitarian operations, for example aid to child victims of the massacres in Sierra Leone. A few

humanist style of photography in a contemporary way. The photojournalism career of Roman Sejkot was developing

talented photojournalists have also appeared in Mlada fronta Ones and Lidove noviny, such as David Neff, Michal Ruzicka,

with promise. For his series about handicapped athletes he received a prize in the World Press Photo contest. But he

Michal Novotny, Dan Materna, Jan Schejbal, and Jan Zatorsky. A number of prizes in the Czech Press Photo competition

abandoned photojournalism , and turned to highly stylized staged photos of nudes and body fragments . The Czech-born

have been won by the Czech photojournalist of the Reuters news service, Petr Josek. Czech sports photographers, for ex-

American photographer and co-founder of the VII Photo Agency, Antonin Kratochvil (who regained his Czech citizen-

ample, Jiri Kolis, Herbert Slavik, Jiri Pekarek, and Vladimir David, have also maintained high standards in their work.

ship in 2000), has achieved world renown. 7 With expressive, unusually composed photos of wars , genocides, and social

Karel Cudlin 6 in the 1990s worked alternately for Prostor, Lidove noviny, and the short-lived Ceska tiskova

disasters, he has become one of the most influential practitioners of the new trends in contemporary photojournalism.

agentura (Czech Press Agency) . He photographed fo r Prague Castle (and like his colleagues Tomki Nemec, Jiri Jiru,

His dramatic black-and-white photos accentuate his personal view, focusing less on the actual fighting than on the lives

Bohdan Holomicek, and others, he was employed for some time as a personal photographer of President Havel), and

of ordinary people, which have been radically changed by war or religious or ethnic conflict. Nonetheless, even in the 1990s, Czech photojournalism remained in the shadow of documentary photography.

made many high-quality photo reports and essays on commission . Mainly, however, Cudlfn's attention has continually

After a twenty-year gap, Josef Koudelka could again photograph in his native Czechoslovakia. In the Black Triangle series of panoramic photos of the devastated countryside of north Bohemia,8 places where Josef Sudek had photographed with his panoramic camera in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Koudelka showed the remarkable symbiosis of beauty and horror, and compiled an indictment of human irresponsibility. Also in the 1900s, Koudelka made other documentary photos, for example from the Ukraine, but they were published only in periodicals. Similarly, most of his other series from the 1990s comprise sociologically eloquent, aesthetically impressive panoramic photographs of rural and urban areas. A selection of them was published in the book Chaos (1999), 9 an emotionally powerful look at places geographically remote from each other (Beirut, Berlin, Vukovar, and the Most region in Bohemia}, devastated by war or human apathy or both. Koudelka's panoramas have not always met only with enthusiasm, however. In her surprisingly harsh review in Atelier in 2003, Anna Farova, for example, writes: 'By repeating his models the panoramas come close to being cliches. As if a machine were at work here, without challenging us.' 10 Nonetheless, Koudelka, because of his world-renowned photographs, personal integrity, and ethical stance, has achieved a truly unique place on the Czech photography scene. This was also demonstrated in 2009 by his clear victory in an opinion poll organized by Reflex magazine, asking photography experts to name the most important figure in Czech photography of the last twenty years. 11 Second place in the poll was awarded to Jindrich Streit.12 His situation fundamentally changed after late 1989, when he

ent from working on a state-owned collective farm to being a teacher at a university. He photographed villages and

Marian Benes

Roman Sejkot

o er topics, not only in the area of Sovinec, north Moravia, as he had done in the 1970s and 1980s, but also in various

From the Sarasota Boxing Club series 1998 Courtesy of the photographer

From the Sportsman series 1992 Courtesy of the photographer

countries around the world. In his distinctive style, typical of which is personal knowledge of the people in front of the

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camera, empathy, respect, and the search for deeper values, as well as a sense of the absurd, slapstick, and the symbolism

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lbra lbrahimovic From the Libkovice series 1993 Courtesy of the photographer

in prison s and monasteries. Apart from his photographs of topless waitresses and prostitutes at Central Station , Prague, Jaroslav Kucera 16 made a large set of photos called 'The Sudetenland ', focusing on the erosion of the natural environ ment and the lack of roots of many of the post-war inhabitants of this once ethnically German region . With great candour he managed in these once picturesque towns and villages, now plundered and ravaged , to photograph prostitutes in nightclubs and on international motorways, garden dwarfs and kitschy souvenirs for sale, but also sparks of hope, for example, young men who went to the area to restore dilapidated churches. Like Karel Cudlfn and Jan Jindra, Dana Kyndrova17 also documented the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia. She made another series in refugee camps , and has photographed traditional ways of life in the former Subcarpathian Ruthenia and also in Ukrainian and Russian monasteries. Most of her attention, however, has been devoted to the current status of women . Two large group projects on photography, 'The People of the Hlucin Region in the 1990s' and 'The Town and People of Zlin', were organized by the Institute of Creative Photography at Silesian University, Opava. Of the works of the few dozen students who took part, those of Tomas Pospech and Evzen Sobek stand out. Both men have become distinctive figures in modern Czech documentary photography. Pospech is, in addition, one of the most active and talented Czech photography curators and writers. A distinctive place was held by the project 'Czech Turns of the Centu ry',18 by Jaroslav Barta, Zdenek Helfert, Daniela Hornfckova, and Ivan Lutterer. It entailed documenting the same places in the Czech Republic as those that appear in a hundred-year-old set of photographs, while ensuring that the

of situations, Streit has made many large series about the lives of villagers, miners, monks, prisoners, the physically and

locations and times of day and year were as close as possible to those in the earlier photos. Members of the Signum

mentally handicapped, and drug addicts. They include Croix Rouge - Reims (1991), Fourteen Views of the Saint-Quentin

group - Jaroslav Kucera, Josef Ptacek, Dana Kyndrova, and others - documented the dismal state of Jewish cemeteries.

District (1992), The Women's Prison in Pardubice (1992), Farm (1992-93) , Benedictines (1993), People of the Olomouc

Through the non-governmental Geske foto association, the Swiss foundation Pro Helvetia provided funding for a project

Region (1993-94) , The Mikulov Region (1994) , An English Village (1993), People of Wertingen (1994), People of Akagi,

o eleven photographers. The results , mainly traditional black-and-white photos largely ignoring' contemporary creative

Japan (1995), The Road to Freedom (1996-99), At the End of the World - Siberia and Buryatia (1997) , People of the Alsace

trends, were shown in an exhibition called '1999 : Photographs of Czech Society', held at the Burgrave's House, Prague

Potash Basin (1998), and People of the Tfinec Steelworks (2000). He has published more documentary photography publi-

Castle, and accompanied by a catalogue of the same name.

cations than anyone else in this country. To be sure, such a large body of work is bound to contain photos that lack the

An opposite pole to socially and sociologically oriented photos was formed by various trends in subjective docu-

emotional effect, philosophical depth, or ethical and sociological eloquence of his best works from villages of the Bruntal

mentary photography. In the 1990s this kind of work gained a stronger position than in the previous decade. These docu-

area. Nonetheless, Streit made many other powerful works in the 1990s which confirm his important position in Czech

mentary photographers were less concerned with specific topics in the life of a certain social group than with depicting

documentary photography. With unflagging energy he continued to organize dozens of exhibitions, and has also been teach-

general themes in pictorially effective terms, through the lens of personal experience and personal opinion. In his univer-

ing at the Institute of Creative Photography at Silesian University, Opava, since 1991 (and previously also at FAMU, Prague),

salizing photographs of Ostrava, Viktor Kolar continued to raise unsettling questions about life's values, but, instead of the

where, with his work and personality, he has been a great influence on a number of students.

ubiquitous ideology evident in his previous work, these later photos contain the equally prevalent negative expressions of

Streit's belief in the important social role of classic humanist photography was shared by many other photo-

globalization and consumerism.19 The publication Maia Strana (the Lesser Town),20 lacking a clearer conception , only

graphers. They worked on various series with clearly defined topics, often about a particular way of life of a minority

confirmed that Kolar is most sure of himself in the industrial milieu of his native Ostrava, which he knows inside out and

group. In his book Libkovice: Zda'f Buh, lbra lbrahimovic showed the last months of a village mindlessly destroyed to

manages best to depict typical expressions of its rapidly changing way of life after 1989. Bohdan Holomfcek became

make way for coal mining that in the end was never carried out. 13 Alena Dvorakova and Viktor Fischer together photographed the work of Christian missionaries in the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan , Argentina, Chile , and South Africa. The photographs were published in the powerful book Mission 14 about altruism, the need for faith, and the increasingly globalized world in which, despite all their differences, people everywhere have similar social and emotional problems. Their black-and-white photographs gradually grew more distant from conventional conceptions and moved to a more distinctively personal view with the frequently expressive use of motion blur, graininess, and unusual composition . A similar development was shown by Daniel Sperl ,15 who has on the one hand surveyed the lives of handicapped people and on the other made universalizing photos, at home and abroad, with great potential for diverse interpretations. A strong humanist accent is also visible in many of the photographs by Dana Kyndrova, Vaclav Podesta!, Jarmila Simanova, among others, who, as part of various projects, have shown the problems of integrating physically or men-

Jaroslav Barta, Zdenek Helfert, Daniela Hornrckova, and Ivan Lutterer Pfikopy, Prague From the Czech Turns of the Century, 1898-1998 series Courtesy of the photographers

tally handicapped people into society at large. Pavel Dias and also Maria Kracfkova have documented the efforts of some members of the Jewish Community to preserve and renew old traditions . Village life has been photographed not only by Jindrich Streit, but also by Marie Zachovalova and Libuse Rudinska. Marian Benes made an expressive series about young members of the Sarasota Boxing Club, Florida. Among the popular subjects are the Roma of Slovakia and ghettos of north Bohemian towns (photographed, for instance, by Karel Tuma, Vft Simanek, and Milan Jaros). Many photographers (for example, Iva Zimova and Miroslav Myska) also travelled to the Romanian Banat to make romantic documentary photos of the rural way of life of the small Czech community there. And many photographs were also made

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a professional photographer in 1994, and from time to time also received commissions from President Vaclav Havel, his

10

old friend , but also continued to make his typical 'personal documentary photos'. 21 Stunning modern photographs from

11

'Osobnost Reflexu XX (1989-2009) v oblasti fotografie', Reflex, 2009, no. 18.

central and eastern Europe were presented by Antonin Kratochvil in Broken Dream, which is among his best works and

12

Jindrich Streit, 14 pohledu na okres Saint Quentin, text Michel de Guevel , Prague: Agentura EZA, 1993; Lide olomouckeho okresu, Olomouc: Okresni urad , 1995; idem , Mikulovsko, Mikulov: Regionalni muzeum, 1995; idem , Brana nadeje I The Gate of

among the best photography books about the period of totalitarianism and the end of the Communist regimes in Poland,

Hope I La porte de l'espoir I Tor der Hoffnung, Olomouc: Arcibiskupstvi olomoucke, 2000; idem, Cesta ke svobode I The Road

Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Albania, and other countries .22 Vaclav Podestat expanded his People series with

Towards Freedom I Weg zur Freiheit, Prague: Galerie NO D, 2000; Tomas Pospech and Lad islav Danek (eds), Jindrich Streit,

other unusually composed photos of the subtly melancholic themes of lonely people in the midst of the crowd and the feeling of the not fitting in. At first sight, his photographs often seem like carefully arranged film stills, but are in fact haunt-

Anna Farova, 'Manipulator skutecnosti', Atelier, 2003, no. 2, p. 7.

text Anto nin Dufek and Jindrich Streit, Prague: KANT, 2007. 13

lbra lbrahimovic, Libkovice: Zdaf Buh, text Susan Gockeler and Hester Reeve, afterword Erazim Kohak, Prague: Divus, 1997.

24

14

Alena Dvorakova and Viktor Fischer, Missions I Misie I Misiones, text Vitezslav Vurst, Prague: KANT, 2004.

and works by Jaroslav Pulicar,25 Tomas Pospech, 26 Vlado Bohdan, Michal Bartos, Petr Simr, Anton in Brany, and Hana

15

Daniel Sperl, ...bez hranic I Borderless, text Pavel Scheufler, Prague: Obcanske sdruzeni Dagda, 2001 ; idem , Vsedni slavnosti I Everyday Celebrations, text Milos Vojtechovsky, Prague: KANT, 2003.

ingly authentic snapshots of reality.

23

The pictorially refined photographs by Evzen Sobek from his Ecce Homo series

Jakrlova,27 among others , make a similar impression, revealing ambiguous symbols and mystery in ordinary, unstaged reality. Because of continuous repetition, however, many of the subjects and approaches to composition in subjective

6 17

documentary photography began to become tiresome. Mainly in the works of some younger photographers who took

Jaroslav Kucera, Lide, ktere jsem potkal I People I Have Met, text Daniela Mrazkova, Prague: KANT, 2002. Dana Ky ndrova, Per musicam aequo, Prague: Nadace Per musicam aequo, 1998; idem, Zena mezi vdechnutim a vydechnutim I Woman between Inhaling and Exhaling, text Jaroslav Bocek, Prague: KANT, 2000; idem , Odchod sovetskych

only its form, not bothering to attempt any deeper interpretation of the surrounding world, this approach led to superficial

vojsk I Vyvod sovetskich vojsk I Departure of Soviet Troops 1990-1991, texts Pavel Halik, Michael Kocab, and Jindrich Pecka,

stereotypes. An increasing number of photographers on the other hand began to make self-reflexive photos more or less

Prague: KANT, 2003.

like diaries. Among them are Vojtech V. Slama, 28 who made lyrical, subtly nostalgic photographs on black-and-white

18

Obraz promeny ceskych zemi v odstupu stoleti, Lomnice nad Popelkou: Studio JB, 1999.

medium-format film , thus intentionally accentuating their retro style, the more conceptually oriented Josef Moucha, and

9

Josef Snobl, who often artistically stylized part of his photographic diary. The 1990s were also the time of the increasingly inventive use of colour in documentary photography. Apart from Jan Sagl,29 oriented to landscape and documentary photography of urban environments or the juxtaposition of people and

Jaroslav Barta, Zdenek Helfert, Daniela Hornickova, and Ivan Lutterer, Letem ceskym svetem 1898-1998: Viktor Ko lar, Ostrava-oblezene mesto, texts Richard Svoboda, Peter Zajac, and Jaroslav Zila, in Czech , partly in Slovak, English, French , and German , Ostrava: Sfinga, 1995.

20 21

Viktor Kolar, Maia Strana, Prague: Kocher & Kocher, 1994. Antonin Dufek, Bohdan Holomicek, in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2000.

works of art in the milieu of galleries, and Vladimir Birgus, 30 who has devoted himself to subjective documentary photogra-

22

Antonin Kratochvil , Broken Dream, New York: Monacelli Press, 1997.

phy in colour since the early 1980s while expanding the black-and-white part of his work, this approach was chiefly taken

23

Vaclav Podesta!, Lide I People, text Vladimir Birgus, Opava: Slezska univerzita, 2004.

by young photographers. Jirf Krenek,31 in his expressive photos taken with a considerable dose of sarcasm and the inventive use of the stylizing possibilities of loud colours in supermarkets, shows the growing consumerism and the wiping out

24

Evzen Sobek, Ecce homo, text Vladimir Birgus, in Czech and English , Brno: Evzen Sobek, 2001 .

25

Jaroslav Pulicar, Fotografie, text Antonin Dufek, Brno: Kovalam . 1998.

26

Tomas Pospech , Ohraniceni: Momentky z Hranic z let 1996-2002, text Lucia Lendelova , Hran ice : Dost, 2002.

of nationally and regionally specific features. More naturalistic colours were used by Tomas Trestik in a series from various

27

Hana Jakrlova, Evropa v mezicase I In the Meantime: Europe, Prague: KANT, 2006.

Prague clubs, showing the hedonistic way of life of many young people today. Colour plays an important role also in

28

Vojtech V. Slama, Vojta Slama: Vlei med I Wolf's Honey, text Lucia Lendelova, Brno: Galerie Brno, [2004] .

nestik's distinctive shots of often highly intimate moments, as well as in the self-reflexive, emotional photos by Hynek Alt,

29

Magdalena Jurikova, Jan Sagi, text in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2009.

Milan Jaros, and Lukas Zentel. After 2000, the unusual use of colour became one of the dominant features of various trends

30

Vladimir Birgus, Cosi nevyslovitelneho I Something Unspeakable, text Tomas Pospech , Prague: KANT, 2004; idem,

3

Vladimir Birgus , Jiff Krenek, text in Czech , English , and French , Prague : KANT, 2004.

in new documentary photography, practised chiefly by the up-and-coming generation of artists. Although documentary photographers in the 1990s no longer held the dominant position they had held in the

Fotografie I Photographs 1981-2004, text Elzbieta tubowicz, Prague: KANT, 2004.

1970s, they still managed to contribute many serious works across a diverse spectrum . Vojtych Shima NOTES

Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Jistoty a hledani v ceske fotografii 90. let I Certainty and Searching in Czech Photography of the 1990s, Prague: Sprava Prazskeho hradu and KANT, 1996; Helena Rislinkova, Lucia Lendelova, and

Waiting for Jirka and Tomas, Cesky Krumlov

1999 Collection of Miroslav Lekes, Brno

Tomas Pospech , Ceska a slovenska fotografie osmdesatych a devadesatych let 20. stoleti I Czech and Slovak Photography of the 1980s and 1990s, Olomouc: Muzeum umeni, 2002; Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie 1989-2000', in Rostislav Svacha and Marie

Platovska (eds) , Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umenivol. VI , pt 2, Prague: Academia, 2007, pp. 981-99. 2

Bob Krcil , Ceska fotografie v exilu, Brno : Host, 1990; Anna Farova (ed .), Ceskoslovenska fotografie v exilu, Prague : Asociace

3

fotografu, Unie vytvarnych umelcu, Cesky fond vytvarnych umeni, and Ministerstvo kultury Geske republiky, 1992. Vladimir Birgus , Reinhold MiBelbeck, and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Tschechoslowakische Fotografie der Gegenwart, Cologne and Heidelberg: Museum Ludwig and Braus, 1990; Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss, Choice: 19 Contemporary Czechoslovak Photographers, Houston, Texas : FotoFest, 1990.

4

Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes (eds), Czech Press Photo: Fotografie desetileti I Photographs of the Decade, Prague:

5

Jan Sibik, Kdyby vsechny slzy sveta, Prague: Prvni nakladatelstvi Knihcentrum , 1998; idem , Dabe/ v nas I The Devil Within Us,

Czech Photo, 2004; idem , Czech Press Photo: 15 let I 15 Years. Prague: Czech Photo, 2009. Foreword by Jirf Rull, Prague: Plejada, 2001; idem, Stories, text Dan Hruby, in Czech and English , Prague: self-published , 2006.

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6

Robert Silverio, Karel Cud/in, text in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2001 .

7

Michael Persson , Antonin Kratochvil, text in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2003 .

8

Josef Koudelka, Cerny trojuhelnik I Black Triangle , Prague: Vesmir, 1994.

9

Josef Koudelka, Chaos, text Robert Delpire, Paris and London: Nathan-HER/Delpire and Phaidon , 1999.

1295

Karel Cudlrn East Germans Climbing Over the Wall of the West German Embassy in Prague

1989 Courtesy of the photographer

Karel Cudlrn East Germans Climbing Over the Wall of the West German Embassy in Prague

1989 Courtesy of the photographer

Radovan Bocek Narodni trida, Prague, 17 November 1989

1989 Courtesy of the photographer

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Daniel Sperl From the ...without Frontiers series

1995-98 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Alena Dvonikova and Viktor Fischer Vlado Bohdan

From the Missions series, Kazakhstan

From Moods series

1998

1998

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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I 299

Anton1n Kratochvil Victory Sign, Albanian Gulag 1991 Courtesy of the photographer

Anton1n Kratochvil Anton1n Kratochvil War Wounded, Bosnia 1992 Courtesy of the photographer

300 1

Scream, Romania 1995 Courtesy of the photographer

[ 301

102 1

Jindi'ich Streit Buryatia, Siberia From the series The Ends of the World

1999 Private collection, Prague

Hana Jakrlova Skopje

2000 Courtesy of the photographer

Viktor Koh!ii' Ostrava-Mosnov

1990 Courtesy of the photographer

1303

EvienSobek From the Ecce Homo series France, 2000 Courtesy of the photographer

Tomi!is Pospech Bolatice, from the exhibition project People of the Hlucin Region in the 1990s 1995 Courtesy of the photographer

Vi!iclav Podesti!it From the People series Berlin, 1995 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

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Jan Sibfk

David Neff

Kiikes (Albania), from the Kosovo Albanians series 1999 Courtesy of the photographer

Romany mother mourning the death of her children, They died during the floods in Jarovnice, east Slovakia . 1998 Courtesy of the photographer

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Tomas Ti'estik

From the Juices series 2000 Courtesy of the photographer

Jii'iKi'enek From the Hypermarkets series

2000 Courtesy of the photographer

Jii'i Krenek From the Hypermarkets series

2000 Courtesy of the photographer

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1309

1989-2000

Photography at the Beginning of a New Era

IN THE 1990S, Czech photography underwent a striking transformation .1 After the many years of political and cultural isolation , impetuses from abroad began to play an increasingly important role and photography in Czechoslovakia, and then the Czech Republic, became increasingly international in character. The country opened up completely, many photograph ers established intensive contacts with individuals and institutions abroad, while foreign books, periodicals, and the Web provided up -to-date information on the latest trends in the visual arts. Czech photography was presented a far more exhibitions abroad than in the previous decades.2 On the other hand, after Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, there was a reduction in contacts between Czech and Slovak photographers. The you ngest Slovak photographers were given opportunities to study photography at several Slovak institutions of igher learni ng and fewer sought to study at FAMU (Prague). With the arrival of digital technology both the aesthetics and the actu al technology of making and presenting work changed . The era of monumental print formats arrived, in • hich costly mounting was used and other efforts were made to present works as effectively as possible. This naturally also provoked counter-reactions in attempts to negate the perfection of the technical aspects. The photographic image in he digital era once and for all lost the au ra of authenticity and dependence on depicted reality, which had in fact already often been largely overcome. Photographers began in fundamental ways to change depicted reality. They lin ed together in compact wholes details of photos made in various times and places, and turned dozens of photographs of co ncrete faces and bodies into non-existing 'average' faces and figures, removing secondary details from the pie ures and ad ding new motifs, considerab ly changing colours, and multiplying individual motifs. Instead of the trad i·onal depiction of the world around them , they made pictures of their own visions, an artificially created worlds, blurring the bound ary between fact and fiction . A number of Czech photographers appeared who began inventively to take advantage of the possibilities of digital technology and manipulation . As in many other countries, photography in the Czech Republic also began to gain a far stronger position in t e context of th e fi ne arts than it had at any time before. In many cases it began , together with video art and various

orms of installation art, even to squeeze out traditional painting at shows of contemporary work and at art schools. Artists who wished to use the new technology were no longer dependent solely on thei r own technical abilities and equipment. They could now hire specialists to do certain kinds of work for them. At the same time, the first patrons and Veronika Bromova!i Views

1996 Olomouc Museu m of Art

supporters of young artists arrived on the scene. Without their funding , certain amb itious art projects would never have een compl eted or even undertaken. The first private galleries and art centres were establ ished in the country, presenting he new media in the broad framework of contemporary visual culture. A generation had come up which no longer respected the traditional separation of the different fields of art, photography, and fi lm. Including new media among their echniques, they began to make their mark. They most often used these techn iques, however, for installations and performance art, sometimes as a supplement to the more traditional techniques of painting, drawing , and sculpture, at o er times as an autonomous and dominant element. They employed both their own photographic works and material

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Michaela Brachtlov,

that had been borrowed from a wide variety of public sources such as popular picture periodicals or pornographic

Untitled 1996 Courtesy of the photographer

magazines. Sometimes they turned to professional photographers, and enriched Czech photography with new ways of seeing, utterly unburdened by tradition . One encounters no unifying aesthetic criteria amongst the artworks from this period. They have often employed various features related to the human body (nakedness, dance), private materials (photographs from family albums - the artist's own or ones they have found) . But photographic works of various conventional genres (the self-portrait, the landscape, and the still life) were also made, but always with shifts in meaning and content. These tendencies fanned out in all directions. For some artists (like Jiff David), the apparent discontinuity of a work and the continuous alternation of techniques and creative methods became characteristic. In autumn 1992 the Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, Prague, was established by George Soros as part of a network of similar centres in countries of the former Soviet bloc. (Since 1999 it has been called the Center for Contemporary Arts Prague.) In addition to art, the Center considerably influenced the development of civil society, and enabled Czechs to remain directly in touch with the international art scene. In the 1990s a number of non-profit, nongovernmental organizations were established in the Czech Republic (for example, the Linhart Foundation, which has been operating since 1990), creating good conditions particularly for the development of the work of young non-con formist artists. International ambitions were also supported by a number of new publishing houses and periodicals (such as Divus and Umelec International) , around which informal art groups began . Photographic works themselves underwent important changes. Although staged photography in the 1990s no longer held as privileged a position as in the previous decade, it was still among the dominant forms of photography on

Full of surprising analogues of form, the playful combinations of fragments of human figures and landscapes are con-

the scene. Among the main practitioners of the new wave of staged photography, Tono Stano gained an even stronger

sequently Svolik's best works from the 1990s. For the up-and-coming generation, which naturally defined itself as

position. 3 He gradually moved from shocking scenes to simpler, more elegant studio nudes and portraits. His fellow-

critical of the previous strong wave of staged photography, few works probably seemed more archaic than Kamil Var-

photographers among the Prague-based Slovaks (now with Czech citizenship) sometimes only watered down their

ga's overly symbolic staged scenes,6 with their multiple naked figures gesturing histrionically. In these works, the pho-

previous works (for example, Vasil Stanko in unending scenes with a number of naked figures in empty interiors). They

tographer has often used multiple exposures and drawings with light, and has too often failed to avoid symbols as

often turned, however, to completely different kinds of photography (for instance, Rudo Prekop began making photo-

hackneyed as the human skull.

graphs of almost Baroquely flamboyant assemblages of discarded objects). 4 With varying degrees of success, Miro 5

Svolik tried to follow on from the international acclaim of his tab/eau-vivant photographs made from a bird's-eye view.

Gabina Farova's ghostly and provocatively erotic figural scenes set in night-time Prague seemed, when they were made, far more contemporary than the others,7 inventively employing a woman 's ironic point of view, while following on from the style of the Decadents. Also for Jan Saudek8 many opportunities to publish at home presented themselves after the collapse of the Communist regime. In the course of the decade, he published a number of books, had many exhibitions abroad, and became a mass-media celebrity. He continued to make his hand-coloured photographs beyond time and space, except that their exaggerated eroticism and bizarreness was intensified. The photographers of the Bratrstvo (Brotherhood) group,9 Vaclav Jirasek, Roman Muselik, Zdenek Sokol, Martin Findeis, and Petr Krejzek, went from paraphrasing Socialist Realism to making mysterious photographs which, in complicated allegorical scenes and theatrical portraits, explore the depths of time, the suprapersonal order, timeless values , and the human soul, returning to the spiritual atmosphere and artistic expression of the late nineteenth century, particularly the works of the Pre-Raphaelites of Great Britain, the Romantics of Germany, and the Symbolists of Belgium, but also going back to the Baroque or earlier, to Botticelli, Durer, the Gothic period, and mythical archetypes of death and destruction. An important role in many Bratrstvo photographs is played by the Moravian countryside. Related to the conscious turning away from the predominant trends of the period is the return to the richness of the tonal scale and the sharp focus of contact prints made from large-format negatives. Of the group's orientation, Vaclav Jirasek later said : 'We went consciously against the aesthetics and ways of working and thinking in that period. We also wanted to create certain canons and to keep to them . This was aimed against the explosion of the ego, which had taken place in the Modern period and in the Postmodern, and is actually eating away at art to this day. That is also why we chose to be anonymous. We wanted to take a stand against all of that. We wanted to relinquish our egos to the benefit of the spirit of things .'10 After the break-up of the group in 1994, it was mainly Jirasek who remained active. His non-commercial works include nudes

Zdenik Lhot,k

Pavel M,ra

Self-portrait, No. 37 1993 Courtesy of the photographer

From the Mechanical Corpuses series 1997

Courtesy of the photographer

and self-nudes, landscapes, and photographs of old industrial architecture. 11 The work of Ivan Pinkava has a number of points in common with Jirasek's photographs. 12 By underscoring existential themes of the meaning of life and death, Pinkava's works constitute the most striking counterpart to the lightness and insouciance of the staged photographs of Tono Stano and also to the attempt by many artists to join in the latest art trends . Pinkava, like Bratrstvo, admits his traditionalism , often searching for sources of inspiration in mythol-

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nically polished sets of three larger-than-life photos in colour and also in black-and-white, depicting the faces and naked bodies of men and women photographed from below, straight on, and from above, while keeping the vertical lines parallel, which raises questions about human identity and individuality and also about the accuracy of our sense of sight.' 5 In the dramatic Mechanical Corpuses (1997), with fragments of bodies illuminated in red light, Mara emphasizes elementary forms and also a certain statuesque quality of the depicted figures. Some models in this stylization seem androgynous, but the photographs are not without erotic charge. On the other hand, the more lyrical Madonnas, showing young women each holding an imaginary child, were shown in the Czech pavilion at Expo 2000, in Hanover, next o replicas of Gothic statutes. In these works , the artist, in the form of negative enlargements in pastel shades has depicted naked young women with downcast eyes and gestures suggesting that they are each holding a child in their arms, but are in fact holding nothing . Fo r other photographers, however, the body was chiefly a symbol or means of self-reflexion. The turn away from confl ict-free works and lightness is also reflected in Michal Macku's 'gellages', which have earned him internaional renown. 16 The technique of peeling away wet emulsions from large-format negatives, and then tearing the picRobert Portel

Robert Silverio

Untitled 1992 Courtesy of the photographer

Little Beast of Prey 1991 Courtesy of the photographer

ture, multiplying the same motifs, or eliminating distracting details, has enabled him to create extraordinari ly exp ressive works on the themes of destruction and violence, the duality of body and soul, and the loss of identity. His

photographs of naked male figures, showing contrasts of humaneness and brutality, mainly follow on from the exisential stream in the fine arts, as represented in the international context mainly by Francis Bacon and in Czech art by Jiri Sozan sky and Jiff Anderle . Macku's photos are, however, also a reaction to various forms of slapstick exaggera ion. After the themes related to the destruction of the human body, scrummages of identical figures on an abstract background began to appear in his photographs, creating visions of throngs of lonely people losing their individuality

ogy, classical antiquity, the Bible, and paintings by Leonardo, Caravaggio, and other old masters. He photographs

in the depersonalized crowd. In other works with figures and their silhouettes, Macku emphasizes the duality of cor-

mostly nude models, and strips them of specific attributes of the times, often giving his works allegorical and symbolic

poreality an d spirituality. In 1994 he made the animated film Proces (The Trial). In his later works the symbolic ele-

titles. Contemporary art, to his mind , is a 'wide, but dreadfully boring, river'. 'Perhaps my approach is an anachronism,'

ments are even stronger.

he says, 'but in that case I am not afraid to be anachronistic. Ultimately, someone always has to be the mirror. I fear

As in the works of Michal Macku, so too in Zdenek Lhotak's works the photographer's own body became a fre-

a society, however, where there's no room for anachronism , a society where everything is only modern, that is to say,

quent theme.17 Lhotak has depicted fragments of the naked figure from such unexpected angles and with such surpris-

monocultural. ' The stylistic dichotomy, the accent on existential content and philosophical depth , and the intermingling

ing crops that they have almost become signs in which the erotic charge has been suppressed to the detriment of

of the rational and the phantastic intensifies the strong uneasiness evoked by these photographs of people in states of

self-refl exi on and complicated symbolism, loosely inspired by yoga and Buddhism . By contrast, Pavel Humhal, who in

13

inner contemplation and being removed from the world around them. In his later photog raphs he no longer employs props, old-fashioned costumes , chiaroscuro, or make-up on the faces of young men, ageing women , and androgynous figures from another era. Instead , he has given a stronger role to faces and bodies, often very remote from the usual ideals of beauty, sometimes also wounded bodies and bodies being wounded. The naked figu res in Pinkava's photographs, alone or together with others, become something like an archetype from the depths of history and the subconscious, like reflections of the artist 's inner self. The superb craftsmanship', notes the art critic Josef Kroutvor, 'is remark-

AlesKunes Campaign Installation on the Most Barikadniku Prague, 1990 Courtesy of the photographer

able. It gives the impression that the artist has gone back to using glass plates. One might even suspect that Pinkava styles himself a member of the golden age of photography.' 14 The body is generally one of the dominant motifs and themes of Czech photography of the 1990s. The collapse of the Communist regime ushered in a very liberal atmosphere with regards to nakedness in photographs, which quickly superseded the previous State-endorsed prudery. Dozens of erotic and pornographic magazines began to be published, although nudes of course also appeared in serious periodicals. Utter confusion reigned in the criteria of assessing erotic photography and the art nude. The works of Jerry Pasternak, who made his mark with hyper-kitschy soft-porn and returned from American exile, have been published both in popular magazines and in specialist periodicals, with words praising them as alleged masterpieces. The mass media has also assigned illusory world fame to others, for example, Adolf Zika, who makes commercial erotic photographs. Despite these extremes, however, many high-quality works were made in this decade. Most of them are not traditionally conceived nudes, though a few photographers have devoted themselves to this genre with successful results, for example, Tono Stano. Apart from making nudes with an accent on striking elementary forms and sensuality, Stano has also often made carefully planned works with light and shade, revealing a connection to Drtikol 's photographs. Pavel Mara, after his intermedia Veils (1989-90), made Triptychs (1991-93), simple but aesthetically and tech-

3 14 j

j

315

VLASTA

Martin Plitz Pilot, from the Vias/a Cover Girls seri es 1955/2000 Courtesy of the photographer

Among the high-quality exceptions are Tona Stano's black-and-white portraits of film stars from all over the worl d, which he has inventively been making at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival since 1997.23 Though he was limited by the requ est that all the photos should be taken in the Grandhotel Pupp or nearby, Stano was able to make witty, visually attractive, and sometimes even slightly shocking arrangements, which underscore the characteristic features of the people in front of the lens. Ji'fi Visek, too, has used striking stylization in his portraits of important people in the arts in Brno. By far most portraitists from the young and middle generations have long given preference to colour photography. Jn his often complicatedly composed portraits of celebrities for the covers of the weekly Reflex David Kraus 24 has made no secret of his admiration for the works of Annie Leibovitz. A more sober conception of the serious portrait, intended chiefly for periodicals, appears, for example, in the works of Herbert Slavik 25 and Filip Habart. One of today's most sought-after portraitists is Jiri Turek ,26 who, apart from his regular work for Magazfn Ones has made colour portraits for Xantypa, Elle, Qua, and music CDs. In his works, portrait, fashion, and advertising photography often mix, as they do,

for exam ple, in the work of Robert Vano (otherwise known mainly for his male nudes),27 Petra Skoupilova, Em il Bratrsovsky,28 Ondrej Pycha, Goran Tacevsky, Ondrej Kavan, Tomas Beran, and Adam Holy. 29 Also Stepanka Stein and Salim lssa30 often move on the boundary between commercial photography and works made strictly for themselves . They have gradually created their own authorial styles with striking co lours and ghostly combinations of bright flash and existi ng light, which help them not only to styl ize reality, but also often to accentuate a subtly ironic distance when photograph ing various consumerist aspects of contemporary life, for instance in their portraits of the proud owners of expensive racing cars in the series Over the Limit (2000). A photojournalistic style was used by Dagmar Hochova, Stanislav Tuma , Pavel Jasansky, Viktor Stoilov, Josef Snobl, Jaroslav Krejci, and Viktor Kronbauer in photographing actors, artists, writers , and musicians. Expressive, dythe set Stars of My Body (1993) focuses on the birth marks and freckles of his own body, has completely suppressed

namic bl ack-and-white portraits of world-famous celebrities (like Jean Reno, William Dafoe, Jessica Lange, and David

the aesthetic side of photography. The performance artist Tomas Ruller, in many of his openly erotic photographs and video installations, also shows his own body.18 In 1993 Veronika Bromova.19 briskly arrived on the art and photography scene with her digitally treated large-

Bowie) were made by Antonin Kratochvil, 31 and published in the books Incognito and Persona. In unusually arranged and composed photographs, in which the sitters are often portrayed in industrial architecture on the West side of

format photographs Girls and Also Girls, using the multiplication of motifs for a witty treatment of gender themes. Her

cars or behind the windows of cafes, Kratochvil has used sharp contrasts of light and shade, motion blur, and coarse

next works, Interviews (1995) and Views (1996) , became fundamental parts of her art. They are unflatteringly detailed

grain to accent a certain rawness and authenticity, creating works far removed from the usual idealizing portraits. More

depictions of the human body into which fragments from anatomy textbooks have been implanted . When they first

han descri ptions of faces, Kratochvil's portraits reveal the photographer's subjective feel ings about the people in front

appeared , many of these photographs were exceptional not only for their unusual dimensions (as large as 300 x 200 cm) , but also for their sexually explicit themes presented with ironic detachment. In the series Beings (1997) she went

of the len s and tend to characterize their inner worlds and personal qualities more than their external appearances. Jffi Hanke32 continued in his Imprints of a Generation and used a similar method of comparative pairs also in the series

even further in inventing unnatural creatures remin iscent of extraterrestrials, and in the multiple depictions of her

Entrepreneurs, showing the owners of small shops and businesses in the town of Kladno. By including the sitters in

niece, which are linked by hands, she has used digital cloning. In her subsequent multimedia installations, On the

actual setti ngs this series stands on the boundary between portraiture and documentary photography, like the large

Edge of the Horizon and Zemzoo, she linked photography, kinetic objects, and video projections. In the installation

seri es Czech People, which was expanded by its photographers Ivan Lutterer, Jan Maly, and Jiri Polacek in the 1990s. 33

Zemzoo, which was also shown at the Venice Biennale, Bromova shows her own body deformed by adhesive-tape

Gabina Farova, just after the Velvet Revolution, made impressive static portraits of inmates of Vaid ice Prison , in which

bandages.

an important role is often played by their tattoos. In subtle, pastel-coloured , nostalgic portraits and snapshots, Jitka

A peculiarly woman's perspective appears also in the works of Michaela Brachtlova. 20 In her photographs, she

316 1

Lower Manhattan, but also in the street or on the embankments of Prague, Paris, and other towns , often also in moving

juxtaposes the body of a male model with her own body and various plant objects, sea creatures, and furs , in which ,

Hanzlova , an internationally successful Czech photographer living in Essen, Germany, has portrayed the inhabitants of e village of Rokytnik, 34 where she spent her childhood. In the series Bewohner (Inhabitant) she also made portraits

like the Surrealists, she accents their symbolic erotic meanings. A striking gender orientation appears in the photo graphic works of the sculptor Lenka Klodova ,21 ironizing pornographic stereotypes. Her distinctive works include mock-

of he inhabitants of a number of towns in their natural settings. In the series Female she portrayed women of various ages, social standing, ethnicitiy and nationality outdoors. 35 Her portraits distinctively unite cool descriptiveness, such

ups of imaginary erotic magazines in which she has humorously exploited phallic and vaginal symbols (for example,

as one sees, for example, in portraits by Thomas Ruff, which are full of emotion. Although with their static quality and

Chimney and Birch, both from 2000). Subtle irony appears also in the sociologically conceived nudes of Irena Armutid-

the sitters staring into the lens they evoke the portraits that August Sander made between the two world wars , Hanzlova

isova.22 and Jolana Havelkova, depicting naked men (and also women in Havelkova's works) of various ages and oc-

objects to comparisons with that classic of German photography: 'I tend to work intuitively, emotionally, and unlike

cupations in their own authentic settings.

Sander I don't put much emphasis on the sitter's social status and occupation . On the contrary. I try not to indicate

In the 1990s interest in portraits grew as well. In comparison with the USA, France, and Great Britain, how-

hem. [.. .] I am concerned not with a social typology, but with a wide variety of figures and the roles given them by fate,

ever, few serious high -quality portraits of eminent figures were made in the Czech Republic. It is significant that here Jadran Setlik became the commercially most successful photographer in this field with his kitschy idealizing portraits

closely linked to the times and places in which we live, helping to shape us, and I'm also concerned with time, which leaves its mark on us every day.' 36

in gilded frames, popular amongst Czech film and recording stars, politicians (regardless of political party), and many

Pavel Hecko expanded his set of highly original comparative portraits on the theme of time passing. 37 In the series

of the new rich. (Setlik later built up a similar clientele in Russia.) The tabloid press bestowed false auras of world fame

Inverse Portraits, he explores the accuracy of perception and cognition, by making illusory pairs of photos that at first sight

upon other flattering portraitists (like Jakub Ludvik) , but they continue to be complete unknowns internationally.

seem to be almost identical, but are in fact carefully arranged mirror images of each other. Jolana Havelkova's series

1317

Aleksandra Vajd Zone

1996-2000 Courtesy of the photographer

Hynek Alt From the Blue series

1998 Courtesy of the photographer

Temporary Meetings3 8 comprises her own stylized portraits of her friends and also well-known figures, many of whom she

them together into pairs of 'introverted' and 'extroverted' portraits, thus raising questions about the external and the

has photographed from a television screen, with considerable blur made when enlarging them. The faces have lost their

internal identity of man. Here he is making reference to the field of psychology and following on from earlier similar

individuality, becoming generalizing icons, reminiscent of masks. Expressive blurriness frequently appears in the self-

experiments (for example, by the Surrealists and Ed Tannenbaum). The series was shown not only at the Galerie Ru-

portraits and portraits made by Hynek Alt. He often combines these portraits with fragments of various environments (for

dolfinum , Prague (1995), but also at the Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, the Venice Biennale, the Centre of Contemporary

example, the Blue series, 1998). The fundamental series, ManWomanUnfinished, in which Alt and his partner, Aleksandra

Art , Warsaw, the Musee Elysee, Lausanne, and other places. Amongst Czechs the works provoked hot debate, but met

Vajd, have portrayed each other, was not made till the next decade.

with a far cooler reception abroad. Many of David's subsequent photographic works are also conceptual and staged,

Among the most striking works of this genre in the 1990s is Dita Pepe's Self-portraits with Women.

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39

In this set,

for example the series My Hostages (1997-98), which David worked on together with the photographer Robert Portel.

the photographer has typologically adapted herself to women and girls from various social, occupational, and age

In the impressively arranged portraits of bizarrely dressed people (frequently using his son as a model) with bound

groups, and photographed herself with them in their own settings. In an original way she thus explores the topic of

hands and bags over their heads, masked, or gagged, he explores the theme of child abuse. The other part of David 's

changing identities, which many artists, including Claude Cahun, Cindy Sherman, and Yasumasa Morimura, devoted

photographic works consists in his unmanipulated documentary photos. In a number of them , in a raw style reminiscent

themselves to earlier. In Dita Pepe's self-portraits we often do not recognize at first that she is present in all of them ,

of works by Wolfgang Tillmans and Jurgen Teller, David shows himself and his family, particularly his wife Zdena and

because she has changed her appearance and expression so much. Using wigs , make-up, and clothes borrowed from

son Daniel (gradually showing him growing up from 1993). Many of David's photos reveal considerably intimate mo-

the portrayed women, she has transformed herself into their doubles, daughters, grand-daughters, sisters, and friends.

ments . Al though photographs of this kind had been made by Nan Goldin and other artists back in the 1980s, this sort

An important role in these metamorphoses is also played by the authentic settings of the variously furnished rooms with

of openness was quite rare in Czech photography. The documentary part of David's work, however, includes more

a number of eloquent details, which imbue the staged photos with a sociological quality and contribute to the fact that

lyrically emotional photographs in which the photographer has elaborately worked with image and colour composition .

Dita Pepe's works oscillate between documentary photography and fiction. Her photographs not only depict many dif-

e critic and curator Martin Dostal has written of David's photographic work: 'With their "painterly" compositions of

ferent women , but also the range of the photographer's own appearances. She later followed on from these - this time

colour and light, the colour photos, balancing between slightly arranged conceptual art and snapshot documentary,

together with her husband, Petr Hrubes - in a series of self-portraits with men .

have enabled David to highlight his intimate relationship with immediate reality and to perform subtle, visually narrative

The theme of changing one's identity has been dealt with in a more conceptual form by the artist Vaclav Stra-

plays with a whole range of subtexts.'4 3 In the 1990s photography became one of the main media of David 's work and

til ,40 in Monastic Patient, a large set of stylized self-portraits. In this photo-performance art, Stratil has had himself

he achieved considerable international success with it as well. Unlike a number of other artists using photography who

portrayed by photographers in various studios with carefully prepared expressive gestures and poses. Not only have

in entionally ignore the technical quality of the medium, David usually accentuates the craftsmanship of large-format

the various objects and assemblages of objects that he placed on his head or added to his changing face produced an

prin s. Whereas at the beginning of his work he only came up with ideas and hired professionals to make the actual

absurd effect, but they are also disguises that make historical, political, and religious references. The situations in which the unprepared photographers found themselves were also absurd. Later, following on from this set, Stratil made the

oho os, he eventually worked his way to becoming a photographer accepted both by artists and by practitioners of traditional photography.

series I'm Not Doing Anything, in which he has photographed his changing face in coin -operated photo booths. The 1990s were also the period in which Jirf David carried out his big projects. 41 This versatile artist, assisted

ere made in this genre. In intentional opposition to the powerful advent of digital technology, members of an art group

by the professional photographers Petr and Martin Polak, made the large set Hidden lmage,42 in which he portrayed

called 'Cesky d'fevak' (meaning both 'Bohemian Bumpkin ' and 'Czech Clog '), Jan Reich, Karel Kuklfk, Petr Helbich,

more than a hundred eminent people in the fields of politics, sports, and the arts from all over the world (Vaclav Havel,

9 ohumfr Prok(lpek, and Tomas Rasl , who, like Josef Ptacek, Jaroslav Poncar and Jan Jedlicka, carried on Sudek's work

Although landscape photography was on the margins of the main trends in the 1990s, some high-quality works

Vaclav Klaus, Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, Arthur Miller, Jeff Koons , Martin Kippenberger, Francis Ford Coppola,

in their own cl assic landscape photography in this decade as well , using cameras with large -format negatives. Miroslav

William Klein, and Helmut Newton). He then made mirror images of the left and right sides of their faces and mounted

Vojtechovsky made more stylized landscape photographs, often employing subtle shades of only one colour.

I 319

Tomas Pospech Traps (Two Earthworms)

1997

Landscape motifs appear also in works by some artists who exploited the medium of photography. One of the

Courtesy of the photographer

pioneers of digital manipulation in Czech photography, Stepanka Simlova, 44 carried out a number of projects in the 1990s, in which she made large-format digital prints based on photographs and sometimes text. In the Landscapes set (1999) she has used montages of landscape fragments to make imaginary panoramic wholes that lack internal and

Suzanne Pastor

perspectival harmony. In another set she has used colour photos of Chinese streets full of neon and other signs, which

1998

she has digitally substituted for with snippets of Christian prayers.

Glass Book

Courtesy of the photographer

Jan Pohribny45 sought timeless symbols in his striking landscape photographs and photos of mysterious dolmens and other prehistoric cult objects in the great outdoors, using long exposure times and additional drawing with various light sources or garlands of light. But he also made unmanipulated photographs of dolmen, which he later compiled in a book. 46 Pavel Banka, during his sojourns in Oregon, on the Pacific coast of the USA, in 1997-99, made abstract photographs of monumental untouched nature there, in which he often limited himself to minimalist motifs of the almost indistinguishable boundaries between the surface of the ocean and the sky (reminiscent of Sugimoto's works) and expressively blurry photos of trees , grass, and flying birds. He used exposure times of several hours and sometimes multiple exposures for artistic stylization, to emphasize timelessness , and to accent his own subjective view of the themes of space, time, and man's being a part of nature. The critic Martina Pachmanova has written of them: 'Face to face with Bar'ika's landscapes, the viewer experiences a sense of the infinite. Whether the landscape photographs are foggy or blurry, depict swaying or initial movement, or approach realistic description, whether they are dreamy, meditative, or dramatic, they are always dominated by a special delirious atmosphere. In the limitless spaces of the skies, long horizons of the sea surfaces, the depths of thick forests , and windblown meadows, the viewer loses rational consciousness and his or her senses become blurred ."'7 Bar'ika presented the sets Forests, Hills and Meadows, Sky, and Sea in the Infinity exhibition at the Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague. The panoramic photos of

Josef Koudelka (see Ch. 16) often present aestheticized views of devastated land and fragments of towns . Most Czech

Traditional large-format equipment was used not only in landscape photography, but also, indeed mainly, in still

landscape photography, however, was used mainly in commercial publications, calendars , and postcards. Many

fifes and fragments of the urban environment. Tomas Pospech made a large set of contact prints in 1994-99 from

Czech photographers (for example, Pavel Brunclik

48

and Ladislav Kamarad) used the new freedom to travel to get

28 x 24 cm and 12 x 16 cm negatives, including the series Traces of Times and Traces of Things and Still Lites of an

rapidly improving equipment and to prepare attractive exhibitions and photo books about exotic lands that had previ-

Existential Character. With minimalist motifs of simple objects Pospech consciously follows on from the works of Sudek

ously been difficult for them to get to.

and especially Svoboda, but in some photographs he has introduced the motif of the gradual destruction of the negative by he elements. Simple, subtle motifs appear in Miroslav Machotka's and Petr Faster's black-and-white photos. After photographing the Prague Metro, Jaroslav Benes found another source of subject matter for his minimalist 'architecural still lifes' in the relatively new architecture of the Paris district of La Defense. 49 Pavel Bar'ika 50 photographed elo-

quent details in a former concentration camp, the Lesser Fortress at Theresienstadt (1996-2002), and expanded his series of night-time colour photographs of suburban gardens and allotments, called Marginalia , in which he emphasizes the ghostly quality of the depicted motifs by using a powerful flash . Other photographers also concentrated on static subject matter. A Slovene graduate of FAMU, Aleksandra Vajd , made the impressive series Zone at border crossings. Stepan Grygar increasingly moved from individual photographas of fragments of the urban environment to larger, post-conceptual series, which depict the same subject matter over time and from various angles. Ludek Vojtechovsky has witti ly used photograms to make abstract compositions. Czech architectural photography, particularly in the works of Pavel Stecha, Ester Havlova, Libor Teply, and Filip Slapal attained an outstanding level in this period. In the 1990s photographs began to flood public spaces, though not nearly as intensively as in Poland, the Czech Republ ic's neighbour. Ales Kunes followed on from his own early exhibitions of works in untraditional places in lhe early 1990s. 51 In November 1990 he took a number of large-format prints of his own photographs from the Campaign series and posted them onto concrete columns at the head of a Prague bridge (called 'most Barikadnfku'). These phoos com bine details of old clothes and discarded things with photograms and headlines from the tabloid press. The photos, which were presented anonymously, without permission, remained on the bridge for a number of years . Similar happenings, called 'Eyesore' (Pest na oko), were carried out by Kunes, together with the performance artist Jaroslav Karchnak, in several cities abroad. Together with Ivan Mecl, Kunes also organized a group presentation of photograVeronika Zapletalova

Svatopluk Klimes

Pipelings

New York

1999

1999

Courtesy of the photographer

Courtesy of the photographer

320 1

phers and artists in a junk shop at Liber'isky ostrov, Prague (1995) and, with Ivan Mecl and Marketa Othova, prepared a similar happening at the Praha-Vysocany railway station (1996). With Jolana Havelkova, in 1993, he started Funke's Kolin Photography Festival.

J

321

Stipanka Simlova From the Landscapes series

1999-2000 Courtesy of the photographer

seri es of photographs with intricate inner connections . She places the emotionally charged words of the title, Fear, Pain, and Old Age (2000), into photos of fash ion items instead of their brand labels. In the series My Eyes of Sisters (1994-

95), Mila Preslovass has implanted photographs of her own eyes into portraits of her relations from the interwar years, and, by contrast, she has digitally closed the eyes of all the people, except the youngest girl, in an old group portrait of a Sokol gymnastics team. Nor has she eschewed the symbolic presentation of her own intimate relations and family problems (One to One, Banquet/Dinner for Two, and Trauma). In this liberal period, themes appeared , whose public presentation would have been unimaginable only a few years earlier. Jirf Cernicky's distinctive Straight from the Heart (1995)59 seems to deviate from his paintings and sculptures, ·typical of which are fragility and striking colour. The colour ot menstrual blood here is what disturbs but also justifies this photograph of a moment of family intimacy.

The photographer Jirf Sigut focuses on nature and the flow of time. 60 In photograms and using long exposures, he photographed grasses, bushes, and other natural details, for example, Grass, In the Forest, and Grass-Snow (all made in 1996), Fire (1991), and his own body, An Attempt at Sleep (1992). In addition , he let water, rain , or snow leave their marks on photograph ic paper for several days, in Field-Rain I, (1990) and Snow II, Ill (1991). Sigut's works are in several respects similar to the works of Milos Sejn, who is active in land art and action art. Even earlier, Sejn had depicted the interaction of human beings and nature, and used photography to document the changes in a roll of paper left out on the land. An intensive feel for nature and the city appear in the photos of Nadia Rovderova and Milena Valuskova. Playfulness, black humour, mystification, and a poetic approach to life and the world are the characteristic Whereas Kunes presented studio-made photographs in a public space, for Ivan Kafka,s2 a pioneer of Czech

features of the works of Frantisek Skala, 61 a leading artist and member of the clandestine group B.K.S . (Bude Konec

land art, the gallery presentations of photographs of his outdoor works , often made without an audience, are the final

Sveta - the End of the World Is Nigh) and also of the now defunct Tvrdohlavf (the Stubborn). For him, however, photo-

artefact. (The works were photographed by Ivan Kafka and Petr Zhor.) In the Austrian Alps, Kafka erected a stone

graphy is merely one of a range of techniques. This gifted, versatile artist, in preparing his large sets of photos, usu-

pyramid, whose apex in the final photo is a mountain peak several kilometres away (Reality + Dream I Two Realities,

ally works with professional photographers (like Martin Polak, Lukas Jasansky, and Robert Porte!). His best-known

1990). In Stromovka, a large park in Prague, he made geometric forms of leaves of various colours (Forest Carpet for

photographic work is the set of arranged instruction photographs called Sark, which with irony and charm initiate us

Occasional Mushroom Pickers, 1993, 1994, and 1996). At other times he set dozens of little balls, pin-wheels, or arrows

into the use of a new 'defensive-offensive weapon' from the artist's own workshop. In these hand-coloured photos he

into a natural setting. Following on from her monumental sculptural works made in previous decades, Magdalena

parodies military instruction films and action films. In another slapstick series, ON (1992-93), Skala appears as a singer

Jetelova,s3 together with the German photographer Werner Hannappel, made Iceland Project (1992), a set of large-

in a thick forest in which hallucinogenic mushrooms grow. He was reacting to low-brow popular culture.

format photographs of night-time island landscapes intersected by the sharp lines of laser beams. With these she is suggesting the dividing lines of the Continental plates between Europe and America. The postmodern fusion of photography and painting and drawing or the physical manipulation of negatives and

With simi lar irony and sarcasm, Jiri SurOvka,62 a fine artist and performance artist from Ostrava, stylized him self as a pop singer, Batman, and the Pope in his performance art, photographs, and photographic self-portraits. Using digital airbrush ing, he generally alters the photographs (which, apart from his own, also come from community photo

prints continued in the 1990s as well , for example, in the work of Vladimfr Zidlicky, Peter Zupnfk, Jaroslav Fiser, Michal Cihlar, Pavel Nesleha, Josef Snobl, and Robert Portel. Whereas Portel reinterpreted other photographers' earlier works by adding small three-dimensional objects, the sculptress and photographer Veronika Zapletalova ,s 4 in the set Pipelings (1998-99), added colour to highlight the anthropomorphic shapes of pipes in black-and-white photos of factories. Light and fire are part of the performance art and photographic objects made by Svatopluk Klimes.ss In a number of photos of urban architecture, which he made in Manhattan and Brooklyn (1999-2000), he accents the transcendental and sacred qualities of light, by burning through and perforating the photos in places, mounting them in tin boxes, and placing light sources behind them . In the series My Little Prose, Rose, Jaroslav Malfk has used many individual photographs to make photomontages in which discarded objects hav~ become parts of pictures that are sometimes almost Rococo flamboyant, sometimes contemplatively silent, on the boundary between the real and the surreal , with the dominant motif of relentless, unstoppable time. Manual alterations of the photos, however, were increasingly superseded by computer manipulation . Photographs and video projections became parts of the installations made by Milena Dopitova, a member of the art group Pondelf (Czech for Monday).s6 In 1991 she photographed herself and her twin sister (Twins, 1991), and devoted herself to the theme of personal identity in the sets Egg Mask (1991-92) and Four Masks (1992). Dopitova has often explored the themes of old age and death. In the Wailing Wall (1995) she made details of the feet of corpses (in fact they were staged photos), which, instead of name tags, had tags with their last wishes attached to their toes . Four years later, she made photographs of piles of clothes prepared for dead people before their funerals, which resulted in the set Burial Clothes. Her video, Shave, Make Up (1999), which shows the cosmetic preparations of a dead man, pushes the limits of acceptability. In addition to multimedia collages, Michaela Thelenovas 7 has been making a large

322 1

Nadia Rovderova

Jii'1Sigut

Angel Dawning, from In Search of Angels

Green Pond - Ice, 2-8 January 2000 Collection of Miroslav Lekes , Brno

2000 Courtesy of the photographer

I 323

Jii'i Suriivka

studios and periodicals), and then prints them on synthetic textiles. His works are often highly provocative: he has put

The Boss is Calling 1998 Courtesy of the photographer

the heads of Stalin, Hitler, and their henchmen on members of the Russian and German ice hockey teams; to a photograph of Hitler on the telephone he added a photo of himself with a servile expression and posing in a stereotypical German costume, suggesting that he is having a telephone conversation with the Fuhrer (The Boss Is Calling, 1998); and in photos of flowers he implanted erotic motifs. His aggressive works , employing a widely comprehensible language and black humour, bring a breath of fresh air to the intellectual iciness of a considerable part of contemporary Post-Conceptual art and Minimalism . Similarly, his colleague and relation, Petr Lysacek, also makes works that exploit the photographic medium (often with the technical assistance of the photographer Martin Popela'f). The same is true of members of the Kamera skura group, a generation younger: Martin Adamec, Martin Cervenak, Ji'fi Maska, and Rene Rohan. 63 They used irony to make fun of pop-music marketing strategies in the hoax project Kamera skura - 1998 Tour, photographing themselves as a music group, they put up kitschy posters and billboards all over Prague, organized signings, and appeared on the TV Nova morning show. Michal Pechoucek, who otherwise uses traditional painting techniques (defamiliarized, however, with embroidery), employs humorous hyperbole and mystery in his photography.64 He makes photo-novels, writing his own scripts and producing them himself. Unlike Duane Michals's sequences, each of which is precisely organized to make a point, Pechoucek's photos often only loosely suggest action, and then fade out; the individual photographs are usually intended to look like amateur snapshots. Inspired by a family album of blackand-white photos (New Year's Eve, 1998), he then made works in colour, for instance, Splendid Isolation (1998), Euphorion (1999) , Grounds for Divorce (1999) , A Long Christmas Eve (1999), and A Perfect Past (2000). He takes a similar

approach in his videos, making no effort to conceal technical shortcomings or departures from conventional cinema, instead attracting attention with their wittiness and fragility (Charming Sky-scraper, 1999, and The Way to School, 2000). The art work of Kristof Kintera 65 is full of apparent and real playfulness and wit. His photographic documentation of his travels through Prague with a white object (It, 1996), whose indeterminateness brings to mind a cold toy or

ments. That is why they often declare their affinity with the work of Jan Svoboda. At the same time they are interested

a mechanical pet of today's technological age, is similarly ambiguous.

in he possibil ities of the photographic medium itself. The work of Marketa Othova has received attention at home and

'Non-photographic' photography, as it was called by Pavel Vancat and Jan Freiberg (who are, in addition to

internationally. 69 She has attracted viewers with apparently banal shots made with 35 mm film and printed in large for-

Karel Cisar, its most active promoters), became extraordinarily popular amongst some art critics, curators, and the

mats, and has made diptychs and larger series, which she has often named after famous films (such as Close Encoun-

public. 66 Works of this kind follow on loosely from the American trends of the New Topography (which of course also

ters of the Third Kind, The Silence of the Lambs, and Paris, Texas) in which she has captured fragments of overlooked

had its predecessors in Walker Evans's much earlier descriptive photos of American suburbs). The intentionally cool

events of everyday life, intimate details of woman's body, and views of ordinary interiors and exteriors. Like other mem-

and topographically descriptive photos of artistically unattractive subjects, which were made by Ed Ruscha, Robert

bers of her generation, she has abandoned the traditional presentation of photographs (for instance, the use of mount-

Adams , Lewis Baltz, beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, were not particularly well known in Czechoslovakia. Conse-

ings and frames), and installed her works directly on the walls of the exhibition spaces. Indeterminateness and traces

quently, parallels tend to be found amongst the works of members of the famous 'Dussel dorf School', chiefly Thomas

o· mystery appear in the subtle photographs by Alena Kotzmannova, 70 who has worked her way to become one of the

Struth and Candida Hofer. But few practitioners of non-photographic photography carry on the technical precision of

most resp ected artists of her generation. In addition to photographic works she also devotes herself to installations and

their large-format photographs. That is particularly true of the duo Lukas Jasansky and Martin Polak.67 These two artists,

video art. An extreme example of the most banal possible depiction of banal subject matter is the intentionally grey, not

while still students at FAMU back in the 1980s, made photos in a Conceptualist spirit which were intended to be out-

retouch ed , and often blurry photographs by Michal Kalhous. Few photographers have pushed the dispute between the

wardly unattractive, far removed from the staged scenes of Tono Stano, Miro Svolik, and Rudo Prekop which back then

proponents of the 'traditional values of art' and 'orthodox photography' and their opponents as far as Kalhous . Where-

were at the centre of attention. Among the striking earlier works of Jasansky and Polak, which typically employ a spe-

as som e young critics appreciate the fact that 'the artist has deliberately photographed like a ten-year-old child, but

cial wry humour and slapstick, is the Jokes series of photographs supplemented with text; their light irony shifts the

admits it like an adult', 7 1 others find Kalhous's photographs to be typical examples of an ostentatiously uncommunicative

overall absurdity of the series ('Sick people find a caravan for themselves and healthy people find a booth or a hole').

a itude towards the general public and a wearing out of the works of practitioners of New Topography, for example, the

This was followed by a number of other distinctive series, perhaps the most important of which was Pragensie (1998),

photographs that Joe Deal and John Gossage made more than thirty years ago.

capturing hitherto overlooked pieces of 'non-touristy' Prague architecture in perfectly crafted black-and-white photos.

The welcome departure from the restrictions of the photographic ghetto, however, was gradually superseded by

The ambiguity of their works was underscored at the 'Exhibition of Photographs' held in the Vaclav Spala Gallery,

the creation of a new ghetto. Some curators and art historians, with little knowledge of the history of photography (which

Prague, in 1999, where they presented documentation of their previous exhibitions. In the words of the photographers

is still not taught in depth in any department of art history at Czech institutions of higher learning, though art historians

themselves: 'Yes, non-legibility is our strong point. If we have what they now call a "concept" before making a photo-

continuously arm themselves with quotations from the works of Roland Barthes, Vilem Flusser, and Susan Sontag , began

graph, then we quickly try and conceal it, mix it up, destroy it. Anyway, we prefer neutrality to a critical or evaluative

o include photography in various exhibitions of contemporary Czech art. These, however, were usually only photos made

tone, because it best expresses our amazement at reality.'68

by a small group of artists working with photography, penetrated by only a few artists with specialist training in the medium

For other practitioners of non-photographic photography, by contrast, traditional photographic qualities are not

324 1

photography chiefly as a means of introspection, a medium to show the charm and beauty of everyday things and mo-

(for example, Jasansky and Polak). By contrast, many classic photographers ignore the development of contemporary

particularly important and some practitioners intentionally negate them in large grainy prints made from 35 mm nega-

fine art, and reject out of hand many works of photographing artists. They have thus formed separate circles of fine artists

tives . They are not interested in big existential, social, or political topics, or even in the polished visual metaphors of

who exploit photography on the one hand and 'traditional' photographers on the other hand, each group ignoring the

subjective documentary photography, which, by continuous repetition , have often become stale. They understand

o her. And each circle of course has its curators and critics. Concerning the lack of communication between the two

1325

camps, the critic Josef Chuchma wrote in 2003: 'The regimes of languages are today so different that the individual groups

18

Antonin Dufek, 'Tomas Ruller', in Mesiac fotografie 2003 I Month of Photography 2003, Bratislava : Fotofo, pp. 104-07.

do not listen to each other. Even in this way, however, an awareness of values and their hierarchization is formed by the

19

Jochen Poetter, Veronika Bromova, Baden-Baden: Staatliche Kunsthalle, 1996; Tereza Bruthansova and Veronika Bromova, 'Another Perspective on the World of the Body', Imago, 1996, no. 2; Olga Maia, 'Bytosti Veroniky Bromove', Atelier, 1998,

vehement activity of the yea-sayers and the laziness, cowardice, or apathy of the nay-sayers.' 72 Only time will tell whether

no. 8, p. 8; Milena Slavicka, 'Veronika Bromova', Fotograf, 2006, no. 7, pp. 66-75; Veronika Bromova, kralovstvi I kingdoms,

this tension and mutual disregard have been to the detriment of Czech photography or whether they were part of a milieu that generated exceptional artists and works of international importance.

NOTES

Prague: Arborvitae and Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 2008. 20 21

Lenka Vitkova, 'Lenka Klodova', Fotograf, 2007, no. 10, pp. 16-19.

22

Irena Armutidisova, in Akt - naucte se fotografovat kreativne, Brno: Zaner, 2007, pp. 38-45.

23

Vladimir Birgus, 'Hvezdy Tona Stana', Fotografie Magazin, 2003, no. 10, pp. 24-30.

Olga Maia, Miroslav Petricek, and Karel Srp, Soucasne umeni I Contemporary Collection. Czech Art in the '90s, Prague :

24

Josef Pecak , 'David Kraus', Fotografie Magazin, 1996, no. 5, pp. 15-22.

Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1998; Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Ceska fotografie 90. let I

25

Herbert Slavik, Tvare I Faces, Prague: H. Slavik, [2003).

Czech Photography of the 1990s, Prague: KANT, 1998; Helena Rislinkova, Lucia Lendelova, and Tomas Pospech ,

26

Daniela Mrazkova, 'Jiri Turek ', Fotografie Magazin, 1996, no. 5, pp. 11-14.

Ceska a slovenska fotografie osmdesatych a devadesatych let 20. stoleti I Czech and Slovak Photography of the 1980s

27

Robert Vano, The Platinum Collection, text Robert Vano and Jana Bomer, Geske Budejovice: Karmasek, 2009.

and 1990s, Olomouc: Muzeum umeni, 2002; Pavia Kranlova, 'Cesti vytvarnici vyuzivajici fotografii od 90. let 20. stoleti

28

Emil Bratrsovsky, Portret, Prague: Petr Kalina, 2008.

po soucasnost', M.A. extended essay, Prague, Department of Photography, FAMU , 2005; Karel Srp , 'Aktualni umeni

29

Tomas nestik , Osobnosti soucasne ceske reklamni a m6dni fotografie, Prague: Atemi, 2002.

devadesatych let ', in Rostislav Svacha and Marie Platovska (eds), Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. VI , pt 2, Prague:

30

Stepanka Stein and Salim Issa, Work ', in Changing Faces, Gi:ittingen: Steidl , 2006.

Academia, 2007, pp. 929-51; Anton in Dufek , 'Fotografie 1989-2000', in Svacha and Platovska (eds), Dejiny ceskeho

31

Antonin Kratochvil , Incognito, intro by Billy Bob Thornton , Santa Fe, New Mexico: Arena Editions, 2001; idem, Persona,

32

Jiri Hanke, Otisky generace, text Pavel Sedlacek, Prague: Kuklik, 1998; Josef Moucha , Jiff Hanke: Fotografie I Photographs,

33

Ivan Lutterer, Jan Maly, and Jiri Polacek, Cesky 6/ovek, fotografie z let 1982-1996, text in Czech and English,

France, Luxembourg , and the USA 1990-94), 'Photographie Progressive en Tchecoslovaquie 1920-1990'

34

Jitka Hanzlova, Rokytnik, Velbert: Museum Schloss Hardenberg, 1995.

(Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, 1990), 'Choice 19' (Houston 1990), ), 'Czech Avant-Garde Photography from the Collection

35

Jitka Hanzlova, Female, Munich: Schirmer/M osel , 2000.

of The Moravian Gallery in Brno' (Aries, 1990), 'What's New: Prague' (Chicago, 1992/93), 'Czech Photography of the 1990s'

36

Jitka Hanzlova interviewed by Pavel Bar'\ka, Fotograf, 2002, no. 1, p. 42.

text Michael Persson, Prague: Slovart, 2006.

vytvarneho umeni, vol. VI , pt 2, pp. 981-1000. 2

For example, 'Photographes !cheques, 1920-1950' (Paris, 1983), 'Tschechoslowakische Fotografen 1900-1940'

Rozmital pod Tremsinem: Milan Job, 2008.

(Leipzig , 1983), 'Czechoslovakian Photography' (London, 1985), 'Ursprung und Gegenwart tschechoslowakischer Fotografie I Origin and Presence of Czech Photography' (Frankfurt am Main , 1985), 'Czech Modernism, 1900-1945' (Houston, New York ,

Lomnice nad Popelkou: Studio JB, 1997.

and Akron, 1989-90), 'Tschechoslowakische Fotografie der Gegenwart' (Cologne and nine other cities in Germany, Spain ,

(Ayr, 1993, Chicago, 1998, and many other cities), 'The Art of the Avant-Garde in Czechoslovakia 1918-1938'

37

Zdenek Kirschner, 'Pavel Hecko - pokus o inverzni portret', Fotografie, 1991 , no. 10, pp. 21-28.

(Valencia, 1993), 'Prague 1900-1938: Capitale secrete des avant-gardes' (Dijon , 1997), 'Modern Beauty:

38

Jolana Havelkova, Docasna setkani I Transitory Meetings, text Marketa Pachmanova, Prague: Galerie Vaclava Spaly, 2002; idem , in Josef Moucha and Helena Musilova (eds), Fotogenie identity. Pamet' ceske fotografie I The Photogeny of Identity:

Czech Avant-Garde Photography 1918-1948' (Barcelona, Paris , Lausanne, Prague, and Munich , 1998-2000). 3

The Memory of Czech Photography, Prague: Prazsky dum fotografie , 2006, pp. 288-93.

Tona Stano 1980-1996, Prague: Posam , 1998; Tona Stano, Fascinace, text William Ewing, Prague: Prazsky dum fotografie , 2001; Magdalena Jurikova, Tona Stano, in Czech and English, Prague: Torst, 2006.

4

Stepanka MOllerova, Teto jako dukaz, Olomouc: Muzeum umeni, 1998.

39

Vladimir Birgus, 'Promeny Dity Pepe', Fotografie Magazin, 2002, no. 3, pp. 12-18; idem, 'Autoportrety Dity Pepe',

Rudo Prekop, Zatisi 1969-2006: pocty, pomniky, kvetiny a hrdinove I Still-lifes 1969-2006: Homages, Monuments,

Kwartalnik Fotografia, 2002, no. 9, pp. 14-17; Pavel Vancat, 'Oita Pepe', Fotograf, 2002, no. 2, p. 1. pp. 10-13; Vladimir Birgus,

Flowers and Heroes, text Lucia Benicka, Karlovy Vary: Galerie vytvarneho umeni, 2006.

'Autoportrety Dity Pepe I Self-portraits of Oita Pepe', in Mesiac fotografie 2003 I Month of Photography 2003, Bratislava:

5

Miro Svolik, Cesta do stredu I The Way to the Centre, Prague and Bratislava: Argo and Fotofo, 2005.

Fotofo, 2003, pp. 34-37.

6

Vaclav Macek, Kami/ Varga, Bratislava: Fotofo, 1997.

7

Anna Farova, Gabina, Prague: Radost, 2002.

8

Jan Saudek, The Best of Jan Saudek, Prague: Saudek.com, 2005; idem, Pouta lasky I Chain of Love, compiled by

9

Jiri Simacek, Bratrstvo, Brno: Moravska galerie, 1996.

Sara Saudkova, text Edita Pacovska, Prague: Saudek.com , 2006. 10

Milena Slavicka, 'Bratrstvo: Rozhovor Bratrstva s Milenou Slavickou', Fotograf, 2003 , no. 2, p. 18.

11

Vaclav Jirasek, Vankovka - rozlouceni s prumyslovym vekem, text Ladislav Pich , Brno: Moravska galerie, 1994; Vaclav Jirasek, Robert Novak, and Ivan Pinkava, Memento mori, Prague: Torst, 1998.

12

Petr Balajka , 'Ivan Pinkava', in Ceska a slovenska fotografie dnes, Prague: Edice Revue Fotografie, Orbis, 1991 , pp. 104- 11 ; Dynastie I Ivan Pinkava, text Josef Kroutvor, Prague: Erm , 1993; Vladimir Birgus, 'Ivan Pinkava - Dynastie', European Photography, 1995, no. 56, pp. 63-65; Josef Moucha, 'Ivan Pinkava', Imago, 2001, no. 12, pp. 22-29; Ivan Pinkava, Heroes,

Jii'r Cernicky The First Mass-produced Schizophrenia 1998 Courtesy of the photographer

text Martin C. Putna, Prague: KANT, 2004; Joanna Vasdeki , 'Ivan Pinkava', Highlight, 2005, no. 4, pp. 196-203; Petr Vanous, Ivan Pinkava, text in Czech and English , Prague: Torst, 2009. 13

'Rozhovor Tomase Dvoraka s lvanem Pinkavou ', Fotograf, 2002, no. 1, p. 66.

14

Ivan Pinkava, Dynastie, text Josef Kroutvor, Prague: Erm , 1993, p. 9.

15

Anna Farova, Jan Kriz, and Stanislav Ulver, 'Dilo Pavia Mary v reflexi tri teoretiku', Atelier, 1993, no. 24, p. 7; Stanislav Ulver, 'Mechanicke korpusy', Atelier, 1997, no. 24, p. 1; Stanislav Ulver, 'Pavel Mara, in Mesiac fotografie I Month of Photography 2001, Bratislava: Fotofo, 2001 , pp. 54-57; Pavel Bar'\ka and Milota Havrankova, 'Pavel Mara', Fotograf, 2009, no. 14, pp. 46-55 .

16

Vladimir Birgus , 'Michal Macku', in Ceska a slovenska fotografie dnes, Prague: Edice Revue Fotografie, Orbis, 1991 , pp. 26-31; Michal Macku, Vize Gin Sen Smrt I Vision Deed Dream Death, Brno: Galerie Brno, 2005.

17

Magdalena Wagnerova, 'Zdenek Lhotak: autoportrety, detail , kinofilm ', Fotografie, 1993, no. 11 , pp. 13-16; Zdenek Lhotak, Dis-torza, text Marek Pokorny, Prague: KANT, 2009.

3261

1327

Pavel Baiika

40

Vaclav Stratil , Fotografie, text Vlasta Cihakova-Noshiro, P'fibram : Pribramske spolecenske centrum , 1992; idem , Autoportrety,

Periphery, from the Marginalia series 1992 Courtesy of the photographer

text Jiri Valoch , Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 2002; Vaclav Strati/, texts Martin Dostal , Regis Durand, and Fabienne Fulcher, Paris : Centre national de la photographie, 2002; Karel Thein , Ji'fi Ptacek, and Jiri Skala, Vaclav Strati/: I'm History, Prague: tranzit, 2005. 41

Jiri David , David, text Martin Dostal, Prague: KANT, 2002; Martin Dostal (ed .), Jiff David, Pri vedomi, Prague: KANT, 2003 ; Jan Mahr, 'Korektne nekonvencni Ji'fi David I muz strednich let ', M.A. extended essay, Opava: lnstitut tvurci fotografie Slezske univerzity, 2009.

42

Jiri David , Skryte podoby I Hidden Image, texts Vaclav Belohradsky, Jacques Derrida, Martin Dostal , Helena Kontova ,

43

Jiri David , Inside Out: Fotografie 1993-2000 I Photographs, ed. Martin Dostal , Prague: KANT, 2006, p. 7.

44

Olga Maia, Stepanka Sim/ova: Sladke sny za ho'fkych noci, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 2001 ; Pavel Vancat,

45

Michal Pacina, 'Nova doba kamenna', Fotografie, 1991 , no. 8, pp. 29-32; Josef Kroutvor, 'Fotograficke ritualy

and Jana and Jiri Sevcik, Prague: KANT, 1995.

'Stepanka Simlova', Fotograf, 2003 , no. 3, pp. 12-15. Jana Pohribneho', Atelier, 1993, no. 10, p. 5; Tomas Pospech , Jan Pohribny, Jindrichuv Hradec: Narodni muzeum fotografie , 2008. 46

Jan Pohribny, Magic Stones, text Julian Richards , Bratislava: Slovart, 2007.

47

Pavel Banka, Infinity, texts Martina Pachmanova and Anne Wilkes Tucker, Prague: Galerie Rudo lfinum , 2001 , p. 8.

48

Pavel Brunclik, Krajiny I Landscapes 1997-2004, texts Daniela Mrazkova and Vaclav Cilek, Prague and Litomysl :

49

Jan Kriz, 'Jaroslav Benes - architektonicka zatisi ', Fotograf, 2007, no. 9, pp. 52- 61 .

Paseka , 2004. 50

Michal Kolecek, 'Pavel Banka', Fotograf, 2006, no. 8, pp. 70-81.

51

Joachim Dvorak , 'Ales Kunes - experimenty', Labyrint, 1995, no. 6.

52

Karel Srp, Ivan Kafka , Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1992.

53

Klaus Wolbert (ed.) , Magdalena Jetelova, Orte und Raume 1990-1996, Ostfildern: Gantz, 1996; Olga Maia (ed .), Magdalena Jetelova: Urban Landscape, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 2001 ; Jana Ticha, 'Magdalena Jetelova', Fotograf, 2006, no. 8, pp. 24-35.

54

Veronika Zapletalova, Rourouni, text Tomas Pospech , in Czech and English , Prague: Divus , 2001.

55

Svatopluk Klimes, Stopy cest, text Jan Samec, Karlovy Vary and Cheb: Galerie vytvarnych umeni and Galerie fotografie G4, 2005; Jolana Havelkova, 'Svatopluk Klimes: Brooklyn - Manhattan', in Funkeho Kolin I Mesta, Kolin: Funkeho Kolin , 2005, pp. 34-37.

56

Olga Maia (ed.), Milena Dopitova, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1995.

57

Michal Kolecek, 'Michaela Thelenova', Fotograf, 2003 , no. 3, pp. 4-7.

58

Mila Preslova,

z oci do oci -

PavelBaiika Periphery, from the Marginalia series 1992 Courtesy of the photographer

Tva'fi v tva'f, text Jana and Ji'fi Sevcik, Prague: Galerie MXM, 1997; Radek Wohlmut,

'Mila Preslova', in Mesiac fotografie 2006 I Month of Photography 2006, Bratislava: Fotofo, 2006, pp. 120-22. 59

Olga Maia (ed .), Jiff Cernicky, Praha, Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1999; Petr lngerle, 'J iri Cernicky ', Fotograf, 2003 , no. 3,

60

Jiri Sigut, Zaznamy, fotografie z Jet 1999-2003, Brno: Mediagate with Moravska galerie Brno, 2004; Josef Moucha, 'Jiri Sigut',

61

Frantisek Skala, Sark: A jine fotograficke cykly 1990-2004, Prague: KANT, 2004.

62

Jiri Juza , Jiff Suruvka, Ostrava: Galerie vytvarneho umeni, 2003 .

63

Karel Srp and Olga Maia, Blue Fire, Prague : Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1999; Vaclav Hajek , 'Kamera skura',

64

Petr Vanous (ed.), 'Michal Pechoucek ', GA2LERIE, supplement to Kulturni tydenik A2, 2007.

pp. 8-11. Fotograf, 2006, no. 8, pp. 36-47.

Fotograf, 2003, no. 2, pp. 14-17. 65

Karel Srp (ed .), Kristof Kintera, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1999.

66

Pavel Vancat , 'Druha strana fotografie', in Jan Freiberg and Pavel Vancat, fotografie?? I photography??, Klatovy/Klenova: Galerie Klatovy/Klenova , 2004, p. 9.

67

Karel Srp (ed .), Lukas Jasansky a Martin Polak: Pragensie, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1998.

68

Pavel Vancat, 'Lukas Jasansky a Martin Polak - naprosta nejednoznacnost', Fotograf, 2003, no. 2, p. 54.

69

Karel Srp (ed.), Marketa Othova, Stare zdroje, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1996; Karel Cisar (ed.), Marketa Othova, Prague, Galerie Jiri Svestka, 2009.

70

328 1

Pavel Vancat, 'Alena Kotzmannova', Fotograf, 2003, no. 3, pp. 16-19.

71

Pavel Vancat, Michal Kalhous - Salek s vickem, Prague: Fotograf studio, 2009.

72

Josef Chuchma, 'Potize s neznou Marketou O.', Mlada fronta Ones, 26 April 2003 .

1329

Jan Pohribny Cloud

1997 Courtesy of the photographer

Jan Pohribny Invasion

1992 Courtesy of the photographer

Jii'iStach Visitor, from the Natura magica series

1994 Galerie Gambit, Prague

330 1

1331

Pavel Mara Triptych 1993 Olomouc Museum of Art

TonoStano Sense 1992 Cou rtesy of the photographer

332

1333

Vaclav Jirasek Brothers

1999 Courtesy of the photographer

Bratrstvo (Vaclav Jirasek) Never Again Will Our Eyes Shine as They Did in 1953 ...

1989 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

334 1

Bratrstvo (Zdenek Sokol) Reader of Zapotocky

1989 Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Vaclav Jirasek Chestnuts

1999 Courtesy of the photographer

I 335

Ivan Pinkava Ecco, la Luce! 1996 Collection of Miroslav Lekes , Brno

Ivan Pinkava Narcissus 1997 Collection of Miroslav Lekes , Brno

336 1

Michal Macku Untitled (Gel/age No. 8) 1990 Gell age Collection of Miroslav Lekes , Brno

Ivan Pinkava They Shall Look on Him Whom They Pierced 1997 Collection of Miroslav Lekes , Brno

338 1

I 339

Jolana Havelkova From the Temporary Meetings series

1999 Courtesy of the photographer

/

Jolana Havelkova From the Temporary Meetings series

1999 Courtesy of the photographer

Antonin Kratochvil David Bowie

1997 Galerie Pecka, Prague

340 1

I 341

Irena Armutidisova V.T, MD. 1998 Courtesy of the photographer

Gabina Farova Va/dice 'Monastery' No. 5 1990 Courtesy of the photographer

342 1

I 343

Dita Pepe From the Self-portraits with Women series

1999-2000 Courtesy of the photographe r

Dita Pepe From the Self-portraits with Women series

1999-2000 Courtesy of the photographer

Dita Pepe From the Self-portraits with Women series

1999-2000 Courtesy of the photographer

344j

j

345

Jitka Han:z:lova From the Rokytnik series

1990-94 Jiri Svestka Gallery, Prague and Berlin

346 1

Jitka Han:z:lova

Jitka Han:z:lova

From the Rokytnik series

From the Rokytnik series

1990-94

1990-94

Jiri Svestka Gallery, Prague and Berl in

Jiri Svestka Gallery, Prague and Berlin

1347

Stepanka Stein and Salim Issa From the Beyond the Limits series

2000 Courtesy of the photographers

Stepanka Stein and Salim Issa From the Beyond the Limits series

2000 Courtesy of the photographers

Kamera skura Kamera skura - 1998 Tour 1998 Courtesy of the photographers

348 1

j

349

Jii'iDavid From the My Hostages series 1998 Courtesy of the photographer

Jii'iDavid Vaclav Havel, from the Hidden Image series 1991 Courtesy of the photographer

Jii'iDavid Vaclav Klaus, from the Hidden Image series 1991 Courtesy of the photographer

350 1

I 351.

Vaclav Stratil From the Monastic Patient series 1991 The PPF collection

Frantisek Skala Jr Photographic collaboration: Martin Polak Sark A set of photographs showing how to use the Sark defensive and offensive weapon 1992 Courtesy of the photographer

352 1

I 353

Luk'5 Jasansky, Martin Pol6k

Luk'5 Jasanskj, Martin Pol6k

There Rides a Baby, from the series Jokes (No. 1)

Children's Playground, from the series Jokes (No. 5)

1992-93

1992-93

Courtesy of the photographers

Courtesy of the photographers

Milena Dopitov6 From the S. M. L. XL. XXL serie

1999 Courtesy of the photographer

Jede, jede miminko .. . pardon, vlastne stoji.

354 1

Na detskem hristi : Risa: ,,A stejne marn lepci podmink y."

Kaja: ,,Ano, ano, ano ...

I 355

Marketa Othovi!i Close Encounters of the Third Kind I, II 1994 Courtesy of the photographer

Alena Kob:mannovi!i Body Copy, from the Temporary Person series 1998 Courtesy of the photographer

356 1

I 357

Photographers with works appearing in this publication

Alt, Hynek (b . 1976) Andel, Jaroslav (b. 1949) Armutidisova , Irena (b. 1956) Aulehla, Gustav (b. 1931) Banka, Pavel (b . 1941) Barta, Jaroslav (b . 1948) Bartuska, Josef (1898-1963) Benes, Jaroslav (b. 1946) Benes, Marian (b. 1975) Berka, Ladislav Emil (1907-1993) Binko, Josef (1879-1960) Birgus, Vladimir (b. 1954) Bocek, Radovan (b. 1963) Bohdan , Vlado (b . 1972) Brachtlova, Michaela (b. 1970) Bromova, Veronika (b. 1966) Bruner-Dvorak, Jaroslav (1881-1942) Bruner-Dvorak, Rudolf (1864-1921) Bufka, Vladimir Jindrich (1887- 1916) Cudlin, Karel (b . 1960) Cejka, Jaromir (b. 1947) Cernicky, Jiri (b. 1966) David, Jiri (b . 1956) Dias, Pavel (b. 1938) Dopitova, Milena (b. 1963) Dostal, Frantisek (b. 1938) Drahos, Tom (b. 1947) Drtikol , Frantisek (1883-1961) Dvorakova, Alena (b. 1970) Ehm, Josef (1909-1989) Einhorn, Erich (1928-2006) Einhornova, Milada (1925-2007) Farova, Gabina (b. 1963) Feist, Werner David (1909-1998) Feyfar, Jaroslav (1871-1935) Fiedler, Franz (1885-1956) Fischer, Viktor (b. 1967) Fiser, Jaroslav (b. 1965) Foltyn, Jiff (b. 1951) Frankl, Hanus (1900-1964) Friedlaender, Stanislav (b. 1960) Fuchs, Bohuslav (1895-1972) Fukova, Eva(b. 1927) Funke, Jaromir (1896-1945) Gabcan, Fedor (b. 1940) Gil, lvo (b. 1941) Glozar, Jan (b. 1955) Gribovsky, Antonin (1933-1989) Grygar, Stepan (b. 1955) Hackenschmied, Alexandr (1907-2004) Hajek, Karel (1900-1978) Hajn, Jan (1923-2006) Hak, Miroslav (1911-1978) Hanke, Jiri (b. 1944) Hanzlova, Jitka (b. 1958) Hausmann, Raoul (1886-1971)

Havelkova, Jolana (b. 1966) Heartfield, John (1891-1968) Heckel, Vilem (1918-1970) Hecko, Pavel (b. 1951) Heisler, Jindrich (1914-1953) Helbich, Petr (b . 1929) Helfert, Zdenek (b. 1946) Hipman, Vladimir (1908-1976) Hnizdo, Vladimir (1906- 1983) Hochova, Dagmar (b. 1926) Holomicek, Bohdan (b. 1943) Honty, Tibor (1907-1968) Horak, Jiff (b. 1940) Hornickova, Daniela (b. 1945) Hruby, Karel Otto (1916-1998) Hucek, Miroslav (b. 1934) Hudecek, Jan(1955- 1989) Chochola, Vaclav (1923-2005) Chotek, Karel Maria (1853-1926) lbrahimovic, lbra (b . 1967) Issa, Salim (b. 1974) Jakrlova, Hana (b. 1969) Jasansky, Lukas(b. 1965) Jasansky, Pavel (b . 1938) Jenicek, Jiri (1895-1963) Jindra, Jan (b. 1962) Jirasek, Vaclav (b . 1965) Jiru, Vaclav (1910-1980) Jodas, Miroslav (b. 1932) Kafka , Ivan (b. 1952) Karasek , Oldrich (1939-2006) Kasparik , Karel (1899-1968) Klimes, Svatopluk (b. 1944) Klimpl , Petr (b. 1956) Knifak , Milan (b. 1940) Koblic , Premysl (1892-1955) Keeman, Jiri H. (b. 1947) Kohn , Rudolf (1900-194?) Koch , Jindrich (Heinrich) (1896-1934) Kolar, Viktor (b. 1941) Kolarova, Bela (1923-2010) Koppitz , Rudolf (1884-1936) Korecek, Milos (1908-1989) Kosfal, Rostislav (b. 1943) Kotek, Lubomir (b. 1958) Kotzmannova, Alena (b. 1974) Koudelka, Josef (b. 1938) Kovanda , Jiri (b . 1953) Kozlik, Vladimir (b. 1953) Kramer, Fred (1913-1994) Kratky, Cestmir (b. 1932) Kratochvil , Antonin (b. 1947) Krejci , Jaroslav (1929-2006) Kroha , Jiri (1893-1974) Kruis , Karel (1851-1917) Krupka, Jaroslav (1884-1947) Krenek, Jiri (b. 1974) Kubes, Miloslav (1927-2009) Kucera , Jaroslav (b. 1946) Kunes, Ales (b. 1954) Kuscynskyj, Taras (1932-1983) Kyndrova , Dana (b . 1955) Kytka , Rupert (1910-1993) Lauschmann , Jan (1901-1991) Lehovec, Jiri (1909-1995) Lenhart, Otakar (1905-1992)

Lhotak , Zdenek (b. 1949) Loos, lvo (1934-2009) Ludwig, Karel (1919-1977) Lukas , Jan (1915-2006) Luskacova , Marketa (b. 1944) Lutterer, Ivan (1954-2001) Macku, Michal (b. 1963) Machotka, Miroslav (b. 1946) Maly, Jan (b. 1954) Mara, Pavel (b. 1951) Marco, Jindrich (1921-1999) Markalous, Evzen (1906-1971) Marsalek, Frantisek (b. 1939) Mautner, Gustav (1883-1944?) Medkova, Emila (1928-1985) Miler, Karel (b. 1940) Mlcoch , Jan (b. 1953) Moucha, Josef (b. 1956) Mucha, Alfons (1860-1939) Myska, Miroslav (b. 1946) Neff, David (b. 1970) Nemec, Bohumil (1912-1985) Novak, Adolf (Ada) (1912-1990) Novak, Karel (1875-1950) Novotny, Milon (1930-1992) Oplatka, Hans Ernest (1911-1992) Othova, Marketa (b. 1968) Pacina, Michal (b. 1958) Pajurek, Frantisek (?) Paspa, Karel M. (1862-1936) Pastor, Suzanne (b. 1952) Paul, Alexandr (1907-1981) Pekar, Frantisek (1897- 1971) Pepe, Dita (b. 1973) Petrak, Jaroslav (1883-1917) Pikart, Arnost (1895-1932) Pinkava, Ivan (b. 1961) Pitlach, Milan (b. 1943) Plicka, Karel (1894-1987) Plitz, Martin (b. 1964) Podesta!, Vaclav (b. 1960) Pohribny, Jan (b. 1961) Pokorny, Josef (b. 1953) Polacek, Jiri (b. 1946) Polak, Martin (b. 1966) Popper, Grete (1897-1976) Porte!, Robert (b. 1966) Pospech, Tomas (b. 1974) Postupa, Ladislav (b . 1929) Povolny, Frantisek (1914-1974) Prekop, Rudo (b. 1959) Prosek, Josef (1923-1992) Precek, lvo (b. 1935) Pribik, Jindrich (b. 1944) Ptacek, Josef (b. 1946) Rajzik, Jaroslav (b. 1940) Rakovec , Oldrich (1913-1983) Reach, Zikmund (1859-1935) Reco, Jan (b. 1948) Reich , Jan (1942-2009) Reichmann, Vilem (1908-1991) Richter, Ota (b. 1936) Richter, Viktor (1919-2005) Rossler, Jaroslav (1902-1990) Rovderova, Nadia (b. 1971) Ruzicka , Drahomir Josef (1870-1960)

1359

Sagi , Jan (b. 1942) Saglova, Zorka (1942-2003) Saudek,Jan(b. 1935) Seidling, Clifford (b. 1933) Sejkot, Roman (b. 1963) Sever, Jiri (1904-1968) Sch losser, Otto (1880-1942) Schneeberger, Adolf (1897-1977) Schneider-Rohan, Rudolf (1900-1970) Sikula, Petr (b . 1941) Silverio, Robert (b . 1965) Sitensky, Ladislav (1919-2009) Skala, Frantisek jun , {b. 1956) Slama, Vojtech v. {b. 1974) Sebek, Evzen(b. 1967) Sokol , Zdenek (b. 1965) Sova, Svatopluk {1913- 1984) Stach, Jiri (b. 1944) Stachova, Marie (1907-1989) Stanko, Vasil (b. 1962) Stano, Teno (b. 1960) Stehli, lren (b. 1953) Stein , Stepanka {b. 1976) Stibor, Miloslav {b. 1927) Straka, Bohumil (1919-1998) Straka, Oldrich (1906-1983) Stratil , Vaclav (b . 1950)

Stremcha, Bohumil (1878-1966) Sudek, Josef (1896- 1976) SurOvka, Jiri (b. 1961) Svoboda, Jan(1934-1990) Sibik, Jan (b. 1963) Sigut, Jiri (b. 1960) Silpoch , Jan (b. 1957) Simanek, Dusan (b. 1948) Simanek, Vit (b. 1973) Simlova, Stepanka (b. 1966) Smirous, Karel (1890-1981) Smok, Jan (1921-1997) Snobl, Josef (b. 1954) Sperl , Daniel {b . 1966) Spl ichal , Jan (b. 1929) St'astny, Bohumil (1905-1991 ) Stecha, Pavel (1944-2004) Stembera, Petr (b. 1945) Stoch l, Slava (1913-1990) Streit, Jindrich (b. 1946) Styrsky, Jindrich (1899-1942) Svolik, Miro (b . 1960) Taborsky, Hugo (1911-1991) Teige , Karel (1900- 1951 ) Tereba , Stanislav (b. 1938) Tichy, Miroslav (b. 1926) Tmej , Zdenek (1920-2004)

Toman , Jiri (1924- 1972) Toyen (1902-1980) Trcka, Anton Josef (1893-1940) nestik, Tomas (b. 1978) Tama , Michal (b. 1947) Ta ma, Stanislav (1950- 2005) Vajd, Sasha (Aleksandra) (b. 1971) Valoch, Jiri (b. 1946) Valter, Karel (1909-2006) Vanek, Jindrich (1888-1965) Velkoborsky, Petr (b. 1938) Vepre k, Emil (1905-?) Virt, Zdenek (1925-2009) Visek , Jiri (b. 1960) Vobecky, Frantisek (1902- 1991 ) Vojtechovsky, Miroslav (b. 1947) Vorisek, Josef (1902- 1980) Vsetecka, Jiri (b. 1937) Wicpalek, Heinrich (1906-1997) Wiskovsky, Eugen (1888- 1964) Zapl etalova, Veronika (b. 1971 ) Zhor, Petr {b. 1948) Zych , Alois (1874-1943) Zykmund , Vaclav (1914-1984) Zidlicky, Vladimir {b . 1945)

Twentieth-century Czech Photography in Dates Vladimfr Birgus

1910

1914

The Czech photographer Karel Novak began to teach in the photography department of the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt , Vienna.

The Neobrom company set up a factory in Brno, Moravia. It was the first industrial manufacturer of photographic paper in the country.

Jaroslav Petrak's ieii svevtla a stinu: Problem umelecke fotografie v teorii a praxi (A Harvest of Light and Shadow: Problems of Art Photography in Theory and Practice) was published in Prague.

Anton Josef Trcka , a Czech photographer living in Vienna , made a series of expressive portraits of the Austrian painter Egon Schiele.

1911 1901 At the beginning of the new century, Czech photography was able to boast amateur photog raphic clubs in Prag e e"S and Pilsen, an organization of professional photogr (the Czech Photographic Society, est. 1882), and specialist magazines, of which Fotograficky ves tnik (The Photography Bulletin), which had been publis ed since 1890, and Fotograficky obzor {Photographic Horizon), published since 1893, were the best kno German amateur photographers in Bohemia and Mo " ·a had considerably more such photographic clubs (in Pra __e_ Liberec, Jablonec nad Jizerou, Teplice, Brno, Vi ovice, and Pernink near Carlsbad).

At the address Kolkovna , no. 920, Prague, Frantisek Drtikol began his trade as photographer in Prague. Drtikol and his associate Augustin Skarda published z dvoru a dvorecku stare Prahy (From Large and Little Courtyards of Old Prague), a collection of fifty oil-pigment prints. At an exhibition of the Czech Amateur Photographic Club (CKFA) in the Lucerna, Prague, Drtikol's photographs of nudes were publicly shown for the first time in Bohemia. A nude by Drtikol was also published in the seventh issue of Fotograficky obzor. On 12 November, legislation was passed , which stated that the making of photographic portraits was to be considered a trade.

Frantisek Drtikol was the first Czech photograp er to study at the Lehr- und Versuchsansta lt fur Photographie, Munich.

1912

1902

Jaroslav Petrak 's concise Dejiny fotografie (History of Photography) was published by Jiri Faustus in Pilsen as part of the lllustrovane prednasky (Il lu strated Lectures) series.

The first photograph was acqu ired for the collecti of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prag ue. tt was a daguerreotype of a young woman, made in the tJdio of Wilhelm Horn.

The illustrated Kralovske hlavni mesto Praha (Prague , the Capital of the Kingdom) , by Jan Posselt, was published in Prague.

1904

1913

On 5 October, the first number of Cesky s vet (The Bohemian World) came out. Edited by Kare l Hipman. -- s illustrated magazine was published in Prague.

Vladimir Jindrich Bufka's Katechismus fotografie (A Catechism of Photography) was published by Hejda and Tucek , Prague.

The first Czech amateur ph otograph ic club in Orion, was founded in Vyskov.

1916 The amateur photographer Jaroslav Petrak published his Zaklady umelecke fotografie (Basics of Art Photography).

1918 Josef Capek, a painter and writer, published the essay 'Fotografie' {Photography), in wh ich he discusses whether photography is an art. The creation of an independent Czechoslovakia on 28 October 1918 led quickly to the establishment of international artistic ties and the rapid development of an Avant-garde. Younger Czech artists gravitated increasingly to Paris as the centre of modern art, although for many the Russian and German Avant-garde proved to be equally fertile sources of inspiration.

1919 Drtikol's assistant Jaroslav Rossler made his Opus I, which is generally considered the first Avant-garde Czech photograph. On 8 December, the Association of Czechoslovak Amateur Photographic Clubs (Svaz ceskoslovenskych klubO fotograta amaterO) was founded at a plenary meeting in the Hotel Palace, Prague.

1920 On 10-11 April , the Association of German Photographic Societies in the Czechoslovak Republic (Verband deutscher Lichtbildnervereine in der Tschechoslowakischen Republik) was founded in Litomerice. It was initially based in Liberec, but later moved to Teplice.

1905 Karl Schinzel, the pioneer of colour photography. lived in Opava, submitted his first pate nt for develop· colour photographs.

The painter and writer Josef Capek published Nejskromnejsi umeni(The Humblest Art), a collection of essays on various topics , including photography.

1906 On 25 November, the Regional Assoc iat ion of Czec Photographers in the Kingdom of Bohem ia (Zems ·• svaz ceskych fotograta v Kralovstvi ceskem) was o eo in Prague to help to promote the interests cl professional photographers.

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Between 20 December and 31 January 1915, an exhibition marking the 75th anniversary of the invention of photography, organized by the Museum of Decorative Arts , was held at the Rudolfinum , Prague. A small catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition , with an essay by the curator, F. X. Jirik.

On 5 October, the Avant-garde Devetsil Art Society was founded in the Cale Union, Prague. Many of its members created 'picture poems ', in which they often used fragments of photographs.

1907

1921

Frantisek Drtikol opened his first photography studio. in Pribram.

1908

On 17 April, the Amateur Photographic Club in Brno (Klub fotograta amaterO v Brne) was founded. A year later, its name was changed to the Czech Amateur Photographic Club in Brno (Cesky klub fotograta amatera v Brne).

With the Weinfurter publishing house, Karel Wellner, a drawing instructor from Olomouc , published his Umelecka fotografie krajiny a nastin vyvoje krajinomalby (Landscape Art Photography and an Outline of the Development of Landscape Painting).

On 20 July, the Association of Czechoslovak Amateur Photographic Clubs started publishing the periodical Rozhledy fotografa amatera (The Amateur Photographer's Review) , edited by Frantisek Mrskos. In 1929, it merged with Fotograficky obzor.

RUDOLF VEVERKA, POSTER, ANNI VERSARY EXHIBITIONOF THE CZECH AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB IN PRAGUE, 1919

[ 361

In September, the State School of Graphic Arts (Statni odborna skola graficka) opened in Prague. The following year, its name was changed to the Central State Institute of Graphic Arts (Usti'edni statni ustav graficky), and in 1924 to the State School of Graphic Arts (Statni graficka skola). The photography department was led by Karel Novak, who had moved to Prague from Vienna . An independent photography class was established at the School of Typography in Brno. This was later to become the Trade School for Young Photographers (Odborna ucnovska skola pro fotograficky dorost).

Frantisek Drtikol exhibited his photographs in the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague. The Museum 's annual report stated that this provided the foundation for the collection of contemporary photography. The leading art historian , V. V. Stech, published 'Estetika fotografie' (Photographic Aesthetics) in Fotograficky obzor. In this theoretical essay, probably based on a lecture he gave in 1914, he casts doubt on whether photography has any artistic valu e.

1923 The Twelfth Members' Exhibition of the Czech Amateur Photographic Club was dominated by young photographers. These included Adolf Schneeberger, Josef Sudek, Jan Lauschmann , Jaroslav Fabinger, and Jaroslav Krupka . From 27 November to 4 December, an exhibition of twentyfour works of 'straight ' photography by Drahomir Josef Ruzicka , a Czech-American photographer, took place in the Czech Amateur Photographic Club (CKFA), Prague. It inspired numerous Czech photographers to abandon pigment processes in favour of straight photography.

Jaroslav Rossler was the on ly photographer to be invited (by Karel Teige) to become a member of the Devetsil Art Society. During this year, he created a number of abstract photographs featuring light in space. Together with works by Alvin Langdon Coburn , Christian Schad, Francis Bruguiere, and Man Ray, they are among the pioneering examples of the influence of abstract art in photography.

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At the 'Exposition lnternationale des Arts Decoratifs et lndustriels Modernes', Paris, Frantisek Drtikol was awarded the Grand Prize for a collection of his photographs.

In the second number of the Avant-garde Disk, the actor and playwright Jiri Voskovec published the essay ' Fotogenie a suprarealita' (Photogenie and Super-Reality). In thi s, he emphasized that 'photogenie is art '. The same issue of the magazine included the article 'Vitezna krasa fotografie' (The Winning Beauty of Photography), by Vilem Santholzer, reproductions of Devetsil members' picture poems, and Rossler 's abstract photography.

Augustin Skarda became the editor of Fotograficky obzor. He was to remain in this role until 1936, when Premysl Koblic took his place. Josef Sudek, Adolf Schneeberger, Jan Divis, and Jan Evangelista Purkyne were expelled from the Czech Amateur Photographic Club (CKFA). Many younger artists followed them. On 3 July, they founded the Prague Photographic Club (Fotoklub Praha), which promoted the principles of straight photography. This was the culmination of a generational conflict between conservative artists and more modern ones. Karel Teige published ' Foto kino film' (Photography, Cinema , Film) in the iivot II (Life II) miscellany, where he formulated the Avant-garde attitude to photography. He also brought Man Ray's rayographs from Les Champs delicieux to the attention of the Czech public. This was the first time these photograms were published outside France.

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1926

Drahomir Josef Ruzicka exhibited photographs by Edward Weston , Clarence Hudson White, and other American photographers in the Czech Amateur Photographic Club (CKFA). On 30 December, 'The First Exhibition of the Association of Czechoslovak Amateur Photographic Clubs' opened in the Krasoumna jednota (Fine Arts Union), Prague. Straight photography (made without recourse to further processing) was prevalent there.

1924 Rudolf Vejvoda's publishing house in Brno started publishing Foto Universum, a journal that was , from its inception until it closed down in 1935, edited by Milota Fanderlik. On 4 December the Czech Photographic Society (Ceska fotograficka spolecnost) was officially founded. It advocated straight photography, rejecting photographs made using pigment processes. Jaromir Funke and Josef Sudek, who had both been expelled from the Czech amateur photographic movement, were among its founding members. Its first chairman was Adolf Schneeberger. The Society did not belong to the Association of Czechoslovak Amateur Photographic Clubs, and was open to amateurs and professionals alike. Its exhibitions in 1926 and 1929 gave precedence to straight photography and rejected pigment processes. Its members published mostly in Foto magazine. Funke's photograph After the Carnival, fully expressed Constructivist composition , emphasizing the diagonal

1928, N o. 2

In Prague, the Avant-garde Abeceda (The Alphabet) was published. The volume featured the verse of Vitezslav Nezval, the typography of Karel Teige, and photographs by Karel M. Paspa depicting the dancer Milca Mayerova as she form ed the letters of the alphabet with her body. The book is a prime example of multimedia Avant-garde art.

In November and December, rayographs by Man Ray, picture poems by Jindrich Styrsky and Karel Teige, photographs from films , and photographs of fireworks were exhibited at the 'Modern Art Bazaar' (Bazar moderniho umeni) organized by Devetsil in the Rudolfinum , Prague.

On 2 November, the illustrated weekly Pestry tyden (A Colourful Week) was launched. Photography played a dominant role in it.

HISTORIE JEDNOHO LETA

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1925,

1927

1926 On 30 May, the Association of German Amateur Photographic Clubs in Czechoslovakia held a plenary session. The association was later reconstituted as the Deutscher Lichtbildner Verband in der Tschechoslowakischen Republik (German Association of Photographers in the Czechoslovak Republic), and was based in Novy Bor (Haida , in German). It brought together sixteen clubs , with 480 members. By 1932 this number had expanded to forty-eight clubs with about 2,000 members .

Photo-Ecke (Photo-Corner), the Sunday supplement to Bohemie, a German magazine published in Prague, was taken over by Kurt Libor. Libor, who was in charge till 1931 , used the magazine to publish articles on the aesthetics of photography, reports of events involving German and Czech amateur photographers, and technological innovations. On 1 July, the law on the professionalization of photography came into force, whereby only people properly trained in the field could work in the photographic trade.

The Sudetendeutscher Photograph (Sudeten German Photographer) began publication. Based in Marienbad, it was the monthly of the Reichsverband deutscher Photographen in der Tschechoslowakei (Association of German Photographers in Czechoslovakia) . The magazine, of limited ambition and with mostly club and trade news, ceased publish in g in 1930.

Druzstevni prace published Svaty Vit (Saint Vitus's), a portfolio of original photographs of St Vitus's Cathedral by Josef Sudek, with an article by the writer Jaroslav Durych.

D oMOVA SVl'T (H OME AN O A BROAO) ,

Jindrich Brichta, a cameraman and film histori an, was instrumental in establishing the Photography and Cinematography Section of the Technical Museum in Prague (later to become the National Technical Museum) and providing it with an important collection of photographic and film technology.

1928

From 9 to 27 March , the 'First International Salon of Photography in Prague' was held. Among the 272 participants from twenty-eight countries were Hugo Erfurth, Franz Fiedler, Rudolf Koppitz, Jan Bulhak, Max Thorek , Jiri Jenicek, Jaroslav Krupka , Drahomir Josef Ruzicka , and Karel Novak. It was largely Pictorialist, and its conservative spirit , which was criticized by the writer Jiri Jenicek, set the tone for future Prague salons of photography.

Drahomir Josef Ruzicka exhibited his latest work in the Czech Amateur Photographic Club in Prague. Jaromir Funke gave the exhibition an enthusiastic review in Fotograficky obzor.

V oJTeCH T 1TTE LBACH, THE COVER OF THE MAGAZINE

1922

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The beginning of the best known period of Drtikol's work. At this time , his highly original pictures of nudes against backgrounds of geometric decoration or cast shadows met with success at dozens of exhibitions worl dwide. This period lasted until 1930.

1925 In August, Josef F. Rimpler 's publishing house in Novy Bor (Haida) launched Das Lichtbild, the monthly of German photographers in Czechoslovakia.

The third Devetsil exhibition took place in the Kraso umna jednota (Fine Arts Union) at the Rudolfinu m, Prague. It presented numerous picture poems, photographs, and photograms , and included works by Jaroslav Rossler, Jiri Voskovec, and Man Ray. The Czech Photographic Society (Ceska fotograficka spolecnost) held its first exhibition in Prague. It featu red exclusively straight photographs by Funke, Sudek, Schneeberger, and other members.

1927 The first issue of ReD (Revue Devetsil) was published in Prague. This Avant-garde periodical employed mostly modern photography and collage. Josef Sudek opened his studio at Ujezd , no. 28, Prague. A Drtikol exhibition began to tour American cities, including Syracuse, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland , and Akron. The Lidove novinydaily newspaper started to publish a regular column on photography. From November to December, Fotograficky obzor published a debate between advocates of pigment processes and straight photography, with Jan Lauschmann , Josef Subr and Premysl Koblic taking part. The debate was precipitated by the article 'Proti proudu' (Against the Stream), by Rudolf Pad'ouk. Jaroslav Rossler moved with his family to Paris. He remained there until 1935, working for several advertising studios.

From 27 May to 10 June, a number of photographs by Josef Slansky and Josef Dasek were shown at the Fourth Exhibition of the Amateur Photographic Club in Mlada Boleslav. Their photography was characterized by the spirit of New Objectivity and Functionalism , and this is true to some extent also of works by several other members who were influenced , at least in part , by the New Photography. The Club exhibition continued in this trend the following year. The fourth number of the magazine Rozpravy Aventina (The Newsletter of the Aventinum publishing house) ran an article by Pierre Mac Orlan , 'Tvurci sila literarniho umeni a fotografie,' a Czech translation of his 'L'art litteraire d'imagination et la photographie' from the same year. This formulated a new aesthetics of photography which close ly drew on Surrealism.

1929

Melantrich , Prague, published Josef Saudek's first book, Praha (Prague). On 19 November, the first night was held of Synge's Riders to the Sea at the National Theatre , Brno. Instead of stage props , the director Emil Frantisek Burian and set designer Zdenek Rossmann used projections of abstract photography with light and shadow by Jaromir Funke.

1930 On 13 May, an exhibition entitled 'New Photography' opened in the Aventinska mansarda (the garret gallery of the Aventinum publishing house), Prague. The first collecti ve presentation of Avant-garde photography in the Czechoslovak capital , it was organized by Alexandr Hackenschmied and his friends Eugen Wiskovsky, Jaromir Funke, Jaroslav Rossler, Jiri Lehovec, Ladislav Emil Berka, and Josef Sudek. A similar exhibition was organized at the same location in January 1931. Scientific photography was included in both exhibitions. Jaromir Funke began to work on his Surrealist set of photographs Time Persists. From 5 June to 5 August , works by Ladislav Emil Berka, Alexandr Hackenschmied, Josef Sudek, and Karel Teige were shown at 'Das Lichtbild ' in Munich. A considerable part of this international exhibition consisted of works previously shown at 'Film und Foto', Stuttgart, in 1929. Promberger, Olomouc, published Rudolf Pad'ouk's Umelecka fotografie a jeji tvorba (Art Photography and How to Make It). The book is a defence of Pictorialist photography.

FOTOGRAFICKY OBZOR

The album Les nus de Drtikol was published by the Librairie des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, with an article by Claude de Santeu l. The Moravian Avant-garde journal Index was launched. During its existence, it published many photographs and photomontages. From 18 May to 7 July, photomontages and photographs by Czech artists such as Bohuslav Fuchs, Josef Hausenblas, Evzen Markalous, Zdenek Rossmann , and Karel Teige were shown at the 'Film und Foto' exhibition, Stuttgart. The most important Czech Avant-garde photographers, Jaroslav Rossler and Jaromir Funke, were not included. On 19 May, the Deutscher Lichtbildner-Verband in der Tschechoslowakischen Republik (Federation of German Photographers in Czechoslovakia) held its general meeting in Brno and launched an exhibition attended by 125 photographers from twenty-one clubs , and showing 314 photographs. Straight photography was predominant, but oil-pigment prints were also shown. From his original Collars, Eugen Wiskovsky created Lunar Landscape, and composed other details of static objects in the style of New Objectivity, in which he included pictorial metaphors and analogies of form. The Czech Photographic Society (Ceska fotograficka spolecnost) founded the Czech Studio (Geske studio), which specialized in modern photography and film. Its members worked together with Studio magazine.

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SRPEN 1930 - PRAHA - CENA 350 KC TH E COVER OF TH E MONTHLY F OTOGRAF/CKY OBZOR (PH OTOG RAP HIC REVI EW) WITH A PHOTOG RAPH BY A LEXAN DR H ACKENSC HMIED,

1930, NO. 8

Karel Teige published 'Modern[ fotografie' in nos 39 and 40 of Rozpravy Aventina, in which he enthusiastically discusses what he saw at the 'Film und Foto' exhibition in Stuttgart. In Brno, the architect Bohuslav Fuchs published at his own expense Masaryktiv studentsky domov (The Masaryk Halls of Residence), with Functionalist photographs by Jaromfr Funke.

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In November, the photographer and film-maker Alexandr Hackenschmied showed his short film Bezucelna prochazka (Aimless Walk) at the first Czechoslovak presentation of Avant-garde films in the Kotva cinema, Prague. Hackenschmied 's film drew heavily on the Avantgarde in terms of composition.

1933 After Hitler came to power in Germany, John Heartfield, a Berlin-based maker of political photomontage, emigrated to Prague . There , he continued to publish in the Arbeiter 11/ustrierte Zeitung weekly (from 1936 onwards , called Die Volks 11/ustrierte Zeitung) , whose editors also moved to Prague along with the management of the Malik publishing house. Heartfield 's works appear also in the Czech weeklies Svet prace (The World of Work) and Spanelsko (Spain), as well as in books by various Czech publishers. He also created photomontages for Hasek's Good Soldier Svejkfor the Synek publishing house. Heartfield remained in Prague until 1938, and then left for Great Britain.

1931 On 3 January, the German graphic artist Jan Tschichold gave a lecture in Prague on photomontage , and repeated it two days later in Brno. A high-quality photographic annual entitled Ceskoslovenska fotografie (Czechoslovak Photography) was launched. It had the same editorial board as Fotograficky obzor and was headed by Augustin Skarda. Karel Pizl started to publish and edit Fotograficky zpravodaj (Photography Newsletter). For ten years this would bring news of innovations in photographic equipment. The German edition , Photographische Nachrichten, was published from 1931 to 1938. From 17 to 31 January, work by Avant-garde photographers such as Funke, Wiskovsky, and Lehovec dominated the second ' Modern Photography Exhibition' in the garret gallery of the Aventinum publishing house. Unlike the first exhibition from the previous year, it also showed photomontages. The review of the exh ibition in Fotograficky obzor was extremely critical. In Ceska Lipa (Bohmisch Leipa) , Johann Kunstner began to publish Der Deutsche Photograph (German Photographer) , a specialist magazine for German photographers and shopkeepers dealing in photographic equipment in Czechoslovakia. Between 1931 and 1934, Kunstner also published the Lichtbildner Ka/ender (Photography Almanac). The Film & Photo Group of the Left Front (Film-foto skupina Leve fronty), headed by Lubomir Linhart, was founded in Prague. The Brno chapter was led by the architect and theorist Frantisek Kalivoda . In New York, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences held an exhibition of Frantisek Drtikol's work. This was later held in other cities.

RUDOLF KOHN'S MATKA 1933-34

A DiTI!

(MOTHER AND CH ILD) ALBUM,

In May, the Association of Czechoslovak Amateur Photographic Clubs had 4,445 members , from seventyseven photographic clubs (inclu ding nine from Slovakia). Jaromir Funke began to teach externally at the School of Arts and Crafts and the Trade Schools in Bratislava. In November, in Geske Budejovice , the Avant-garde group Linie (Line) published the first number of its eponymous magazine, which would continue till 1938. The photographers Pavel Altschul, Frantisek lllek, and Alexandr Paul founded the Press Photo Service in Prague.

1932 'The Modern Spirit in Photography' exhibition in London displayed works by photographers such as Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Andre Kertesz , Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Henri Cartier-B resson. Czech photographers were also well represented with works by Frantisek Drtikol , Josef Sudek, Jaromir Funke, Jan Lauschmann , and Jiri Jenicek. The architect Jiri Kroha and his pupils began to create the propaganda coll ages of the set Sociologicky fragment bydlenf(A Sociological Fragment of Housing). From 27 August to 11 September, 'The First National Exhibition of Professional Photographers' was held at the Regional Exhibition Halls in Brno, with a total of 358 pictu re s.

From 22 April to 5 May, the Film & Photo Group of the Left Front , led by Lubomir Linhart, organized the 'International Exhibition of Social Documentary Photography' in the Palais Metro, Prague. Emphasizing the social and propaganda functions of photography, the exhibition was next shown in Brno and a second exhibition followed in 1934. Pavel Altschul became the publisher and editor-in -chief of Svetozor (Global View), a progressive illustrated weekly in which photography held a prominent position , until 1939. The Royal Photographic Society in London prepared an exhibition of works by Frantisek Drtikol. Karel Capek illustrated his book Dasenka, cili iivot stenete (Dashenka , or the Life of a Puppy) with his own photographs. In November, the first issue of Fotografie (Photography), a fortnightly journal printed in photogravure , was published by Schultz, Prague. Its picture editor was Vaclav Cerny and its articles were edited by Karel Hermann. The journal was closed down by the Germans in May 1941. Jindrich Styrsky 's Emilie prichazi ke mne ve snu (Emi lie Comes to Me in a Dream) , illustrated with his erotic collages, became the sixth publication in the Edice 69 collectors' series from Prague.

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In Prague, Fotograf (Photographer) magazine began publication under the editorship of Jaroslav Dlohoska. It was closed down in 1942. In October, an exhibition of works by Jaromir Funke was held at the Krasna jizba Druzstevni prace in Prague. On 26 October, 'A Photo Exhibition of Three: Experimental Photographs, Photomontages, Photograms , Photos, and Advertising Photographs' opened in the Amateur Photographic Club, Olomouc. It featured experimental works by Karel Kasparik, Otakar Lenhart, and Jaromir Nohel.

1936 From 12 January to 2 February, the leading reportage photographer, Karel Hajek, exhibited his work at the Prague Central Library.

THE COVER OF THE PERIODICAL SveTOZOR (GLOBAL V1EW), 1934

1934 On 21 March, the Group of Surrealist in Czechoslovakia (Skupina surrealistu v CSR) was founded in Prague . Many of its members (for example, Jindrich Styrsky, Karel Teige, and Jindrich Heisler) made photographs and photomontages. In April , the Manes exhibition hall in Prague showed John Heartfield 's anti-Nazi collages in the ' International Exhibition of Political Caricature'. This sparked protests from the German ambassador to Czechoslovakia, which was followed by a large debate in the press about artistic freedom. From 19 to 30 May, the first exhibition of the Brno-based Avant-garde Group of Five (Fotoskupina peti) took place in the Krasna jizba Druzstevni prace , Prague. The core of the group - Josef Jiri Kamenicky, Bohumil Nemec, Jaroslav Nohel, Frantisek Povolny, and Hugo Taborsky - were pupils of Emanuel Hrbek at the School of Applied Arts (Skola umeleckych remesel) in Brno.

From 6 March to 13 April , the 'International Exhibition of Photography' was held at the Manes gallery, Prague . In addition to photographs by Czechoslovaks, it also included works by Man Ray, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, John Heartfield, Raoul Hausmann , Hans Bellmer, Brett Weston, Alexander Rodchenko , and Boris lgnatovich. In all , 608 photographs were exhibited , of which 340 were from Czechoslovakia.

In South Africa , the City Art Gallery, Durban , and the Arts Hall, Port Elisabeth, exhibited work by Frantisek Drtikol. From 21 November to 5 December, the Linie (Line) Group organized an exhibition of photographs and typography in Geske Budejovice. Apart from works by Linie members , the exhibition also included works by Ladislav Sutnar and teachers and students of the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague. On 18 December, the Photography Section of the Manes Art Society was convened for the first time. Among its members were Jaromir Funke, Jiri Lehovec, Josef Sudek, Jindrich Styrsky and Frantisek Vobecky.

1937 From 8 to 27 May, Jaromir Fun ke, Miroslav Hak, Jiri Lehovec, Alexandr Paul , Frantisek Povolny, Josef Sudek , Jindrich Styrsky, and Frantisek Vobecky presented their work at the photography part of 'An Exhibition of the Czechoslovak Avant-garde'. It was organized by E. F. Burian's D 37 theatre at the Svaz ceskeho dila (a Czech version of the Deutscher Werkbund). The Czech photographer and ethnographer Karel Plicka's Slovensko (Slovakia) was published in Turciansky Svaty Martin, Slovakia.

In Brno , Frantisek Kalivoda published the only issue of the magazine Te/ehor, which was devoted entirely to the work of Moholy-Nagy. The local German photographic club in Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) organized the conservative First International Art Photography Exhibition (1. lnternational e kunstphotographische Ausstellung in Karlsbad). In all , 492 photographs by 305 photographers from 32 countryes were exhibited.

Lubomir Lin hart's Marxist work Socialnf fotografie (Social Documentary Photography) was published in the 'Film foto edice' of the Left Front. THE COVER OF THE WEEKLY P ESTRY TYOEN (A COLOUR FUL WEEK) WITH A PHOTOGRAPH BY BOHUMIL StASTNY, 1938, NO. 35

1938

1935

From 22 February to 3 April , members of the Photography Section of the Manes Art Society (Jaromfr Funke, Jiri Lehovec, Frantisek Pekar, Josef Sudek, Jindrich Styrsky, and Frantisek Vobecky) presented their work at the ' Photography' exhibition in the Manes gallery, Prague.

In January and February, J indrich Styrsky presented his Frog Man and Man With Blinkers at the ' First Exhibition of the Group of Surrealists in Czechoslovakia'. In February, Jaromir Funke began to teach at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague. In spring, together with his colleague, Josef Ehm, and the School 's director, Ladislav Sutnar, he played a large part in publishing Fotografie vidi povrch (Photography Sees the Surface).

THE COVER OF LuBOMiR LINHART'S S0c1ALNi FOTOGRAFIE, (SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY), A LEFT FRONT EDITION, PRAGUE, 1934

For the Synek publishing house in Prague, John Heartfield created photomontages for Hasek's Good Soldier Svejk.

From 15 to 29 March , the 'Seventh Linie Exhibition ', which included the Photography Group of Five from Brno, was held at the Better Business Institute (Ustav pro zvelebovani zivnosti) in Geske Budejovice. Moholy-Nagy exhibited collections of photographs , photomontages , pictures , sculptures and drawings; Styrsky showed Surrealist photographs and collages.

Coll ages by the German artist Hannah Hoch were exhibited in the Masaryk Halls of Residence, Brno.

On 15 October, Josef Sudek 's first solo exhibition took place in the Krasna jizba Druzstevni prace (a showroom of home furnishings made in the cooperative), Prague. It included landscape, portrait, and advertising photographs from 1919-32. At the beginning of November, Sudek was accepted into the Umelecka beseda arts society.

J1NDA1cH STYRSKY, THE covER OF EDUARD RADA's 0N, ONA , ON! (H1M, HER, AND THEM), 1931

Ro f nfk 34 · Cr sl o 6 - V P r azc dn e 8 . Uno r a 1034 • Ce n a 3 K e

Ahoj na nedeli (Hello on Sunday), a new Prague weekly, gradually became a source of employment for many of the leading Czech photojournalists , including Karel Hajek, Slava Stochl , Jan Lukas, Vaclav Jiru, Oldrich Straka, Ladislav Sitensky, and Zdenek Tmej.

In Prague , the Czech Amateur Photographic Club held the first exhibition of colour photographs.

From 20 November to 4 December, the Linie artists' group organized the 'Exhibition of New Photography: Photo, Photogram, Typophoto, Photomontage' at the Better Business Institute (Ustav pro zvelebovani zivnosti) in Geske Budejovice (Budweis). In add ition to Linie members such as Josef Bartuska, Oldrich Nouza, Ada Novak, and Karel Valter, a number of progressive German amateur photographers from Geske Budejovice also took part . Among them were Ferry Klein, Heinrich Wicpalek , and Resl Chalupa.

PTITOZOR

In dramatic circumstances , Jaroslav Rossler returned to Prague from Paris. The following year he opened a studio for family portraits.

In June, the KOnstlerhaus in Brno held an exhibition of works by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Organized with his friend , the architect Frantisek Kalivoda , Moholy-Nagy 's exhibition was also held at the School of Applied Arts in Bratislava and as part of the Fotolinie and the Group of Fi ve exhibitions in Geske Budejovice.

A book of Drtikol's nudes, Zena ve svetle (Woman in Light) , was published by Eduard Beaufort, Prague , with an article by J. R. Marek. On 12 September, 'Steel ', an exhibition of photographs by Vladimir Hipman, opened at the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague.

JOHN HEARTFIELD, THE COVER OF THE PERIODICAL SveT VOBRAZECH(T HE WORLD IN PICTURES), 1938, NO. 1.

Index, Olomouc , published Pfsmo a fotografie v reklame (Photography and Type in Advertising), a book by the former Bauhaus student Zdenek Rossmann.

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1940

After the German army occupied the rest of Bohemia and Moravia on 15 March, many leading artists we re arrested and imprisoned or deported to concentration camps. Several Czech dailies and magazines were closed down. Of the 2,218 Czech, German, and foreign-language periodicals published in Bohemia and Moravia, 1,887 were now either closed or taken over by others. Among the photographers who died at the hands of the Germans during the war we re Pavel Altschul, Jaroslav Fabinger, Rudolf Kohn, Otmar Schick, and Otto Schlosser.

In April, the Zadruha publishing house launched the periodical Praha v tydnu (The Week in Prague), with photographs by, for instance, Karel Ludwig , Zdenek Tmej , Jan Lukas, Karel Drbohlav, and Miroslav Hak. It was closed down in 1944.

The photographers Jan Lukas and Vera Gabrielova were among those to show their work at the first exhibition by the Sedm v rfjnu (Seven in October) group.

Josef Sudek began to restrict himself almost exclusively to making contact prints rather than enlargements of his photographs. He also started to work on a series called The Window of My Studio.

On 10 October, the U Medvidku Gallery in Prague launched its exhibition 'Photo Group of Four: Photography, Montage, Experiments, Photograms', with works by the Olomouc photographers Karel Kaspai'ik, Otakar Lenhart, and Jaroslav Nohel, and their Brno colleague Bohumil Nemec. On 14 October, Josef Ehm, a photographer and teacher at the State School of Graphic Arts, Prague, became Editorin-Chief of Fotograficky obzor. Togethe r with Jaromir Funke and articles by Eugen Wiskovsky and Karel Jicinsky, Ehm managed to modernize this conservative journal. The trend continued even under the German occupation , until both Ehm and Funke were dismissed in March 1941. Beaufort, Prague, published Sto let fotografie (A Hundred Years of Photography) by the historian of photography Rudolf Skopec. On 26 October, the large exhibition 'A Hundred Years of Czech Photography' (Sto let ceske fotografie) was organized at the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague. It presented over 1,000 photographs, both historical and contemporary, and was accompanied by a 180-page catalogue. Funke's pupil Vilem Kriz published Krasa nepomijejfcf (Imperishable Beauty), a Surrealistic collection of original photographs.

The Ceska graficka unie (Czech Graphic Art Association), Prague, published Praha ve fotografii Karla P/icky (Prague in the Photographs of Karel Plicka). It was later republished in several editions.

In November, the eleventh issue of Fotograficky obzor was devoted entirely to Avant-garde photography. Edited by Josef Ehm and Jaromir Funke, it published works by Josef Bartuska, Ehm, Funke, Miroslav Hak, Frantisek Vobecky, and Eugen Wiskovsky. The pictures were accompanied by 'Od fotogramu k emoci' (From the Photogram to Emotion), a theoretical essay by Funke.

1941 Na jehlach techto dnf (On the Tenterhooks of These Days), a collection of Jindi'ich Styrsky's Surrealist photographs and Jindrich Heisler's verse, was secretly published in Prague. It was then published by Borovy after the Liberation in 1945. After the March issue of Fotograficky obzor, Robert Antonin Simon succeeded Ehm and Funke as Editor-inChief. Until his death in April 1943, Simon had the magazine specialize in photography of Czech people and institutions and ethnography. Jindi'ich Heisler and Toyen published Z kasemat spanku (The Casemates of Sleep) in the underground 'Edice Surrealismu' (Surrealism series). This book innovatively combines words and photographs in 'poems brought to life' (realizovane basne). The magazines Fotografie, Spoust; Fotograficky zpravodaj, and Foto-Noviny were closed down.

1942 Roztrhane panenky (Torn Dolls) was published underground by members of the Ra Group (Skupina Ra). The book includes photographs by Milos Korecek, Jaroslav Puchmertl, Vilem Reichmann, and Vaclav Zykmund. While a forced labourer for the Reich in Breslau, Zdenek Tmej, a young photographer, started to make a unique collection of photographs documenting the life of young men torn from their homes. A selection of this work was published as Abeceda dusevnfho prazdna (The ABCs of a Spiritual Void) in December 1945. Styrsky, Heisler, and Toman presented their collages to Toyen on her birthday in the Surrealist collection iivot zacfna ve ctyriceti (Life Begins at Forty). On 27 November, the 42 Group (Skupina 42) was founded in Prague. The sole photographer amongst its members was Miroslav Hak.

THE DUST JACKET OF P RAHA VE FOTOGRAF/1 KARLA PUCKY (PRAGUE IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF KAREL PLICKA) , PRAGUE: CESKA GRAFICKA UNIE, 1940

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1943 Modern[ ceska fotografie (Modern Czech Photography) was published in Prague in fifty copies. The portfolio

included ten original signed photographs by Ehm, Funke, Hak, Plicka, and Sudek, with an introduction by Teige. Rudolf Janda's Prales v Beskydach (The Ancient Forest in the Beskids) was published by the Czech Graphic Art Association , Prague.

Jindi'ich Heisler Jindrich Styrsky

Na jehlach tichto dn{

In August, the Arts Centre, Brno, launched the exh ibition 'The Nuremberg Trials and the Trial of Karl Hermann Frank', with photographs mostly by Karel Hajek.

From 30 August to 19 September, the Topic Salon , Prague, held an exhibition of works by Skupina 42, including Miroslav Hak's photographs.

Jindi'ich Heisler and Toyen chose to remain in Paris indefinitely, and joined the Surrealist circle around Andre Breton.

1944

The Ceskoslovenske filmove nakladatelstvi published Miroslav Hak's Ocima (Through the Eyes) and Vaclav Jiru's Rat, as well as two works by Jirf Jenicek: Fotografie jako zrenf sveta a zivota (Photography as a Way of Viewing the World and Life), a history of Czech photography and its theoretical background , and Vvahy o fotografii (Thoughts on Photography), concerning matters of technique and style.

The State School of Graphic Arts, Prague, was closed down, and did not re-open till after the war.

Vyhruiny kompas (Menacing Compass) was published privately in typescript by the Ra Group. It includes a poem by Ludvik Kundera and photographs of the 'reve lries ' (fadenlJ organized by Vaclav Zykmund. After the ninth issue of the year, the oldest Czech photography journal, dating back to 1893, Fotograficky obzor, was closed down.

1945 In April, in the recently liberated city of Budapest, Jindi'ich Marco started working on his large collection of photographs documenting the return to normal life in war-ravaged European cities. From 5 to 9 May, Vaclav Chochola, Svatopluk Sova, Slava Stochl, Emil Fafek, Karel Ludwig, Karel Hajek, and others, took dramatic pictures of the Prague Uprising. Many of these photos we re reproduced in books such as the Kvetnova revoluce: Obrazovy pamatnfk hrdinstvf a slavy (The May Revolution : A Pictorial History of Heroism and Glory), published by Melantrich.

Svet v obrazech (The World in Pictures), the successor to the magazine Pestry tyden (A Colourful Week), was launched in Prague immediately after the Liberation. The Union of Photographic Associations in Bohemia and Moravia resumed publication of Vestnfk fotografu (Photographers' Bulletin). In 1947, it was renamed Zpravodaj fotografu (Photography Bulletin). In October, Prace, Prague, began to publish Fotografie (Photography) magazine. On 27 October, the Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) was founded in Prague by a decree of the Czechoslovak President, Edvard Benes. Regular teaching , however, did not begin until 1947. At the Film Facu lty of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU), photography was taught by Karel Plicka as a part of instruction in cinematography. Ninety clubs came together in the Association of Czechoslovak Photographic Clubs (Svaz ceskoslovenskych klubu fotografu). German photographic clubs in Czechoslovakia were closed down. In December, Sfinx, Prague, published Prazsky hrad (Prague Castle) with photographs by Josef Sudek. Two years later, the same edition was published in London as Magic in Stone. The Czech Graphic Arts Association published Prace je iiva (Work is Alive) by Vladimir Hipman. This comprises 170 pictures of work in factories, in mines, and on construction sites.

the catalogue, which contains twenty-four photographs and an introduction by Karel Teige , in which he outlines the development of Czechoslovak photography. The introduction was republished in April 1948 as 'Cesty ceskoslovenske fotografie ' (The Roads Taken by Czechoslovak Photography) in Blok, a Brno-based journal.

COVER OF JINDRICH STYRSKY AND JINDAICH HEISLER'$ NA JEHLACH TtCHTO DNi (ON THE NEEDLES OF THESE DAYS), PRAGUE: FRANTl$EK BoROVY, 1945

On 4 November, the 'International Surrealism' exhibition opened in the Topic Salon, Prague. It was curated by Jaroslav Heisler. On 18 December, the Manes Art Society (S.V.U. Manes) decided to establish special sections for each of the fine arts. Josef Sudek, Tibor Honty, and Josef Prasek were entrusted with re-establishing the photography section.

1946

1948

The monthly Ceskoslovenska fotografie (Czechoslovak Photography) was launched as a kind of a substitute for Fotograficky obzor.

The Communist putsch in late February led to the end of democracy in Czechoslovakia and, shortly thereafter, the closure of the magazines Fotografie (Photography) and Zpravodaj fotografu (Photography Bulletin), leaving only Ceskoslovenska fotografie. Censorship was introduced, resulting in the withdrawal of many books and magazines from public libraries, reduced publishing opportunities, and the closing down of several publishing houses. Art clubs and creative groups were superseded by the ideologically hard-line Czechoslovak Association of Fine Artists (Svaz ceskoslovenskych vytvarnych umelcu).

From 4 to 14 April, an exhibition of Czechoslovak photography took place in Stockho lm. Among its twenty participants were Josef Sudek, Miroslav Hak, and Jii'i Jenicek. The exhibition was later held in Gothenburg, Oslo, and Copenhagen. On 3 May, the 'P rague Uprising' exhibition opened at the Czech Arts and Crafts Association (Svaz ceskeho dila), Prague. It was organized by Jirf Jenicek and Erich Einhorn. Melantrich , Prague, published Zeme a lide (The Land and People), a book of lyrical photographs by Jan Lukas. Also this year, a version in English was published as Light and Shade by Lincoln-Pragers, in London.

1947 From 11 January to 9 February, the Skupina Ra (Ra Group) exhibition was held in the Arts Centre Brno (Oum umeni mesta Brna). Photographs were shown by Vilem Reichmann, Vaclav Zykmund, and Milos Korecek. The exhibition was later held in Prague, Hradec Kralove, Mlada Boleslav, and Budapest. On 24 May, the 'First National Exhibition of the Association of Czechoslovak Amateur Photographic Clubs' opened at the Olomouc Town Hall. On 31 July, an exhibition called 'Modern Photography in Czechoslovakia' was opened by Theodor Korner, the Mayor of Vienna, at the Museum tor angewandte Kunst in Vienna . It was organized by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Information and included works by Jaromir Funke, Jindrich Styrsky, Eugen Wiskovsky, Josef Sudek, Josef Ehm, Miroslav Hak, Jii'i Sever, Vilem Reichmann, Milos Korecek, and Tibor Honty. The exhibition then trave lled to Zurich . Orbis , Prague, published

The sixth edition of the Brno magazine Blok was almost entirely devoted to photography. Teige's article 'Cesty ceskoslovenske fotografie' (The Roads Taken by Czechoslovak Photography) elicited a response from the Swiss architect, designer, artist Max Bill, 'Je fotografie umenim? ' (Is Photography Art?), to which Teige replied with 'Foto a umeni' (Photography and Art) and Frantisek Povolny with the article 'Spolecenska funkce fotografie' (The Social Function of Photography). Publication of the magazine was discontinued the following year. The following books were published in 1948: Praha (Prague), by Josef Sudek; Krasy plna, slavou i kletbou bohata ... Praho! (0 Prague! Full of Beauty, Endowed with Glory, and Curses Too), by Josef Ehm; Anglie slovem i obrazem (Eng land in Words and Pictures) and Praha romanticka (Romantic Prague), by Jindrich Marco; Praha jasem okrfdlena (Prague , On Wings of Light) , by Jii'i Jenicek; Fotografie (Photography), by Karel Ludwig ; and Nove cesty fotografie (New Paths in Photography), by Karel Herman. Most of these books were prepared before the Communist takeover.

1949 A photography section was founded within the Central Association of Czechoslovak Fine Artists (Usti'edni svaz ceskoslovenskych vytvarnych umelcu). Josef Sudek,

Josef Prasek , Tibor Honty, Jindi'ich Brok, and Josef Ehm were among its first members. Private photographic studios began to be transformed into cooperatives. 'An Exhibition of Folk Art and Crafts and Photography' was held at the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague.

1950 In January, the Czechoslovak Association of Fine Artists began to publish its monthly Vytvarne umenf (Fine Art). In March , publication of Ceskos/ovenska fotografiewas discontinued, and in July publication began of the monthly Nova fotografie (New Photography), which was even more rigorous in its ideological approach. In its first issue it attacked work by Josef Ehm , Frantisek Vobecky, and Jii'i Jenicek as examples of 'decadent bourgeois photography'. In June, the Czechoslovak Photographic Association (Ceskoslovensky fotograficky svaz) became the Czechoslovak Association of Socialist Photography (Ceskoslovensky svaz socialisticke fotografie) under the direct control of the Ministry of Information and Public Education. The photographic clubs of the former association became a part of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement (Revolucni odborove hnuti, ROH).

THE COVER OF THE PERIODICAL NovA FOTOGRAFIE (NEW PHOTOGRAPHY) WITH A PHOTO BY IVAN NEl$L, 1951,N07

1951 Prace, Prague, published Socialisticka fotografie (Socialist Photography), a small manual for the members of the Czechoslovak Association of Socialist Photography. It was the collective effort of seven authors, but Frantisek Dolezal penned the key part, which concerns ideological and historical matters. In Brno, teaching began at the photography department of the Vyssi skola umeleckeho prumyslu (Co llege of Decorative Arts). Its equivalent today is the Skola umeleckych i'emesel (School of Design).

j

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1955 Ceskoslovenska fotografie published Jiri Jenicek's articles about Drtikol, Sudek, and Funke. This was the first time in several years that the work of these classics of Czech interwar photography had been discussed in print. In April , Vecernf Praha (Prague Evening News) was launched. Erich Einhorn, who would be its picture editor until 1959, advocated the use of candid photographs of real-life.

1956 The State Publishing House for Belle-lettres, Music, and Art (Statni nakladatelstvi krasne literatury, hudby a umeni, SNKLHU), Prague, published a large monograph on Josef Sudek with an introduction by Lubomir Linhart. The book provides an expert appraisal of the then greatest living Czech photographer. It was also the first time in six years that photographic nudes were published in Czechoslovakia .

them a THE COVER OF FRANTISEK DOLEZALS THEMA V NOV£ FOTOGRAF/1 (THE THEME IN NEW PHOTOGRAPHY), PRAGUE: OsvETA, 1952

1952 Prace, Prague, published the book Thema v nave fotografii (The Theme in New Photography) by Frantisek Dolezel, the leading Czech proponent of Social Realism in photography. In issue No. 11 of Nova fotografie, the Marxist theorist Lubomir Linhart condemns the book as a vulgar tract.

The May and November issues of Ceskoslovenska fotografie contain articles with positive reviews of 'The Family of Man ' exhibition , curated by Edward Steichen, at the Museum of Modern Art , New York. An exhibition of works by Erich Einhorn was held at the main Prague Post Office. The public were intrigued by the imaginative portrayal of everyday life. On 5 December, the Dom kino (Cinema Centre), Moscow, launched the first large exhibition of Czechoslovak photography in the Soviet Union . A total of 503 photographs were shown , by, among others , Josef Sudek, Tibor Honty, Erich Einhorn , and Karel Plicka. The exhibition then moved on to other cities in the USSR, including Leningrad , Riga, and Kiev.

opened in the Ales Hall (Alsova sin) of the Arts Society (Umelecka beseda), Prague. Orbis attempted to revive the tradition of photographic an nuals by publishing Fotorok 1958 (The Year in Photography, 1958). This , however, had only a single successor : Fotorok 1959. Works by many Czechoslovak photographers won awards at Expo 58 in Brussels and Josef Svoboda's innovative methods of projecting film and photography on multiple screens and the Laterna Magica theatre also met with an exceptionally positive response. On the whole , the Czechoslovak pavilion at Expo 58 proved a great success. In September, the DOFO artists' group started to form in Olomouc. Its members, such as Antonin Gribovsky, Vojtech Sapara, Jaromir Kohoutek, Jaroslav Vavra , Jan Hajn , Rupert Kytka , and lvo Precek, aimed at making poetic art photography of everyday life, and reacted to various current trends in the visual arts. On 4 November, the Funke Photography Centre (Kabinet fotografie Jaromira Funkeho) opened in Podebrady House (Dum pa.nu z Podebrad; in 1960, the name of the building was changed to Dum panu z Kunstatu or Kunstat House.) The exhibition was organized by Adolf Kroupa, director of the Brno Arts Centre (Dum umeni mesta Brna). After Fotochema in Prague, this was the second gallery in Czechoslovakia to specialize in photography. In December, SNKLHU launched the 'Umelecka fotografie' (A rt Photography) book series. The first volume in the se ries is Henri Cartier-Bresson, by Anna Farova. By 1988 , the series had 43 volumes, presenting Czechoslovak and foreign photographers. It was one of the first series in the world to publish books devoted to the works of photographers.

1953 The magazine Nova fotografie (New Photography) was terminated. In its place, the Ministry of Culture renewed publication of Ceskos/ovenska fotografie at the Orbis publishing house, to be edited by Jaroslav Spousta. Orbis published the book Krasy myslivosti (The Beauty of Hunting) by Karel Hajek.

Ceskoslovenska fotografie published three important articles by Jan Smok: 'Konec strasidel' (No More Bogeymen), 'Definice fotografickeho umeni' (A Definition of the Art of Photography), and 'Umelecky obraz' (The Artistic Picture). These took issue with the simplistic explanations of Socialist Realism , and outlined basic features of Smok's later theory of communication (called 'angelmatika', that is, angelmatics). The articles are evidence of the gradual thaw in Communist ideology following Stalin's and Gottwald 's deaths early that year.

1954 In February, in the second issue of Ceskoslovenska fotografie, a Stalinist ideologist of photography, Frantisek Dolezal, submitted his previous writing to self-criticism .

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1957 In February, the physician , writer, photographer, and journalist Ludvik Soucek made an appeal in Ceskoslovenska fotografie for a reappraisal of works by Man Ray, Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitzky, Funke, Wiskovsky, and other Avant-garde photographers.

1958 On 31 March, the first exhibition of Czechoslovak art photography opened in the exhibition hall of LILUV (Ustredi lidove umelecke vyroby) , an arts and crafts organization , Prague. It presented works by Drahomir Josef Ruzicka , Karel Plicka, Josef Sudek, Josef Ehm , and many other leading Czech photographers. Of the 7,647 pictures submitted by 725 photographers, the jury, headed by Lubomir Linhart, selected 427 works by 205 photographers. In conjunction with the exhibition on art photography, the weekly Kultura.organized a poll asking 'Is Photography Art? ' The response was overwhelmingly positive. The first post-war exhibition of works by Josef Sudek

THE COVER OF VILEM KROPP'S V PROUDU tJVOTA (I N THE STREAM OF LIFE), PRAGUE: PRACE, 1962

On 26 October, photography as a serious area of stu dy was offered in the Department of Film Photography at FAMU. The head of the Department was Jan Smok; the first student was Pavel Dias.

was published by Orbis , Prague. A German edition, Photographie im Wandel der Zeiten, was published by Arlia the following year.

The Hradec Kralove Museum held a solo exhibition of Surrealist photographs by Emila Medkova.

A collection of art photography was begun at the photography department of the Silesian Museum, Opava. Its curator was Arnost Pustka.

'We Want to See Life in Everything ', an exhibition of straight photographs of life by Jan Bartusek, Pavel Dias, and Miroslav Hucek, opened in the Lucerna buil ding, Prague.

The film director Evald Schorm and the cameraman Jan Spata made the documentary ift svuj iivot (Li ve Your Life) about Josef Sudek.

1961

Arlia , Prague, published the tril ingual Gediichtnis in Schwarzweiss I Memory in Black and White I Memoire en noir et blanc, a collection of contemporary Czechoslovak photographs compiled by Jan Rezac and Josef Prasek.

1962

1959 The Fourth 'World Press Photo' exhibition, held in The Hague, awarded both the main prize 'World Press Photo of the Year 1958' and the First Prize in the Sports category to Stanislav Tereba , a young Prague photojournalist, for his picture Goalkeeper and Water. This was the only time that a work by Czech photographer had been named 'World Press Photo of the Year'. Sudek's Praha panoramaticka (Prague Panoramic) was published .

An exhibition of Surrealist photographs by Jindrich Styrsky opened at the Funke Photography Centre , Brno.

1960

In October, the National Technical Museum, Prague, opened the permanent lnterkamera exhibition on film and photographic technology.

THE COVER OF ERICH E1NHORN'S P RAHA VSEDNiHO ONE (THE EVERYDAY PRAGUE) , PRAGUE: 0 RBIS, 1959

From 2 October to 2 November, the Museum Folkwang , Essen, held an upd ated version of the 'Surrealism and Photography' exhibition, this time including Teige's Surrealist collages from 1935 to 1951.

SNKLHU published the collection Fotografie 1928-1958. Compiled by Josef Prasek it contains twenty new prints from original negati ves by Drtikol , Funke, Wiskovsky, and Hak.

VSEDNIHO DNE

ORBIS

Th e Theatre Institute in Prague published Alfred Jarry: Kral Ubu (Ubu Ro,) , with photographs by Josef Koudelka.

The Prague publishing house Arlia published the trilingual Licht und Schatten - Light and Shadow - Ombre et Lumiere, a collection of works by leading Czech and Slovak photographers.

On 26 January, Josef Koudelka had his first solo exhibition in the Semafor Theatre , Prague.

On 30 December, an exhibition of works of photojournalism opened in the new Fotochema exhibition halls, Jungmann Square, Prague. This was the first European permanent exhibition space devoted to photography. It began to operate on a regular basis in June 1958 with a show of works by the Polish photographer Adam Ferdynand Kaczkowski.

From 15 July to 28 August , Prague's Obecni dum (Municipal House) hosted 'What is Man?' (Die Weltausstellung der Photographie: Was ist der Mensch), an international travelling photographic exhibition, assembled by Karl Pawek.

The National Gallery in Prague assumed the management of the Museum of Decorative Arts. The photography collection , which included several thousand of Drtikol 's works , was temporarily housed in the National Technical Museum in Prague.

PRAHA

Fotografie 57 (Photography 57) was published by the Press and Information Service of the Ministry of Regional Economics). Initiated and edited by Vaclav Jiru, this became the first issue of the Revue Fotografie (Photography Review) quarterly.

1966 In May and June, an exhibition entitled 'Surrealism and Photography ' was held in the Funke Photography Centre, Brno. It was curated by Adolf Kroupa , Vilem Reichmann , Petr Tausk, and Vaclav Zykmund ,

Orbis published a book of photographs by Erich Einhorn, Praha vsedniho dne (Everyday Prague).

A thematically conceived exhibition by the Olomouc group DOFO, together with the 'History of Photography I' exhibition , curated by Rudolf Skopec, was held at the Funke Photography Centre, Brno.

fRIC:H t: I :0.: H OR, • J \ .\' ~t:t.£ .\ '.!C \

On 31 October, the photography section of the Czechoslovak Association of Fine Artists held its first group exhibition in Danube House (Palac Dunaj), Prague. At the time of the exhibition , the Association had 49 members and candidates. A review in Ceskoslovenska fotografie criticized the exhibition for not addressing current concerns, lacking dynamism , and being ideologically confused.

The weekly Mlady svet (Young World) was launched, and became a platform for candid photography of real life. Its dynamic photographs were made mainly by Leos Nebor, Miroslav Hucek, Jan Bartusek, and Pavel Dias.

A permanent collection of photography was established at the Moravian Gallery (Moravska galerie), Brno. Since 1968, Antonin Dufek has been its curator; today, together with the collections of the Museum of Decorati ve Arts in Prague, it is the most important collection of Czech photography. The Art Photography Studio (Studio vytvarne fotografie) opened in the Arts Centre (Dum kultury) , Liberec. Cestmir Kratky, Ladislav Postupa, Jiri Bartos, and Jan Kubicek were among its founding members.

Orbis published Ludvik Soucek's Cesty k modern{ fotografii (Paths to Modern Photography).

The Fotos group formed in Geske Budejovice, aiming to take photographs that captured the poetry of everyday life. Among its members were Frantisek Dvorak, Jaroslav Luzum , and Jan Hampl.

1964 Arlia published the monograph Sudek, with an introduction by Jan Rezac, in German, English, and French. The photographs for the book were chosen by Jan Rezac and Josef Prasek.

THE COVER OF JAN REzAc's SuoEK, PRAGUE: ARTIA, 1964

An exhibition of John Heartfield's political photomontages, 'Again and Again ', was held in Prague. Orbis published Vaclav Zykmund 's theoretical work Umenf, ktere mohou de/at vsichni? (An Art Everyone Can Make?). The City Gallery Prague staged Robert Delpire's travelling exhibition 'Paris Alive', comprising eleven leading French photographers , including Brassar, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edouard Boubat, and Willy Ronis.

1965 'Confrontation Ill', an exhibition of abstract photography, opened in the Ales Hall, Prague, with works by Stanislav Bene, Cestmir Kratky, and Karel Kuklik. The VOX group and REKRAFO, a group of landscape photographers , were founded in Brno.

1963

Mlada fronta (Young Front), Prague, published Mladf (Youth), a book of photographs by Miroslav Hucek and Leos Nebor.

Dejiny fotografie v obrazech od nejstarsfch dob k dnesku (A History of Photography in Pictures, from the Earliest Times to the Present) by Rudolf Skopec

An exhibition of photographs by members of the Magnum Photo agency and also a retrospecti ve of the work of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy were held in Brno.

1967 On 16 April , the exhibition 'Otto Steinert and His Pupils' opened at Kunstat House, Brno. In July, the exhibition moved to Prague. From 20 April to 5 May, 'lnterkamera 67', the international exhibition of film and photography equipment , was held at Hybernian House (U Hybernu), Prague. Its initiator was Erich Einhorn and it was organized by the Made in . (Publicity) agency. Until the 1970s, important exhibitions of Czech and foreign photographs were held as part of this series. In the first year these included retrospecti ves of work by Frantisek Drtikol and Andreas Feininger. Jindrich Marco's book Please Buy My New Song was published (in English) by Arlia. It is a powerful photographic document about Europe and the Middle East after the Second World War. In July, the '7+7' exhibition was held in the Vaclav Spa.la Gallery, Prague. Organized by Anna Farova, it included works by fourteen Czechoslovak photographers (Sudek, Sever, Kratky, Hak, Medkova, Kuklik, Bene, Chochola , Tmej, Novotny, Jodas, Koudelka, Hudec-Ahasver, Stepita-Klauco).

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The German publisher MOiier & Kiepenhauer published Op-art Akte (Op Art Nudes) by the Prague photographer Zdenek Virt. The exhibition 'Czechoslovak Photography between the Two World Wars' was held in the Municipal House, Prague. For the exhibition Rudolf Skopec assembled 430 photographs , mostly from his own collection . Severoceske nakladatelstvi, in Liberec , published the monograph Ladislav Postupa, written by Jirf Janacek. Jirf Horak, Rostislav Kost'al , Frantisek Marsalek, and Petr Sikula founded Epos, an artists' group that focused mainly on staged photography. Mlada fronta published Pafiz v Pafizi (Paris in Paris) by Josef Prosek.

1968 Miloslav Stibor created the key part of his series of express ive nud es, Fifteen Photographs for Henry Miller. Orbis published Praha - mesto fotogenicke (Prague: A Photogenic City) by Vaclav Jiru. Mlada fronta published Londyn (London) by Milon Novotny, an outstanding example of Czech documentary photography of the 1960s. In Prague, the Little Gallery of the c:'.::eskoslovensky spisovatel publishing house held the first solo exhibition by the Avant-garde photographer Jaroslav Rossler. In August, Josef Koudelka took photographs of the Soviet-led military intervention in Prague. In the fo llowing year, the photographs received the Robert Capa Award. Until 1984 they were published without Koudelka's name. In 1990, they were published as Prague, 1968 in the Photo Poche series , Paris. In 2008, a far larger selection, of 249 photographs, was published by Torst, Prague, as lnvaze 68, by Aperture and Thames & Hudson in English, as Invasion 68, and elsewhere in Italian, French, and German, and then Dutch , Greek, Spanish , and Russian (again by Torst). Under the pseudonym Vaclav Svoboda, Jindrich Marco's photographs of the Soviet occupation were published in the book Genosse Aggressor: Prag im August 1968 by the Europa Verlag, Vien na. In 1990, Mlada fronta published the same pictures under Marco's real name, in the book Soudruh agresor (Comrade Aggressor). On 18 September, an exhibition of works by Jan Svoboda, curated by Anna Farova, opened at the Charles Square Gallery, Prague.

1969 The Photography Department (Kabinet fotografie) was founded at the North Bohemian Museum (Severocesky muzeum), Liberec, focusing on landscape photography and works by North Bohemian artists. On 1 February, the constituent congress of the Association of Czech Photographers (Svaz ceskych fotograrn - SCF) was held in the Municipal House (Mestsky dum), Prerov. In May, the 'Contemporary Czechoslovak Photography' exhibition was held in the Moravian Gallery, Brno. Organized mainl y by Antonin Dufek, it featured 125 wo rks by 78 photographers. It later moved to Prague, Olomouc, and Ostrava. Similar exhibitions wo uld be organized by the Moravian Gal lery in 1971 and 1973.

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1970 On 4 April, the 'First National Exhibition of Amateur Photography in Czechoslovakia' opened in Hradec Kralove. The 'Second National Exhibition of Amateur Photography ' was held in Brno and subsequent ones we re later organized once every two years in Olomouc. Josef Koudelka was granted asylum in Great Britain . He later moved to France, and has been a French citizen since 1987. A collection of photography was again officially founded in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. Its curator was Anna Farova. Its older photography collections, which had been temporarily housed in the National Technical Museum, Prague, were moved back to the Museum of Decorative Arts. The exhibition 'Czechoslovakia: 100 Prints, 100 Photographs' (Checoslovaqu ia: 100 grabados, 100 fotografias) was held at the National Autonomous Uni ve rsity of Mexico (UNAM). Jiri Masin prepared the catalogue.

1973 From 3 to 11 April, the cultural section of the fourth lnterkamera trade fair in Prague hosted Magnum 's 'Concerned Photographer' exhibition. It also showed retrospectives of works by August Sander and Erich Salomon , the 'Italian Fashion Photography' show, and 'War and Peace', which comprised works of Soviet photographic reportage from the Second World War. Some pictures from the 'Concerned Photography' exhibition were deemed ideologically unacceptable. This was the last lnterkamera exhibition of this kind and size. The exhibition 'Personalities of Czech Photography I', curated by Anna Farova, was held at the Gallery of Fine Arts , Roudnice nad Labem . It was held again a year later in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and the Arts Centre in Brno. From 27 October to 4 November, an exhibition of works by Frantisek Drtikol , curated by Anna Farova, and the exhibition 'The Lyricism of Czechoslovak Photography', curated by Petr Tausk, were shown at the SICOF Fifth International Exhibition of Audio Visual Technology, Milan.

1971 On the initiative of Vladimir Zidlicky the Photography Department (Kabinet fotografie) was established at the Gallery of Fine Arts (Galerie vytvarneho umeni) in Hodonin, Moravia. Ove r time , numerous important photography exhib itions would be organized there. In March, Marketa Luskacova exhibited her documentary series Pilgrims at the Divadlo Za branou (Theatre behind the Gate), Prague. 'N ew Photography USA', a travelling exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art , New York City, was shown at the Town Hall in the Old Town , Prague. It featured works by Diane Arbus, Bruce Davidson, Lee Friedlander, Joel Meyerowitz, Jerry N. Uelsmann , and Garry Winogrand.

1974 A retrospective of work by Frantisek Drtikol was held at the Photographers' Gallery, London. The International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, held a Josef Sudek retrospective. Eva Horska succeeded Alena Kucerova as the editorin-chief of Ceskoslovenske fotografie. She edited the magazine until the end of 1989.

In September, on the initiative of K. 0. Hruby and Bohumil Kabourek courses began at the School of Art Photography (Skola vytvarne fotografie). This was later to become the Institute of Art Photography of the Association of Czech Photographers (lnstitut vytvarne fotografie Svazu ceskych fotografu), the predecessor of today's Institute of Creative Photography at the Silesian University, Opava.

In June, an exhibition of works by the social documentary photographers lvo Gil, Marketa Luskacova , and Pavel Stecha was held in the town of Roudnice nad Labem held. The written part of the catalogue is by Anna Farova. In November, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague launched the exhibition 'Frantisek Drtikol, Photographer', curated by Anna Farova. Some nudes had to be withdrawn.

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, together with Aperture, published Gypsies by Josef Koudelka , to accompany the exhibition of the same name, which was curated by John Szarkowski.

GYPSIES,

1975

Odeon , Prague, published Fotografovali valku (They Photographed the War), a book on Soviet photo reportage from the Second World War, by Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes . {It was published two years later by E. P. Dutton, New York, as The Russian War: 1941-1945, with an Introduction by Harrison Salisbury and a Preface by A. J. P. Taylor.) Many of the works in the exhibition were bought by the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, in 2008.

In November, the Galerie v podloubi (Gallery in the Arcade), Olomouc, held the 'Ten Young Photographers' exh ibition. It was prepared by Vladimir Birgus.

In June, the Umeni-knihy exhibition halls in Vodickova ulice, Prague, held an exhibition entitled 'Photographs for Interiors' (Fotografie do interieru), with works by Pavel Bai\ka, Jaroslav Barta, Pavel Dias, Josef Hnik, Alexandr Janovsky, Jaroslav Kucera, Antonin Maly, Jan Reich, and Jan Sagi. The exhibition 'Photographs from the Estate of Josef Sudek' was organized by the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, and curated by Zdenek Kirschner. It contained many works that were mounted in highly unusual ways.

Panorama began to publish its Profiles editions of bromograph portfolios of works by Czechoslovak master photographers. The first in the series was the Josef Sudek portfolio, with an essay by Petr Tausk.

1976

In May, Vladimir Birgus organized the ' Documentary Photography at FAMU' exhibition for the Eleventh 'Konfro ntacje Fotograficzne' {Photographic Challenges) festival in Gorz6w, Poland.

The Brno City Museum in Spielberg Castle held an ambitious exhibition of photographic reproductions of John Heartfield's photomontages from the 1930s. Heartfield had lived in exile in Czechoslovakia from 1933 to 1938. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London , organized a travelling exhibition of photographs by Josef Koudelka . The photographers Petr Balicek, Miroslav Bilek, Milan Borovicka, Rostislav Kost'al , Taras Kuscynskyj, Milan Michl, Miroslav Myska, Petr Sikula, Miroslav Tuma , and Vera Weinertova founded the Setkanf (Meeting) art group. Jaroslav Andel exhibited his conceptual series Elements of Cosmology at the Gallery in Jilska ulice, Prague. Fotochema, Ostrava, exhibited 'A Man Amongst Men ', a collection of documentary photographs taken in Canada and the USA by Viktor Kolar. It was Kolar's first exhibition after moving back to Czechoslovakia.

From 29 January to 6 March, the Galerie SchOrmann & Kicken , Aachen , held an exhibition of works by Jaromir Funke. After signing the 'Charter 77' human-rights appeal , Anna Farova was dismissed from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.

In March, a large exhibition of work by Jan Svoboda, curated by Antonin Dufek, was held in Kunstat Hou se, Brno.

The Museum Bochum held a retrospective of work by Jaromir Funke. It was organized by Petr Spielmann.

Pressfoto, Prague, launched the publication of its International Photography Edition of portfolios of bromograph prints, with a set of thirteen photos by Josef Sudek and an introduction by Petr Tausk. The collections were published in Czech, English, French, German, and Russian .

1977 THE OUST JACKET OF JOSEF KoUDELKA's NEWYORK:APERTURE, 1975

Du Mont, Cologne, published Petr Tausk's book Die Geschichte der Fotografie im 20. Jahrhundert. It was subsequently published in Great Britain as Photography in the 20th Century, and also in Spain, Italy, and Sweden.

1980

To mark Sudek's eightieth birthday, large exhibitions were held at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague (whose catalogue contains an essay by Anna Farova) and the Moravian Gallery in Brno (whose catalogue contains an essay by Antonin Dufek).

1972 Daniela Mrazkova succeeded Vaclav Jiru as the editorin-chief of Revue Fotografie. She remained in charge until 1978, turning this quarterly into one of the leading photography magazines of the 1970s.

On 1 October, FAMU established an independent Department of Photography led by Professor Jan Smok.

The Lichttropfen , Aachen , one of the first galleries seriously to collect and promote Czech interwar photography, published a catalogue of the works of Josef Sudek for his exhibitions in Aachen , Bochum, Zurich and Vienna.

Supraphon, Pragu e, published Josef Sudek's book Janacek-Hukvaldy.

Jaroslav Rajzik became the head of the newly formed Sub-department of Art Photography (Kabinet umelecke fotografie) at the Department of the Film and Televis ion Image, at FAMU, which was led by Jan Smok.

In Prague, Revue Fotografie held the exhibition 'How It Was' for which Daniela Mrazkova selected photos, for example, by Jindrich Marco, Zdenek Tmej , and Otakar Jaros, documenting life during the Second World War and shortly after.

The Victoria and Albert Museum , London, opened an exhibition of works by Josef Koudelka. In July, the Eighth Rencontres d'Arles , intern ational photography festival held an exhibition of Josef Sudek's works. Another Sudek retrospective was held at the International Center of Photography in New York. The groups Dokument (members Vladimir Birgus, Petr Klimpl, and Josef Pokorny) and Oci (Eyes - with , for instance, Zdenek Fiser, Josef Bohui\ovsky, Antonin Wzatek, Jarmila Fiserova, Jaroslav Krouzek) were founded. Both concentrated on documentary photography

JOSEFSUDEK THE COVER OF THE CATALOGUE TO THE 'JOSEF SUOEK' EXHIBITION, AT THE GALERIE LICHTTROPFEN-RUOOLF KICKEN AND WILHELM ScHORMANN,AACHEN, 1976

1978 In January and February, the Galerie Photo Art, Basel, organized an exhibition of works by Jan Saudek. Jirf Heger took over from Daniela Mrazkova as the editor-in-chief of Revue Fotografie, and the quality of the quarterly rapidly declined. Vaclav Jiru resumed his influential role in its editorial policy. In Paris, Josef Koudelka received the Prix Nadar for the French edition of his book on Gypsies, Gitans: La fin du voyage (1975). From October to November, the Moravian Gallery, Brno, organized the exhibition 'The Magic of Old Photography'. Curated by Jaroslav Andel, Antonin Dufek, and Pavel Scheufler, it comprised almost 1,300 works .

On 9 September, the Cinoherni klub, Prague, launched the second in the series of photographic exhibitions organized by Anna Farova. In all , there were eighteen such exhibitions. Miloslav Stibor's Miidchenlandschaften (Girlscapes) was published by Wilhelm Knapp, DOsseldorf. On 7 November, the exhibition 'lnterwar Soviet Photography, 1917-41 ', curated by Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes, opened at the Funke Photography Centre, Brno. The exhibition 'Studies and Genre Photographs' opened at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, curated by Katerina Klaricova, with photographs by Vaclav Chochola, Karel Ludwig , Oldrich Straka, and Zdenek Tmej.

1981 From 26 June to 23 August, the exhibition 'Czech Photography, 1918 to 1938' was held at the Moravian Gallery, Brno. Curated by Antonin Dufek with Jaroslav Andel and Frantisek Smejkal, it was later held in Prague. The original exhibition of more than 700 photos was considerably reduced for subsequent exhibitions in Essen, Frankfurt, l:.6dz, and Vienna.

In October, the Cinoherni klub, a small Prague theatre , began its first series of photographic exhibitions curated by Anna Farova. The series ran until the summer of 1979, and exhibited many works highly critical of the Communist totalitarian regime. A monograph on Sudek written by his former assistant, Sonja Bullaty, was published by Clarkson N. Potter, New York. Prazsky chodec (Prague Flaneur), a book of photographs by Jiri Vsetecka, was published by CTK Pressfoto, Prague.

1979 From May to August, the Town Hall of the Old Town , Prague, held the exhibition 'Man and Time'. It was organized by the Association of Czech Photographers (SCF) and City Gallery Prague to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Association of Czechoslovak Amateur Photographic Clubs. Works by more than 230 photographers were shown at the exhibition.

THE COVER OF THE CATALOGUE OF THE 'CESKA FOTOGRAFIE 1918-1938' EXHIBITION, MORAVSKA GALERIE, BRNO, 1981

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From 9 October to 2 November, the exhibition 'Czech Master Photographs of the 20s and 30s' was held in the Galerie Rudolf Kicken, Cologne. On 9 December, the exhibition 'Contemporary Photography from the Collections of the Moravian Gallery', curated by Antonin Dufek, opened in the Moravian Gallery, Brno.

1983 Martin-Hruska radically reorganized the exhibition plans for the Fotochema gallery in Prague, the oldest photography gallery in Europe. After Hruska's departure in 1986, the high quality of the exhibitions was maintained by the new manager, Karel Jirkal.

JOSKA SKALNIK, THE CATALOGUE TO THE '9 & 9' EXHIBITION N PLASY, 1981

The '9 + 9' exhibition, curated by Anna Farova , was held in the former Cistercian Abbey at Plasy This was last in the series of documentary photography exhibitions that had begun in the Cinoherni klub, Prague, between 1978 and 1979, to be repeated in 1980 and 1981. The exhibitions included works by the Jaroslav Barta, lvo Gil , Bohdan Holomicek, Daniela Hornickova, Borivoj Horinek, Vratislav Hurka, Libuse Jarcovjakova, Ivan Lutterer, Jan Maly, Dusan Palka, Miroslav Pokorny, Jirf Polacek, Zora Rampakova , lren Stehli, Dusan Simanek, Pavel Stecha, Jindrich Streit, and Pavel Vavrousek. The opening of the Plasy exhibition, which offered an extremely critical view of the Communist regime by illustrating the devastation of people and the natural environment that had taken place under it, was attended by Henri CartierBresson, Marc Riboud, and other prominent figures in the world of photography.

1982 Profil , Ostrava, began publishing the Podoba photographic series with Vladimir Birgus's monograph Miroslav Bilek.

Ten thousand copies of the book Mesta (The City), containing photographs by Vladimir Birgus and Pavel Jasansky, were pu lped by the Prace publishing house after it was deemed to be ideologically flawed. A new ed ition was published a year later with new photographs by Miroslav Hucek to take the place of many of the rejected pictures. In Paris, the Pompidou Centre held the exhibition ' Photographes tcheques, 1920-1950'. It was curated by Alain Sayag with assistance from the Czech Ministry of Culture , the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, and the Moravian Gallery in Brno. The Mesta (City) group was founded in Prague. Its members included Frantisek Dostal , Josef Husak, and Pavel Moudry. Die Welt des Jan Saudek and The World of Jan Saudek were published in Geneva and Millerton (USA), each with an introduction by Anna Farova. The Victoria and Albert Museum , London, held an exhibition of work by Marketa Luskacova. The catalogue includes articles by Mark Haworth-Booth and Josef Topal. In July, an audio-visual programme on Czechoslovak photography was presented at the Rencontres de la photographie in Aries festival.

On 10 June, the secret police closed an unauthorized artists' exhibition on tennis courts in Prague. Three days later they arrested one of the participants, Jindrich Streit, searched his home, and confiscated many of his photographs. Streit 's pictures were later deemed subversive and defamatory of the head of state. He was given a sentence of ten months in prison (suspended for two years) , and forbidden to work as a teacher. On 1 July, the Collection of the Association of Czech Photographers was established. By 1998, the head of the collection, Milan Krejci, would succeed in compiling , archiving , and cataloguing more than 10,000 items ranging from early to contemporary Czech photography. Today, the collection is kept in the National Archive, Prague. Panorama, Prague, published the large monograph Josef Sudekby Zdenek Kirschner. This was the first volume in the Fotografie-Osobnosti (Photographs-Personalities) series. At the Kozel manor house, the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, launched a five-year series of exhibitions devoted to work by Josef Sudek and FAMU graduates. The exhibitions were curated by Zdenek Kirschner. Jan Svoboda's works were exhibited at the Photographers' Gallery, London , and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. Antonin Dufek prepared the catalogue.

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THE CATALOGUE TO TH E 'PHOTOGRAPHES TCHEOUES, 1920-2950' EXHIBITION, CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU, PARIS , 1983

In July, the City Gallery in Konstanz held an exhibition of works by Josef Sudek, curated by Zdenek Kirschner. VEB Fotok inoverlag, Leipzig , published Tschechoslowakische Fotografen 1900-1940, with sixteen profiles of Czech and Slovak photographers compiled by Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes. An exhibition of the same name was held in Le ipzig. From 27 October to 30 November, the exhibition 'Frantisek Drtikol : Frau und Form' was held at the Galerie Rudolf Kicken, Cologne. It was accompanied by the publication of a catalog ue with articles by Daniela Mrazkova and Anna Farova.

Mlada fronta published Pffbeh fotografie (The Story of Photography) by Daniela Mrazkova, which presents the history of photography by means of profiles of wellknown photographers. From 22 October to 24 November, Kunstat House, Brno, held the exhibition 'Photographs by FAMU Graduates'. Organized by the Film and Television Facu lty of the Academy of Performing Arts , Prague, and the Arts Centre (D0m umeni), Brno, the exhibition showed more than 430 photographs by 85 photographers. A shorter version was held abroad. Two years later, Vladimir Birgus and Zdenek Kirschner organized a radically revised version at the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague.

1984 Ml ada fronta published lnformatorium c. 2 in a print-run of 135,000 copies. The book provides a survey of world photog raph y and a glossary of international photographers by Vladimir Birgus.

On 4 December, Galerie 4 opened in Cheb. It continues to operate to this day, and is still run by Zbynek lllek.

On 29 April , the Moravian Gallery in Brno opened the ex hibition 'Contemporary Photography II: The Moment'. The curator was Anton in Dufek. In May, the Seventeenth 'Konfrontacje Fotograficzne' (Photographic Challenges) festi val in Gorz6w, Poland , held an exhibition of Czechoslovak photographers entitled 'The Photographer as Production Designer', organized by Vladimir Birgus.

On 1 September, Jaroslav Rajzik was appointed the new head of the Photography Department at FAMU, taking the place of Jan Smok. As part of its Soucasne ceske umeni (Contemporary Czech Art) series , Odeon published Cernobfla fotografie (Black-and-White Photography) by Antonin Dufek. The book contains sixty-four biographical sketches of Czech photographers working since 1945.

The Hayward Gallery, London, opened a large retrospective of work by Josef Koudelka , curated by Robert Delpire. Pavel Stecha prepared the exhibition 'Contemporary Photography from Czechoslovakia' for Antrazit, Essen. Panorama published Pavel Scheufler 's Praha 1848-1914: Ctenf nad dobovymi fotografiemi (Prague , 1848-1914: Readings on Period Photography).

THE COVER OF THE CATALOGU E TO THE EXHIBITION '27 CONTENPORARY CZECHOSLOVAKIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS', THE PHOTOGRAPHERS' GALLERY, LONDON, 1985

1985

1986

In May, the Photographers ' Gallery, London , launched the two-part exhibition 'Czechoslovakian Photography'. The fir st part, curated by Antonin Dufek, included photos by Jaromir Funke and Jaroslav Rossler ; the second, cu rated by Sue Davis and Antonin Dufek.comprised photog raphs by twenty-seven contemporary photographers (Vladimir Birgus, Jaromir Cejka, Karel Cudlin , lvo Gil, Stepan Grygar, Dagmar Hochova, Bohdan Holomicek, Lukas Kliment , Viktor Kolar, Jan Krizik, L.:uba Lauffova, Miroslav Machotka, Frantisek Marsalek, Dusan Palka, Josef Pokorny, Jaroslav Rajzik, Jan Reco, Jan Sagi, Dusan Slivka , Borek Sousedik, Tona Stano, Pavel Stecha, Jindrich Streit, Miro Svolik, Pavel Vavrousek, Vl adimir Zidlicky, and Peter Zupnik). The exhibition was accom panied by a catalogue , 27 Contemporary Czechoslovakian Photographers. After London , the exhibition moved to Bristol.

The exhibition 'Prague Photography, 1839-1914', curated by Pavel Scheufler, was held at the Prague City Museum.

From May to October, the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt held the ex hibition 'Ursprung und Gegenwart t schechoslowakischer Fotografie I Origin and Presence of Czech Photography'. It was organized by Anna Farova and Manfred Heiting with works by six classic photographers (Frantisek Drtikol, Drahomir Josef Ruzicka, Jaromir Funke, Josef Sudek, Jindrich Styrsky, and Jaroslav Rossler) and twelve contemporary photographers (Pavel Baiika, Jaroslav Barta, Stepan Grygar, Bohdan Holomicek, Ivan Lutterer, Dusan Palka, Mi roslav Pokorny, Jiri Polacek, Jan Reich , Jan Saudek, Tono Stano, and Dusan Simanek).

From 7 April to 10 May, the exhibition ' Important Figures of Czechoslovak Documentary Photography, 1940-80' was held in the newly opened photography gallery in the Old Town Hall, Brno. The exhibition was organized by Tomas Fassati and Josef Moucha.

The Musee d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris held an exh ibition of works by Jan Saudek. A catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition with text by Pierre Borhan.

From 2 February to 24 March , the Galerie Rudolf Kicken , Cologne, held the exhibition 'Jaromir Funke: Oberflache der Wirklichkeit' (The Surface of Reality). A catalogue was published for the exhibition with an introduction by Anna Farova.

The exh ibition 'Czechoslovak Photography', curated by Dorothy Martinson , was held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A commercial exhibition , 'Aspects of Czechoslovak Photography', prepared by Murray Forbes for the Thackrey & Robertson Gallery with the help of Artcentrum in Prague, was also held in San Francisco.

1987

On 25 November, the Town Hall of the Old Town, Prague, held the exhibition 'Sudek - Funke', comparing the work of these two masters of Czech photography. The curator was Zdenek Kirschner.

A major retrospecti ve of works by Josef Koudelka was shown by the Centre National de la Photograph ie, in the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. The exhibition was later held in cities in several countries abroad , including Bratislava. A similar retrospective was organized by the International Center of Photography, New York. From October to December, the exhibition ' Line - Colour - Shape', prepared by Hana Rousova , was held at the City Gallery Prague. Dedicated to the Abstract movement in Czech art of the 1930s, the exhib ition included many photographs. In November, the exhibition 'From Prague and Bohemia: Czech Photographers' was held in Bretigny, France. Prepared by Joell Savary, it showed works by Jaroslav Benes, Stepan Grygar, Miroslav Machotka, Ivan Pinkava, Jiri Polacek, Martin Polak , Lukas Jasansky, Tona Stano, Miro Svolik, and Vladimir Zidlicky.

1988

1989 On 6 January, Galerie 4, Cheb, held the exhibition 'Transformations in Czech Documentary Photography, 1839-1989', curated by Pavel Scheufler, Katerina Klaricova , and Josef Moucha.

From 22 June to 10 July, the '11' exhibition was held in Fotochema, organized by Michal Pacina and Anna Farova. Showing mixed-media works by Simon Gaban, Michal Cihlar, Michal Pacina, Ivan Pinkava, Jan Pohribny, Rudo Prokop, Tona Stano, Jara Svitek, Miro Svolik, Nadja Rawova , and Petr Zupnik, it aroused much public interest.

On 7 January, the Gallery Association of Czech Photographers opened in Kamzikova Street, Prague. It closed its doors for good in 1993. Together with Daniela Mrazkova, the film-maker Josef Harvan made the two-part documentary Pffbeh ceskoslovenske fotografie (The Story of Czechoslovak Photography). The film was commissioned by the Czech Ministry of Culture to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 'invention ' of photography. Also to mark the anniversary, the Revue Fotografie launched a long series of articles entitled ' Fotografie v ceskych zemich a na Slovensku ' (Photography in the Bohemian Lands and Slovakia), by Pavel Scheufler, Antonin Dufek, and Vladimir Birgus.

Schirmer/Mosel , Munich , published Frantisek Drtikol: Photograph des Art Deco in German and Frantisek Drtikol: Photographe art deco in French. The text is by Anna Farova, the photographs were selected by Manfred Heiting . (In 1993, Schirmer/Mosel publi sh ed the book in English as Frantisek Drtikol: Art Deco Photographer.)

Solo exhibitions of Jan Saudek's work were held in the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, the Torch Gallery, Amste rdam, and A Gallery for Fine Photography, New Orleans.

From 20 August to 2 October, the First Foto Biennale in Rotterdam included a collection of works by the Czechoslovak photographers Vladimir Zidlicky, Pavel Jasansky, Petr Zupnik, Miro Svolik, Michal Pacina, Rudo Prekop, and Tono Stano. The curator of the exhibition was Antonin Dufek, who wrote the text to the catalogue.

From 30 Apri l to 28 May, the Galerie Kicken-Pauseback, Cologne , held the exhibition 'Josef Sudek : Vintage Photographien '.

From 6 July to 28 September, the Kromeriz Regional Museum held the exhibition 'The Body in Czechoslovak Photography, 1900-86', organized jointly with the Moravian Gallery, Brno, and curated by Antonin Dufek.

From November to January 1987, the Galerie Arena, Aries , held the exhibition 'Young Czechoslovak Photographers', organized by Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky.

In August and September, the Moravian town of Zd'ar nad Sazavou was host to the Fotofest, comprising six exhibitions. Further festivals were held until 1991.

From 15 June to 27 August , the Moravian Gallery, Brno, held two exhibitions, 'One Hundred and Fifty Photographs: The Photographic Collection of the Moravian Gallery', and 'The Aventinum Trio: Ladislav Emil Berka, Alexandr Hackenschmied, and Jiri Lehovec'. Both exhibitions and the ir catalogues were prepared by Antonin Dufek.

0 TAKAR KARLAS, THE COVER OF THE CATALOGUE OF THE 'PHOTOGRAPHS BY FAMU GRADUATES' EXHIBITION, MUSEUMOF DECORATIVE ARTS , PRAG UE, 1987

From 23 June to 11 September, the City Gallery Prague organized a Skupina Ra (Ra Group) exhibition in the gallery of U Kamenneho zvonu (The Stone Bell), Prague, with photog raphs from the 1940s by Vilem Reichmann, Milos Korecek, Vaclav Zykmund , and Josef lstler.

On 26 June, the exhibition 'The Paths Taken by Czechoslovak Photography', was held at the Oum U Kamenneho zvonu , Prague, and was accompanied by Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes 's book of the same name, Cesty ceskoslovenske fotografie, published by Mlada fronta . From 3 June to 3 September, the 'Salon of Czechoslovak Photography ' was held in the Brussels Pavilion, Prague. The show comprised picture collections of varying quality by 800 photographers , amateur and professional.

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by Josef Kroutvor and Zdenek Kirschner, was later shown in an expanded version in many European cities. From 8 October to 7 January 1990, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, held the exhibition 'Czech Modernism, 1900-1945'. The curators were Jaroslav Andel and Anne Wilkes Tucker. The photographs were assembled mostly with the help of Zdenek Kirschner and Antonin Dufek. A catalogue, Czech Modernism 1900-1945, was published to accompany the exhibition. The photographic part of the exhibition was later shown in Akron and New York. On 5 December, under the common name 'Czechoslovakia, November 1989', exhibitions of photographs recording the events of 17 November 1989, opened in Manes (curated by Anna Farova), the Fama exhibition hall (curated by Vladimir Birgus), and the Gallery of the Association of Czech Photographers (under the aegis of Jan Smok).

1990 On 8 January, Miroslav Vojtechovsky succeeded Jaroslav Rajzik as the new head of the FAMU Photography Department. THE COVER OF THE CATALOGUE TO THE 'CZECH MODERNISM, 1900-1945' EXHIBITION, MUSEUMOF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON, 1989

From 1 August to 30 September, Manes, Prague, held the large exhibition 'What is Photography' to mark the 150th anniversary of the 'invention ' of photography. It comprised works by 400 photographers from twenty countries , borrowed from private collections and 84 museums and galleries. The exhibition was attended by 90,000 people. It was organized by a specially assembled group led by Erich Einhorn. The curator of the picture section was Daniela Mrazkova, the curator of the technical section was Josef Pecak. A large exhibition, 'Czechoslovak Photography, 1945-89', was organized by the same curators and held in the Waldstein Riding School , Prague. After the exhibition , Videopress published the catalogue, Co je fotografie I What is Photography From 31 August to 24 September, FOTO 89, the Third International Festival of Photography in Amsterdam , took place, and included the exhibition 'Contemporary Czechoslovak Photography'. This was put together by Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky with works by 35 photographers. From 18 September to 15 October, the exhibition '37 Photographers at Chmelnice', prepared by Anna Farova, was held at the Junior klub Chmelnice , Prague, with works by leading Czech and Slovak practitioners of contemporary documentary, staged , and manipulated photography. On 13 October, the exhibition 'Czech Amateur Photography, 1945-89' opened at the Brussels Pavilion, Prague. It was organized by Petr Klimpl, who selected almost 450 pictures by 164 photographers. A large catalogue with an introduction by Klimpl was published to accompany the exhibition. From 19 to 22 October, the First International EastWest 'Photographic Exchange' Symposium was held in Wroclaw, Poland. It was prepared by the head of the Galeria Foto-Medium-Art, Jerzy Olek. Amongst its participants were twenty-five leading Czechoslovak photographers and theorists. On 19 October, the exhibition 'Czech Modern Photography' opened at the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague, with works by Vladimir Jindrich Bufka, Frantisek Drtikol, Karel Novak, and Anton Josef Trcka, made between 1908 and 1926. This breakthrough exhibition, organized

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On 22 January, the Association of Photographers of the Czech Republic was officially founded. Jaroslav Barta was elected its first chairman. From 10 February to 10 March, the Third International FotoFest was held in Houston, and 'Choice 19: Perspectives - Real and Imaginary', an exhibition of the latest work by nineteen Czech and Slovak photographers (Baiika , Barta, Grygar, Hanke, Holomicek, Kolar, Lhotak, Lutterer, Machotka, Maly, Palka, Pinkava, Polacek, Reco, Reich, Stecha, Streit, Svolik, and Zupnik), was held at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, curated by Wendy Watriss and Frederick Baldwin. From February to April, the three-part exhibition ' Photographie Progressive en Tchecoslovaquie 1920-1990' was held at the Galerie Robert Doisneau, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France. It was curated by Claude Philippot and Zdenek Primus. From 3 March to 6 May, the Alfred Stieglitz Center at the Philadelphia Museum of Art held the exhibition 'Josef Sudek: Poet of Prague'. The exhibition was prepared by Michael E. Hoffman with Anna Farova, Manfred Heiting, and others. A new monograph on Sudek by Anna Farova was published by Aperture , New York.

D aniela

Mrazkova Vladimir R emes

From 31 March to 27 May, the exhibition 'Anwesenheit bei Abwesenheit: Fotogramme und die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts' (Presence by Absence: Photograms and Art of the Twentieth Century) was held in the Kunsthaus Zurich . It included works by many Czech photographers , such as Jaromir Funke, Jaroslav Rossler, Otakar Lenhart, Milos Korecek, and Bela Kolarova. The curator was Floris M. Neussiis. From April to August, the 'Paths to Postmodernity' exhibition was held in the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague. Prepared by Josef Kroutvor, the exhibition included many works by young Czech and Slovak photographers. The Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg , organized an exhibition of documentary and theatre photographs by Jaroslav Krejci.

From 24 Apri l to 8 July, the exhibition 'Contemporary Czechoslovak Photography' opened at the Museum Ludwig , Cologne. Organized by Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky with Reinhold MiBelbeck, it showed 250 works by photographers from different generations (Pavel Baiika, Jaroslav Barta, Jaroslav Benes, Radovan Bocek, Bratrstvo, Karel Cudlin , Jiri Foltyn, Stanislav Friedlaender, Jan Glozar, Stepan Grygar, Jiri Hanke, Pavel Hecko, Martin Hruska, Jan Hudecek, Pavel Jasansky, Ivan Kafka, Michal Kern, Viktor Kolar, Vladimir Kozlik, Ales Kunes, Zdenek Lhotak, Miroslav Machotka, Michal Macku, Pavel Mara, Josef Moucha, Michal Pacina, Ivan Pinkava, Rudo Prekop, Jaroslav Rajzik, Nadja Rawova, Vilem Reichmann , Jan Sagi, Jan Saudek, Rudolf Sikora, ~ubo Stacho, Vasil Stanko, Tona Stano, Jan Svoboda, Peter Simecek, Jan Splichal, Pavel Stecha, Jindrich Streit, Miro Svolik, Stanislav Tuma, Vladimir Zidlicky, and Peter Zupnik). The exh ibition was then held in eight European and two American cities , before closing in late 1994. A large catalogue , Tschechoslowakische Fotografie der Gegenwart, was published by Braus, Heidelberg. From April to July, the exhibition 'Devetsil: Czech AvantGarde Art, Architecture, and Design of the 1920s and 1930s' was shown at the Museum of Modern Art , Oxford , an d the Design Museum , London. Frantisek Smejkal co mpiled and ed ited the catalogue of 116 pages . In May, the 'Festival of Czechoslovak Photography' was held in Tours , France, with 12 personal exhibitions (Vladimir Birgus, Jiri Hanke, Martin Hruska, Barbara Huckova, Jiri Korecky, Pavel Nadvornik, Ivan Pinkava, Nadja Rawova, Viera Slavikova, Miro Svolik, Vladimir Zidlicky, and Peter Zupnfk). It was organized by the AGIT co mpany, managed by Christian Roger.

From 31 May to 27 August, the exhibition ' Photography in Bohemia 1839-1914', curated by Pavel Scheufler, was held in the City Gallery Prague, at Troja , Prague.

DANIELA MRAzKDvA AND VLADIMIR REMEs's CESTY c EsKos w vENSKE FOTOG RAFIE (THE PATHS TAKEN BY CZECHOSLOVAK PHOTOGRAPHY) , PRAGUE: MLADA FRONTA, 1989

In August, Josef Moucha succeeded Milan Skala as editor-in-chief of Revue Fotografie. From 31 August to 9 September, works by Czech photographers were shown at the 'Looking East' exhibition in Aarhus , Denmark. It included photographs by Pavel Baiika, Jiri Erml , Antonin Halas, Jiri Hanke, Dagmar Hochova, and Pavel Jasansky.

In June and July, the L'annee de l'Est' Festival took place in Lausanne. Th e main exhibition , with works by many Czechoslovak photographers , and curated by Anna Farova and Charles-Henri Favrod , was held in the Palais de Beaulieu. Another feature of the Festival was the 'studio in a tent' run by the photographers Ivan Lutterer, Jan Maly, and Jiri Polacek.

On 4 October, the Czech and Slovak exhibition 'Vision d'Homme' was shown at the gallery in the Chateau d'Eau, Toulouse . It was curated by Anna Farova and Jean Dieuzaide. Jack Lang , the French Minister of Cu ltu re , made Jan Saudek a Cheval ier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. To mark the occasion , Jerome de Missolz made the fi lm Jan Saudek: Photographe tcheque. Prostor, Prague, published Hovory s Chan-Sanem (Conversations with Hanshan), a book of photographs by Vladimir Kozlik .' From 24 to 25 November, Agnesa, a limited partnership company, organ ized the first auction of photographs and books on photography in Prague for the Galerie Mustek. Later, the auction was run by Antikvariat Prosek. In December, the Rados! agency organized the 'Czech Symbolism' exhibition at the l.lLUV exhibition hall, Prague. With works by about fifty photographers , the exhibition was curated by Anna Farova.

In April , the first issue of Reflex, a weekly magazine making great use of photographs , was published.

In May, the 'World Press Photo' exhibition was shown fo r the first time in Czechoslovakia. It was held at the Karolinum, Prague, and wou ld later be held regularly in this city.

Mlada fronta

From June to August , the Twenty-first Rencontres d'Arles Photographie held a double exhibition of works by Frantisek Drtikol and Jan Saudek, curated by Alain Sayag, as well as Czech Avant-garde works fro m the Moravian Gallery Collections, curated by Anton in Dufek, and an exhibition of contemporary photography in Czechoslovakia, organized by Christian Caujolle.

The Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, held exhibitions of works by Jan Saudek and Michal Macku. On 20 December, the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, opened a major retrospective of photographs by Josef Koudelka. Anna Farova curated the exhibition and wrote the introduction to the catalogue.

1991 From 3 to 31 January, the Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, held an exhibition of works by Viktor Kolar.

TH E COVEROF VLADIMIR B1RGUS, REINHOLD MISSELBECK, ANO MIROSLAV VOJTICHOVSK'i''S, TSCHECHOSLOWAKISCHE F OTOGRAFIE DER G EGENWART (CONTEMPORARY CZECHOSLOVAK PHOTOGRAPHY), COLOGNE: MUSEUM LUDWIG, 1990.

The film-maker Jan Spata made Mezi svetlem a tmou (Between Light and Dark), a documentary film about Jindrich Streit. From 5 to 28 September, the Fotogalerie Wien hosted 'Positivity: Contemporary Photography from Czechoslovakia 1989-90', with works of staged and mixed-media photography by Rudo Prekop, Vasil Stanko, Tona Stano, Martin Strba, Miro Svolik, Kamil Varga, and Peter Zupnik. The exhibition was curated by Martina Kudlacek. From 22 September to 24 November, an exhibition of works by Vilem Reichmann was held at the Jacqu es Baruch Gallery, Chicago. Viktor Stoilov published a book of his portraits of dissident writers in the 1980s. He also established Torst, a publishing company specializing in, amongst other things , photographic publications.

last-ever exhibition at the oldest photography gallery in Europe. 'Five Photographers from Czechoslovakia', an exhibition prepared by Vlasta Cihakova-Noshiro, was held in Tokyo. Odeon published Jan Svoboda by Petr Balajka. This is the last volume in the Umelecka fotografie (Art Photography) series. From 7 September to 9 November, the exhibition 'The Other Side of Frantisek Drtikol' was held in the Jacques Baruch Gallery, Chicago. In addition to his photographs, the exhibition also included Drtikol 's paintings, drawings, and prints. A catalogue was published with articles by Zdenek Kirschner and Vladimir Birgus. From 1O September to 27 October, 'The Modern Pictorialism of D. J. Ruzicka', an exhibition that had already been held in Omaha , Minneapolis , and Syracuse, was held at the Old Town Hall in Prague. It was prepared by Christian A . Peterson with Daniela Mrazkova. A large catalogue, in Czech and English, was published to accompany the exhibition. Art Unlimited, Amsterdam , published a multilingual edition of Jan Saudek's Life, Love, Death & Other Such Trifles, with an introduction by Michel Tournier. From 13 September to 6 October, the exh ibition 'Contemporary Czechoslovak Photography and Art Glass', curated by Denis Brudna, was held at the Kunsthaus Hamburg.

On 10 January, the Civic Forum exhibition hall in Prague was host to the opening of 'Czech Photography in Exile', an exhibition curated by Bob Krcil. The catalogue, Ceska fotografie v exilu was published by Host, Brno.

From 20 September to 19 October, an exhibition of photographs by Ladislav Emil Berka taken between 1929 and 1931 was held at the Galerie Johannes Faber, Vienna. The gallery also published a portfolio of twe lve new prints made from the orig inal negatives.

In January, the Association of Photographers opened Platyz, a new commercial gallery in Prague, but it closed down within a year.

Anna Farova and Antonin Kratochvil were among the recipients of the Infinity Award of the lnternationa·1 Center of Photography, New York.

From 1 to 24 March , the Fourth Foto Biennale Enschede was devoted to a comparison of works by Czechoslovak and Dutch photographers. Pavel Baiika published, at his own expense, his monog raph Vzpominky a p'fedstavy (Memories and Ideas). A retrospective of Frantisek Drtikol 's work was organized by Manfred Heiting with works from the archives of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and other collections. The exhibition opened in the Museet for Fotokunst, Odense , before moving to the Fotoforum Bremen and the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt. In May, the Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, awarded the Grand Prix International Henri CartierBresson to Josef Koudelka. On 17 May, 'Czechoslovak Photography 1940-1990', a large exhibition organized by Vladimir Birgus, Miroslav Vojtechovsky, and Zdenek Primus, opened at the L:Aubette, Strasbourg.

On 1O October, a small retrospective of works by Jaroslav Rossler, curated by Suzanne Pastor, opened at the Prague House of Photography. A limited-edition portfolio of new prints from original negatives was made to accompany the exhibition. The PHP published similar portfolios of work by Eugen Wiskovsky, Jaromir Funke, and Frantisek Drtikol. In November and December, the exhibition 'Josef Sudek intimni' (The Intimate Josef Sudek), curated by Zdenek Kirschner and Jan Mlcoch, was held at the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague. From 7 November to 7 December, an exhibition of works by Frantisek Drtikol, together with an exhibition of works by the Czech Avant-garde, was held at the Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York. Panorama, Prague, published the first Czech monograph on Jan Saudek Divad/o iivota (Theater of Life), with an introduction by Daniela Mrazkova. To accompany the event, an exh ibition, curated by Stanislav Friedlaender, was held at the Galerie Franta. More than 70,000 copies of the book were sold.

In October, the Institute of Creative Photography, which for twenty years had operated as part of the Association of Czech Photographers and other organizations, was transferred to the new Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University, Opava. From 1991 onwards this became the Silesian University. After FAMU in Prague, this was now the second university to provide specialist training in photography. Vladimir Birgus was made head of the Institute, a position he holds to this day.

On 5 June, the Prague House of Photography opened with an exhibition of works by Viktor Kolar. Located in Husova ulice, in the Old Town , Prague , the PHP was founded by members of the Aktiv volne fotografie (Non -commercial Photography Group) as a non-profit exhibition , publishing , and educational centre.

In January, under the editorsh ip of Petr Lukas and Pavel Nadvornik, the Rados! agency began to publish the Mesicnik obrazove vlny POST (The Post Illu strated Monthly), employing unconventional graphic design , but it was discontinued in less than a year.

The National Theatre of Brittany, Rennes, was host to the exhibition 'Fragments de la photographie !cheque'.

On 10 June, 'For the Last Time' was held in the Fama Gallery, on Jungmann Square, Prague. This was the

In Gothenburg, Sweden, Josef Koudelka received the Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation Prize.

An exhibition of works by Jan Saudek began at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

1992

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The French Minister of Culture made Koudelka a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. From 25 February to 29 March, the exhibition 'Czechoslovak Photography in Exile', comprising 570 works by almost 100 photographers , was held at Manes, Prague. It was organized by Anna Farova with Josef Moucha and Jaroslav Barta. In Apri l, the daily newspaper Prostor (Space) began publication. Under its picture editor, Pavel Stecha, it made considerable use of high -quality photographs, but after about six months it was forced to close down. On 16 April, the exhibition 'Contemporary Photography from the Collections of the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien ' was held at the Moravian Gallery, Brno. Showing works by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Gilbert and George, and Cindy Sherman, it was organized by Monika Faber. In May and June, an exhibition of Josef Sudek's panoramic photog raphs of Prague was held at the Galerie Rudolfinum , Prague. Organized by the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague, and curated by Zdenek Kirschner and Jan Mlcoch , the exhib ition was held in conjunction with Odeon 's publication of a second edition of Prague Panoramic in Czech, English, French , and German editions. From 5 June to 9 August, ' Industrial Culture in the Bohemian Lands', an exhibition organized by the National Tech nical Museum , Prague, was held at the Museum of Industrial Cu lture in Nuremberg. Consisti ng of old photographs compiled by Pavel Scheufler and Jan Hozak, the exhibition was later shown in Munich, Mannheim , Waldkraiburg, and Oelsn itz /Erzgebirge. In June, 'The Slovak Dozen ' and exhibitions of works by Viktor Kolar, Pavel Stecha, and Jozef Sedlak were held as part of the Week of Czechoslovak Culture , Dortmund. From 10 September to 19 October, 'Modern Photography in Prague, 1900-25', organized by Monika Faber and Josef Kroutvor, was held at the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz. It was later held at the Museum Moderner Kunst in Vienna , the Frankfurter Kunstverein , and the 1992 'Mois de la Photo ', Paris. From 11 September to 31 October, the exhibition 'Photography from Czechoslovakia in the 1930s and 1940s', curated by Petra Kroll , opened at the Galerie Carla Stutzer, Cologne , as part of the photok ina photography and imaging fair.

Galle ry in Prague held a smalle r version of the same exhibition in the Waldstein Riding Schoo l under the title 'Art for all the Senses'.

From 23 to 31 October, the first year of Funke's Ko lin, a photography festival, was held, organized by Ales Kunes , Jolana Havelkova, and their colleagues.

Asco , Prague, published the Encyklopedie ceskych a slovenskych fotografu (Encyclopaedia of Czech and Slovak Photographers) compiled by Petr Balajka, Vladimir Birgus, Anton in Dufek, Eudovit Hlavac, Martin Hruska, Pavel Scheufler, and Ladislav Sole.

In October, the French Institute in Prague opened the Galerie Stepanska 35. (Now called Galerie 35), which has since held many photog raphy exhibitions .

From 29 April to 25 May, the Prague House of Photography exhibited portraits by August Sander. The collection was prepared by his grandson, Gerd Sander. On 17 April, the Galerie Svazu ceskych fotografu v Praze (Gal lery of the Association of Czech Photographers) held one last exh ibition, of works by Ladislav Postupa, before closing its doors for ever. On 13 May, 'Without Frontiers', an exhibition of works by Jindrich Streit opened at the Vaclav Spala Gallery. To mark the occasion , Arcadia published Streit 's first boo k Vesnice je svet (The Village is a Global World, in Czech , English, Fre nch, and German), with an introduction by Antonin Dufek. From 1O June to 25 July, the exhibition 'Czech Photography of the 1990s' was shown at Fotofeis 93, the First International Photography Festival in Scotland. Cu rated by Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, it was held at the Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr, Scotland. A larger vers ion of the exh ibition was later held in cities in Great Britain, Portugal, Spai n, Ge rmany, and Lithu ania. On 16 September, the Vaclav Spala Gallery in Prague showed the exhibition 'Cabinets of Reminiscences ', a retrospective of work by Vaclav Chochola. It was prepared by his daughter Blanka Chocholova. Arcadia, published a book of the same name, with text in Czech , English , French, and German , entitled Kabinety vzpominek I Cabinets of Reminiscences I Les Cabinets de souvenirs I Die Kabinette von Erinnerungen. From 19 September to 15 November, the exhibition 'Czech and Slovak Photography from Between the Wars to the Present ', curated by Murray Forbes, was held at the Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, Massachu setts. The exhib ition subsequentl y moved to Boston , Middlebury, Seattle, and Monaco. A catalogue was pub li shed to accompany the exhib ition.

In October, the Jacques Baruch Gallery, Ch icago, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary by holding the exh ibition 'Czechoslovak Photography 1915-1960'. It was prepared by Anne Baruch. From 25 October to 24 January 1993, the exhibition 'What's New: Prague' was held at the Art Institute of Chicago. It included 54 contemporary Czech photographers and was prepared by Colin Westerbeck.

On 12 January, the Komora fotografu (Photographers' Assoc iation) was fo unded at a general meeting in Prague.

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1994 From 11 February to 16 March , the Photog raphy Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, held the ex hibition 'After the Velvet Revolution : Contemporary Czech and Slovak Photography '. On 15 February, the major retrospecti ve, 'Karel Teige 1900-1951', curated chiefly by Karel Srp, opened at the City Gallery Prague. In March and April , a retrospective of work by Miroslav Hak, organized by Jan Mlcoch (who also wrote the text to the catalogue), was held at the Prague House of Photography. From 27 May to 16 October, the large-scale exhibition ' Europa, Europa: The Century of the Avant-garde in Central and Eastern Europe' was held at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn. The photog raphy section was prepared by Antonin Dufek and included numerou s works by Czech photographers , including Drtikol, Funke, Styrsky, Sudek, Zykmund , Hak, Svoboda, and Koudelka . ERM published Dynastie (Dynasty), a book of photograph ic portraits by Ivan Pinkava with an introduction by Josef Kroutvor. From 16 June to 5 July, an exhibition on Frant isek Drtikol, cu rated by Vladimir Birgus, was held at the Prague House of Photography.

J1 Ri LEDA, THE COVER OF

E NCYKLOPEDIE CESKYCH

A SLOVENSKYCH FOTOGRAFU,

PRAGUE : Asco, 1993

~

ARCADIA

EM1L ZAVAD1L, ousT JACKET OF J1NoR1cH STRE1T's VESNICE JE svu (THE VILLAGE IS A G LOBAL W ORLD) , PRAGUE: ARCADIA , 1993 From 16 September to 6 November, the Galerie Stepanska 35, at the French Institute, Prague, held an exhibition of works by Helmut Newton, called 'Archives of the Night '. It was organized by Jean -Luc Monterosso. In October, courses , taught by Pavel Bai\ka, began at the Photography Studio of the Institute of Fine Arts at Purkyne University, Usti nad Labem. Instruction also began , under Pavel Stecha, in the Photography St udio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. In October and November, the gallery at U Kamenneho zvonu held a large exhibition of works by Vladimir Spa cek. Antonin Kratochvil received the annual Leica Prize and a grant from Mother Jones magazine. Together with the Museum of Decorative Arts, Takarajima Books, based in New York and Tokyo, published Sudek. a large monograph with an introduction by Zdenek Kirschner.

From 27 April to 28 May, 'The Bitter Years: Europe, 1945-1947', an exh ibition of photographs by Jindrich Marco, was held at the Prague House of Photography. A book of the same name, with an introduction by Vladimir Birgus, was presented at the opening. On 3 May, the exhibition 'The Bitter Years, 1939-47: Europe through the Eyes of Czech Photographers' opened at the Burgrave's House, Prague Castle. Curated by Vladimir Birgus·and Blanka Chocholova, it was shown again in Opava , Ostrava, Edinburgh , London , Berlin, and Skopelos. On 7 May, at the lnterkamera trade fair, the editorial board of Fotografie Magazin announced the results of the first competition for the best photographic publication of the year. The competition continues to this day. The last issue of Revue Fotografie was published . On 31 May, the Josef Sudek Gallery, in Sudek 's former flat in Na Uvoze, Prague, was opened by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. Jan Mlcoch was put in charge of its exhibition programme. From 21 June to 27 August , 'Hidden Image', a large exhibition of portraits by Jiri David, was shown at the Galerie Rudolfinum , Prague. From 3 to 29 August , the exhibition 'Jaromir Funke, Glass and Ordinary Things : Photographs, 1919- 1943', organ ized by Suzanne Pastor, was held at the Prague House of Photography. Grafoprint Neubert published the book Stara Praha Frantiska Fridricha (The Old Prague of Frantisek Fridrich) by Pavel Scheufler. On 9 August, a retrospective of work by Jan Lukas , prepared by Josef Moucha and lvo Gil, opened at the Manes Gallery, Prague.

From 15 December to 22 January, a retrospective of the works of Jan Svoboda, curated by Antonin Dufek, was held at the Moravian Gallery in the Prazak Palais, Brno. It was shown again , in the Museum of Decorative Arts , Prague, in autumn 1995.

In September and October, an exhibition of work by Bohdan Holomicek was held at the Archa Theatre, Prague, to mark his new book published by Torst.

From June to August , the exh ibition 'Black Triangle', Josef Koudelka's panoramic photographs record ing the devastation of the north Bohemian countryside , was held at the Palais Salm , Prague. Vesmir published , Cerny trojuhelnik I Black Triangle I Le triangle noir, to accompany the exh ibition.

In December, Galerie 4, Cheb, ce lebrated its te nth year with the publication of Pfibeh Galerie 4 (The Story of Galle ry 4) , prepared by Josef Moucha.

From 28 September to 17 October, 'The Frontiers of Photography', a mixed-media exhibition, prepared by Ales Kunes, was held at the Prague House of Photography.

Prostor, Prague, published the monograph Fotograf Frantisek Drtikol (The Photographer Frantisek Drtikol) by Vladimir Birgus. KANT, Prague, published a revised edition in Czech and English in 2000.

From 7 February to 5 March, a joint exh ibition of panoramic photographs by Josef Sudek, ' Northern Landscape', and Josef Koudelka , 'Black Triangle', was held at the Moravian Gallery, Brno. The Sudek part of the exhibition was curated by Antonin Dufek.

In June and July, Marketa Luskacova's exhibition ' Photographs of Spitalfields, 1974- 1990' was shown at the Town Hall of the Old Town, Prague.

From 1 to 27 September, the exhibition 'In Bright Light' was shown at the Prague House of Photography. Ivan Pinkava compiled the exhib ition of works by Vaclav Jirasek, Jan Kadoun, Josef Moucha , Robert Portel , Tono Stano, and Vaclav Strat il , as we ll as his own photographs.

1993

From March to May, 'The Art of the Avant-garde in Czechoslovakia 1918-1938', a large exhibition curated by Jaroslav Andel , was held the IVAM Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. It was also accompanied by the publication of a large catalogue in Spanish and English. The National

From October to December, the exh ibition 'Josef Sudek: Panoramic Photography', prepared by Jan Mlcoch, was held at the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Nantes.

From 6 July to 28 August, the Rencontres internationales de la photographie d'Arles held the exh ibition 'Josef Sudek: The Pigment Prints, 1947-1954'. It was prepared by Manfred Heiting. The exh ibition was later held in Cologne and New York. Cinubia , Los Ange les , pub lished the catalogue Josef Sudek: The Pigment Prints 19471954 to accompany the exhibition of the same name.

On 3 December, a retrospecti ve of works by Eugen Wiskovsky, curated by Vladimir Birgus, was held at the Prague House of Photography.

JINDRICH STREIT

by Anton in Dufek, it was later held at the Museum of Art, Olomouc.

On 15 September, a retrospective of William Klein 's work was shown at the Burgrave's House, Prague Castle. The introduction to the catalogue is by Vladimir Birgus.

1995

On 8 February, ' People of the Olomouc Area', a touring exh ibition by Jindrich Streit, opened at the Caesar Gallery, Olomouc. On 23 February, the Photography Department of the Silesian Regional Museum , Opava , was opened with exhibition of work by Pavel Dias. It was closed in 1999.

In October and November, 'Wonderful Times', a retrospective of works by Rudolf Bruner-Dvorak, a Czech pioneer of 'instantaneous' photography, was held at the National Technical Museum , Prague. The exhibition was organized by Pavel Scheufler and Jan Hozak.

by Roman Vishniac on the lives of Jews in central and eastern Europe was held in the Theresian Wing of Prague Castle. Sfinga, Ostrava, published the book Ostrava: Obleiene mesto (Ostrava: A City Besieged) by Viktor Kolar, with texts in Czech , En glish , French , and German. From 24 November to 17 December, an exhibition from the first year of the Czech Press Photo competition was held at the Ambit Gallery, Prague. The competition, held to judge the best works by Czech photojournalists, is still organized annually. From 7 December to 21 January 1996, a retrospective of work by Jan Saudek was held at the Olomouc Museum of Art.

1996 In March and April , the ' NOX: Contemporary Photography' exhibition of works by members of the NOX Agency - Gabina Farova, Ivan Pinkava, Rudo Prekop, Tono Stano, Vasil Stanko, Miro Svo lik, Kamil Varga, and Peter Zupnik - was held at the National Gallery, in the Palais Kinsky, Prague. Academia , Prague, published the two-volume Nova encyklopedie ceskeho vytvarneho umeni (New Encyclopaedia of Czech Fine Art) for the History of Art Institute of the Academy of Sciences. It includes several entries related to photography. Andela Horova was the editor-in-chief. From 20 March to 9 June, the exh ibition 'A Rose for Josef Sudek' was held in the Royal Summer Palace, Prague. The exhibition was organized by Jan Mlcoch and Jan Rezac to mark the hundredth anniversary of Sudek's bi rth . In 1998, it was held again as part of the Europalia Festival at the Musee des Beaux- Arts , Charleroi , Belgium. On 21 June, the exhibition 'Rai lway Station' opened at the Praha-Vysocany station. In all, fort y photographers and fine artists exhibited. The curator was Ales Kunes. 'Periplanissis', an exh ibition of works by Josef Koudelka , opened at the Burgrave's House, Prague Castle. From 26 June to 20 August, the First Biennale of International Photography devoted to Czech and Russian photography was held on the Greek island of Skopelos. The Czech contribution inclu ded the exhibitions

SUD EK

Torst , Prague, published the largest monograph on Josef Sudek to date. An exhibition of Sudek 's photographs was organ ized at the Vaclav Spala Gallery, Prague. Th e photographs were from the collection of Anna Farova, the author of the book. On 3 November, the 'Bazaar' exh ibition, organized by Ales Kunes, was held at the second-hand furniture market on Libensky Island, Prague. Works by thirty photographers and artists were shown.

In March and April , ' New York: Collected Bars', an exhibition of works by Jiri (George) Erml, curated by Kristian Suda and Jan Mlcoch, was held at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.

From 7 November to 31 December, the National Technical Museum in Prague exhibited po rtraits and nudes by Tono Stano.

In March, the exhibition 'Prague Shop Windows' by lre n Stehli was held at the Fronta Gallery, Prague. From 20 April to 28 May, the Moravian Gallery in Brno held a retrospective of the DOFO group from Olomouc. Curated

In November, Imago, a magazine in English about photography from central and eastern Europe, edited by Vaclav Macek, was launched in Bratislava. In November and December, an exhibition of photographs

MARTIN BALCAR, THE COVER OF ANNA FAROVA's PRAGUE: TOAST, 1995

J OSEF S UDEK,

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'The Bitter Years, 1939-47: Europe through the Eyes of Czech Photographers', and 'Contemporary Czech Photography'. It also showed a major retrospective of works by Josef Koudelka and an exhibition of documentary photographs of Ostrava by Viktor Kolar. From 1 to 25 August, ' Looking Back', a major retrospective of work by Jindrich Streit, was held at the Manes gallery, Prague.

In May, the lnterkamera 97 Arts Scene, organized by Daniela Mrazkova and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, was held in Prague. It included twenty exhibitions and the International Meeting of Editors and Columnists from the European Press. A conference was held on 'Photography at the End of Its Classical Era: Possibilities and Applications'. On 20 May, the Komorni galerie Josefa Sudka (Josef Sudek Chamber Gallery) was opened in Prague. It was established by Czech Photo , a foundation managed by Daniela Mrazkova. From 15 June to 13 October, the large multim edia exhibition 'Prague 1900-1938: Capitale secrete des avant-gardes' opened at the Musee des Beaux-Arts , Dijon. Curated by Jaroslav Andel and Emmanuel Starcky, it included many photographs , photomontages , and collages by Czech Avant-garde artists. In October, Fotofeis 97, the Third International Photography Festival in Scotland, at the Mackintosh Gallery of the Glasgow School of Art, included the exhibition 'The Body in Contemporary Czech Photography' It was curated by Vladimir Birgus. From 5 November to 7 December, a retrospecti ve of photographs by Viktor Kolar, dating from 1967 to 1997, was held at the Vaclav Spa.la Gallery.

JA N SAUOEK,

COLOGNE: TASCHEN, 1998

From 11 August to 4 October, an exhibition called 'The Prague Photography Scene' was held at the Museum tor Photographie , Braunschweig. Organized by the Prague House of Photography, it showed Czech staged photography by Stepan Grygar, Ales Kunes, Miro Svolik, Vladimir Zidlicky, and Peter Zupnik. The curator was Suzanne Pastor. Advanced, a new magazine for photography and video , was published in Prague. It was later renamed Foto Video. On 10 October, the exhibition 'Certainty and Searching in Czech Photography of the 1990s' opened at the Burgrave's House, Prague Castle. Curated by Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, it comprised works by thirty photographers. KANT published a book of the same name in Czech and English. The exhibition was later shown in Brno, Carlsbad , Bratislava, and Berlin.

From 11 November to 4 January 1998, ' Broken Dream ', an exhibition of Antonin Kratochvil 's photographs from eastern and central Europe in the 1980s and 1990s, was held at the Burgrave's House, Prague Castle . The photographs were from the book Broken Dream, published by the Monacelli Press , New York. On 8 December, at the exhibition 'Czechs', at the Fotogalerie U Recickych, Prague , comprising photographic portraits by Ivan Lutterer, Jan Maly, and Jiri Polacek , a book of the same name, Cesky clovek, was launched. It was published , with text in Czech and English , by Studio JB, Lomnice nad Popelkou .

1998 From 11 February to 31 May, the exhibition ' Frantisek Drtikol, Photographer, Painter, Mystic ', organized by Stanis lav Dolezal , Anna Farova, and Petr Nedoma, was held at the Galerie Rudolfinum , Prague. Taschen , Cologne , published Jan Saudek: Photographs 1987-1997.

On 14 October, the exhibitions 'Jaromir Funke (18951945), Pioneer of the Photographic Avant-garde' and 'Josef Sudek, the Quiet Heretic' opened in the Moravian Gallery, Brno. Both were curated by Antonin Dufek and were later held abroad.

From 24 June to 13 September, the European premiere of a Cindy Sherman retrospective was held at the Galerie Rudolfinum , Prague. Prostor, Prague, published An Inveterate Faith in a Better Future, a book (in Czech , English , French , and German) of photographs by Dana Kyndrova, with a foreword by Ludvik Vaculik.

In Prague, PosAm published Tona Stano: 1980 Praha 1996, a Czech-English edition of photographs by Tono Stano. In July, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival held the exhibition 'Incognito', a collection of portraits of actors and directors taken by Antonin Kratochvil. A one-day preview of the exhibition was held at the Mational Gallery, Prague. The Gallery of Fine Art , in Litomerice , organized the Josef Sudek exhibition 'Sad Landscape'. It also published a book of the same name, Smutna krajina, with an introduction by Antonin Dufek with text in Czech , English , and German. The ' Pragensie 1985-1990' exhibition , with works by Lukas Jasansky and Martin Polak, was held at City Gallery Prague. A catalogue with an introduction by Karel Srp was published to accompany the exhibition. In July and August, a commercial exhibition of works by Jan Saudek, entitled 'Good-bye, Jan! ', was held in the Muni cipal House, Prague. The profits were donated to the Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation. In all , more than 70,000 people visited the exhibition. On 21 August, the '1968, Magnum in the World' exhibition opened at the Burgrave's House, Prague Castle.

THE COVER OF ANTON iN KRATOCHViLS B ROKEN NEW YORK : MONACELLI, 1999

D REAM,

of the Institute of Creative Photography at the Silesian University, Opava. A publication of the same name accompanied the exhibition.

From 28 April to 11 June, the National Gallery held the exhibition ' Mercy ' by Antonin Kratochvil in th e Trade Fair Palace, Prague.

On 17 March, Jirf Jaskmanicky opened his Ceske centrum fotografie (Czech Photography Centre) in Naplavni ulice, Prague, with an exhibition of photographs by Josef Sudek.

From 10 May to 10 September, the exhibition 'Society in Front of the Lens, 1918-89', curated by Antonin Dufek, was held at the Municipal House, Prague.

In April , KANT, Prague, published the large volume Ceska fotograficka avantgarda 1918-1948, compiled and edited by Vladimir Birgus, with articles by Pierre Bonhomme, Anton.in Dufek, Iva Janakova, Ales Kunes, Jan Mlcoch , and Karel Srp. In July, a German edition was published by Arnoldsche , Stuttgart, and , in 2002 , the MIT Press , in America , published the English edition , Czech Photographic Avant-Garde 1918-1948.

On 22 June, a permanent exhibition on the life and work of Frantisek Drtikol opened at the Galerie Zamecek, Pribram . It was organ ized with the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague , and curated by Jan Mlcoch.

From 9 June to 7 November, the photographs of Veronika Bromova represented th e Czech Republic at the Venice Biennale. K AREL K EAUCKY, THE COVER OF VLADIMIR 8 1AGUS AND P AVEL S CHEUFLER'S

1839- 1999 (PHOTOGRAPHY IN 1839- 1999), P RAGUE : G RADA , 1999

F OTOGRAFIE V CESKYCH ZEMICH B OHEMIAN L ANDS,

From 24 June to 6 September, the City Gallery Prague held 'Veronika's Revenge: From Man Ray to Matthew Barney ', an exhibition of photographs from Baroness Lambert 's collection.

Fro m September 1998 to February 1999, the City Gallery Prague was host to the Skupina 42 (42 Group) exhibition. The photography section was prepared by Jan Mlcoch.

1997

378 1

In June, the Prague-Kolin Photo Festival took place, organized by the Prague House of Photography and oth er institutions. The largest exhibition , 'The Body and Photography ', was prepared by Martina Pachmanova , reflecting the dominant theme of the festival.

Fro m 21 September to 24 October, a large exhibition of documentary photographs by Viktor Kolar from 1963-99 was held in Ostrava.

On 15 October, the exhibition 'Czech Surrealism 192953', organized by the City Gallery Prague , was held at the Municipal Library, Prague. Curated by Lenka Bydzovska and Karel Srp, and accompanied by a book of the same name, Cesky surrealismus 1929-1953, the exhibition included many photographs and photomontages.

From 24 March to 15 May, the photographs of the Aventinum Trio (Ladislav Emil Berka , Alexandr Hackenschmied, and Jirf Lehovec) were exhibited at the Fotogalerie U Recickych, Prague. Under the management of the owner of the former Paideia gallery, Jiri Jaskmanicky, the gallery was now turning its attention to photography.

From 7 April to 7 June, the Museo Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, held the premiere of the exh ibition ' Modern Beauty: Czech Avant-garde photography 1918-1948'. It was organized by Vladimir Birgus and Pierre Bonhomme with Anton in Dufek, Jan Mlcoch, and Karel Srp. The exhibition was later shown at the Palais Sully, Paris , the Musee de l'Elysee, Lausann e, the City Gallery Prague, and Die Neue Sammlung of the Staatliches Museum tor angewandte Kunst , Munich.

THE

A book of photojournalism by Jan Sibik, Kdyby vsechny slzy sveta (If All the Tears of the World) , was published by Prvni Nakladatelstvi Knihcentrum , Prague. On 1 November, a retrospective of work by Annie Leibovitz opened at the National Gallery, Prague.

1999 On 7 January, Nan Goldin's exhibition , 'I'll Be Your Mirror', opened in the Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague. From 11 February to 30 May, the Neumann Foundation in Gingins, Switzerland , held the exhibition 'Frantisek Drtikol: Photographs, 1901-1914'. It was organized by Jan Mlcoch and accompanied by a book of the same name, published by KANT. The following year it was shown in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague . From 19 February to 18 April , the Chi cago Cultural Center held the exhibition 'Czech Photography of the 1990s' organized by Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky. A volume of the same name was published by KANT, Prague, to accompany the exhibition .

From 7 December to 14 January 2000 , the Czech Photography Centre , Prague, held the exhibition 'Czech Pictorialism, 1895-1928', organized by Jan Mlcoch and Pavel Scheufler. Grada, Prague, published the book Fotografie v ceskych zemfch 1839-1999 (Photography in the Bohemian Lands , 1839-1999) by Vladimir Birgus and Pavel Scheufler.

2000 From 30 March to 19 June, the Small Gallery of the Galerie Rudolfinum exhibited ninety photographic portraits from the Langhans 'Ga llery of Eminent People '. From 28 April to 18 June, the exhibition '1999: Photographs of Czech Society' was held at the Burgrave's House, Prague Castle. This was the culmination of a photographic project involving eleven photographers and organized by the Geske foto association. A book of the same name, in Czech and English , was published to accompany the exhibition.

From October to January 1999, the 'Prague Art Nouveau ' exhi bition was held in the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, as part of the Europalia 1998 International Arts Festival. Jan Mlcoch prepared the photography section .

On 6 March, the exhi bition 'Czech Photography in the 20th Century', organized by Suzanne Pastor, opened at the Eli Lemberger Museum of Photography, Tel -H ai Indu strial Park, Israel.

On 2 November, an exh ibition of works by Rob Kocan opened at the Velryba photography gallery in Prague. The gallery was intended mainly for young photographers from FAMU and other schools of photography.

On 11 March , the Silesian Regional Museum opened 'People of the Hlucin Region in the 1990s'. This was the final exhibition of a documentary project that had been running for several years with students and teachers

T HE COVER OF THE CATALOGUE OF THE ' L ATEANA M AGICA' EXH IBITION, HELD AT THE A UPEAT INUM , S ALZBURG,

2000

On 10 October, responding to the initiative of Adolf Zika , sixty photographers in one day photographed various aspects of life in the Czech Republic. A selection was made of the resu lting pictures, which was then published , in Czech and English , as Poslednf kniha stoletf (The Last Book of the Century). From 23 November to 16 December, the Manes gallery, Prague , showed the exhibition ' Photography at Manes: The Possibilities of the Medium ', organized by Jiri T. Kotalik and Jan Mlcoch. Together with this the multi-media exhibition 'Work with the Body ' was held, organized by Jiri T. Kotalik and Zdenek Lhotak.

The Palazzo delle Esposizioni , Rome, hosted 'Chaos', a major exhibition of works by Josef Koudelka . It was later held in other cities , including Palermo, Milan, Helsinki , and Madrid. On 5 March, ' Home and Abroad ', a retros pective of works by Martin Parr, opened at the Town Hall of the New Town , Prague. It was later shown in Ostrava, Opava , and Brno.

The exhibition 'Four Classics of Czech Photography ' was held at the Vaclav Spa.la Gallery. It was put together by Blanka Chocholova with works by Karel Hajek, Vaclav Chochola, Karel Ludwig , and Zdenek Tmej.

From 24 June to 12 September, the exhibition ' Us, 194889: Photographs from the Collections of the Moravian Gallery, Brno', organized by Antonin Dufek, was held at the Palais Prazak, Brno. Also exhibited was a collection of photographs by Jindrich Streit, which had been confiscated by the secret police in 1982.

From 4 March to 11 April , the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague held the exhibition 'Czech Turns of the Century, 1898/1998' (Letem ceskym svetem 1898/1998) , showing a set of hundred-year-old photographic scenes together with their contemporary equivalents made by Jaroslav Barta, Zdenek Helfert, Daniela Hornickova, and Ivan Lutterer. A huge volume of the same name was published by Studio JB in Lomnice nad Popelkou .

From 8 October to 15 November, the exhibition 'Czech Photography, 1939-58, from the Moravian Gallery Collections' was held in Brno. It was curated by Antonin Dufek.

Tarsi published the monograph Alexandr Hackenschmied by Jaroslav Andel as the first volume of its Fototorst series .

VLADIMIR BIRGUCS

..

zecli m

.Pb_o.togrnphic II

AVANT-GARDE

VLADIMIR V1MR, THE COVER OF CZECH P HOTOGRAPHIC A VANT-GARDE,

1918- 1948, C AMBRIDGE

AND L ONDON: T HE MIT P RESS, 2002

From 30 November to 4 January 2001 , the exhibition 'The Nude in Czech Photography ', curated by Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch, opened at the Imperial Stables of Prague Castle . The exhibition was later held in the Museum of Art, Olomouc and a smaller version was shown in Moscow, Paris , Aachen , Poznari , Wroclaw, Bratislava, Opava , Ostrava , Athens, Jindrichuv Hradec, and Warsaw. KANT, Prague, published a book of the same name in Czech and English to accompany the exhibition. On 14 December, the exhibition 'Laterna Magica: Insights into One Kind of Czech Photography of the lnterwar Period', organized by Margit Zuckriegl , was held at the Rupertinum , Salzburg , Austria , and then the Museum Abteiberg , in Monchengladbach, Germany. A catalogue of the same name was published to accompany the exhibition.

I 379

A Chronology of Important Events in Czech History of the 20th Century Vladimir Birgus

1917

1928

May - Masaryk arrived in Russia in order to organize local Czech and Slovak prisoners of war into what was to become the Czechoslovak Army Corps in Russia. This was led by the Czechoslovak National Council.

From 26 May to 28 October - the 'Exhibition of Contemporary Culture in Czechoslovakia' was held in Brno. The exhibition symbolized the econom ic and cultural progress made by the young state of Czechoslovakia and was visited by 2.7 million people.

1918 30 May - together with representatives of Czech and Slovak associations in the USA , Masaryk signed the Pittsburgh Agreement, proposing an alliance of Czechs and Slovaks in an independent state. From June to September - the governments of France, Great Britain , and the USA acknowledged the Czechos lovak National Council as the precursor of the future Czechoslovak Government.

1901 The Lands of the Bohemian Crown (Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia), entered the new century as the most advanced industrial country in Austria-Hungary, respons ible for about two-thirds of production in the whole Habsburg Empire. With a literacy rate of 97 per cent of the population , they ranked among the most advanced regions in Europe. Unlike in Hungary, which was granted almost equal status with Austria by the creation of the Dual Monarchy, the leaders in the Bohemian Lands were unable to gain a similar share in political power. An obstacle to the Czech language's gaining absolute parity with German was the high proportion of German inhabitants in the Bohemian Lands.

1907 Universal male suffrage was granted.

1913 The Government dissolved the Czech Nat ional Parliament, which had never been convened. The role of Emperor Francis Joseph I and the Government at Vienna was strengthened.

26 September - a provisional Czechoslovak Government was formed; the President and Prime Minister was Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edvard Benes, and the Minister of War, Milan Rastislav Stefanik. 28 October - the independent Czechoslovak state was declared in Prague. 30 October - at a meeting in Turciansky Svaty Martin , Upper Hungary, the Slovak National Council passed the Declaration of the Slovak Nation , dissolving the alliance between Slovaks and Hungary and declaring support for the joint Czechoslovak State. 3 November - Austria-Hungary capitulated. 14 November - the Czechoslovak Republic, with a democratic parliamentary system , was declared at the first meeting of the National Assembly in Prague. Tomas Garrigue Masaryk was elected the first Czechoslovak President. The new state's chief problems were the complicated questions of nationality amongst between Czechs, Slovaks , and Germans, and the great disparity between industrialized Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia and agrarian Slovakia.

1919 1914 28 June - a nineteen-year-old Serbian Nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, shot dead the heir to the throne , Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria, and his wife. 28 July - Austria-Hungary declared war on Serb ia. This soon led to the First World War.

1915

6 April - the National Assembly adopted the Land Reform Act , under which estates exceeding 150 hectares of arable land were expropriated. Subcarpathian Ruthenia became part of Czechoslovakia . Masaryk University was established in Brno and Comenius University in Bratislava.

1920

Several representatives of the Czech political scene were arrested . Some, for example, Karel Kramar and Alois Rasin , were sentenced to death, though most received an amnesty in July 1917.

29 February - the revolutionary National Assembly adopted the Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic , modelled on the American and French constitutions. A bicameral parliament was established. Women were given the right to vote for the first time.

July - the leader of the Czech resistance movement , Professor Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, declared his support in Zurich and Geneva for an independent Czechoslovak State and the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

1921

1916 January- the Czechoslovak National Council was established in Paris. It was led by Masaryk, who had become the leading proponent of foreign resistance to Austria. 21 November - Francis Joseph I died at the age of 86. Charles I became the new Emperor.

3801

Accord ing to the census, Czechoslovakia had 13,612,244 citizens, of whom 6,850,000 (51 per cent) were of Czech ethnicity, 3,123,000 (23 per cent) of German, 1,910,000 (14.5 per cent) of Slovak, 747,000 of Hungarian, 461 ,000 of Ruthenian or Ukrainian, 181 ,000 of Jewish, and 76,000 of Polish . 14-16 May-the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was established. Among its members and sympathizers were many left-wing artists.

1929 February - the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was taken over by a group of Stalinist radicals led by Klement Gottwald; twenty-six Communist deputies to the National Assembly and senators , as well as seven writers, opposed the Party 's Stalin ization.

1929-33 Like most other countries , Czechoslovakia was hard hit by the effects of the Great Depression. In 1933, industrial produ ction had fallen by 60 per cent and foreign trade had fallen to 29 per cent of its 1929 level. The number of unemployed approached one mi llion.

5 October - President Edvard Benes resigned , and on 22 October fled to Great Britain. 7 October - the first autonomous Slovak government, led by Jozef Tiso, was established. 19 November - the National Assembly adopted laws on autonomy for Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia . The official name of the new entity was the Czecho-Slovak Republic. 30 November - Emil Hacha was elected President of the Republic. 15 December - the Enabling Act was passed , allowing the Government to change the Constitution for a period of two years and to substitute government decrees for laws passed by the National Assembly. This led to the end of parliamentary democracy in Czechoslovakia .

1933

The Government suppressed the activity of the Deutsche nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei (German National Socialist Workers' Party) and the Deutsche Nationalpartei (German National Party). The Sudeten German Homeland Front, the new Sudeten German movement led by Konrad Henlein, was founded. In 1935 this officially became the Sudeten German Party.

1935 25 April - three Czech parties united to form the Fascistleaning National Unification (Narodni sjednoceni) party. 14 December - for health reasons , the eighty-five-year-old president, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, resigned during his fo urth term in office; four days later, Edvard Benes was elected the new President of Czechoslovakia.

1938 24 April - at the Sudeten German Party meeting in Carlsbad, Konrad Henlein announced the Carlsbad Demands calling for full equality for ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia , the creation of a German national homeland with German selfgovernment, and the freedom to profess National Socialist ideology. The government proposed four plans to resolve Sudeten German questions, but fai led to reach agreement on their adoption. 30 May - Hitler issued instructions for a possible attack on Czechoslovakia. 23 September - the general mobilization of the Czechoslovak Army was ordered. 29 September - in Munich, the representatives of Germany, Italy, France, and Great Britain - Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier, and Chamberlain - signed the Mun ich Agreement on the ceding of the Czech borderlands (the Sudetenland) to Germany. Intimidated, the Czechoslovak government ratified the agreement the following day, and later was also forced to accept Polish and Hungarian demands for the ceding of further territories. 1-1 0 October -the German Army occupied Czech border regions.

1942 27 May - the Czechoslovak parachutists Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik, flown in from Great Britain, assassinated Heydrich; in retribution, the Germans destroyed the villages of Lidice and Lefaky and executed almost 1,600 people.

1943 12 December- in Moscow, President Benes signed the Czechos lovak-Soviet Treaty on Friendship, Mutual Assistance, and Post-war Cooperation.

1944

14 March - the Slovak Parliament approved the creation of an independent Slovak State.

29 August - the Slovak National Uprising against the Germans broke out in Banska Bystrica; by the end of the year, however, the uprising had been put down.

15 March - in Berlin, Hitler forced Ha.cha to consent to Germany's annexation of the remainder of Bohemia and Moravia; the German Army occupied the country. 16 March - in Prague, Hitler proclaimed the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and two days later appointed Konstantin van Neurath Reich Protector and Karl Hermann Frank Secretary of State. The Prime Minister of the first Protectorate Government was Rudolf Beran; his place was taken by Alois Elias in April. 21 July- Jozef Tiso, a Roman Catholic priest , was elected President of the Slovak Republic. 17 November - following mass demonstrations in Prague against the German occupation , all Czech universities were closed , nine student leaders were summarily executed, and about 1,200 students were deported to a concentration camp. On the same day in Paris the Czechoslovak National Committee was established.

1940 12 July - in Great Britain , Czechoslovak squadrons began to be formed in the Royal Air Force; these were to play a major role in the Battle of Britain . July - in Great Britain the Czechoslovak National Committee established the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia , led by President Benes, and a National Counci l; Great Britain soon acknowledged the Czechoslovak Government-in -Exile, followed by the USA in July 1941.

1941 23 January - a directive was issued in the Protectorate on forced labour for Czech males aged 18 to 50 ; in consequence, more than 420,000 men were sent to work in the Reich. The 1st Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion was formed in the Soviet Union. 27 September - Reinhard Heydrich, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer and General der Polizei, was appointed Deputy Reich Protector; on his orders the Prime Minister of the Protectorate government, Alois Elias, was arrested for secretly collaborating with the resistance. The next day Heydrich imposed martial law.

19 June - Edvard Benes was unanimously elected President of the Republic.

1947 Under pressure from the Soviet Union Czechoslovakia decided to decline the Marshall Plan for economic and techn ical assistance to bring about European recovery.

1948

1939

Hungary began to annex Subcarpathian Ruthenia.

16 February- the Permanent Council of the Little Entente was established, in order to coordinate the foreign policy of Czechoslovakia, Roman ia, and Yugoslavia.

16 October - the deportation commenced of Jews from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to ghettos and concentration camps; during the war more than 77,000 died.

1945 Apri l - a Czechoslovak Government, led by the Social Democrat Zdenek Fierlinger, was formed in the liberated town of Kosice , east Slovakia. Its program included the central management of the economy, the deportation of Czechoslovaks of German and Hungarian ethnicity and the expropriation of their property, the annexation of Subcarpathian Ruthenia by the Soviet Union, and restrictions on the parliamentary opposition. 21 April - units of the US Third Army crossed into Bohemia. At Stalin's request, however, they halted at Pilsen on 7 May, and did not proceed to Prague. General Eisenhower issued an order that the army shou ld not venture further into Bohemia. 5-8 May- the Prague Uprising broke out. This was terminated by the Germans' agreement to capitulate. Soldiers from Soviet General Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army, comprised of former Russian POWs, were active in the fighting , now against the Germans. 8 May- Germany capitulated , ending the Second World War in Europe.

20 February- most of the non-Communist ministers resigned in protest against the Communist Interior Minister's unilateral actions in defiance of their majority

vote. 25 February - mass strikes and demonstrations forced President Benes to appoint a new government under the total domination of the Communist Party. Thus began almost forty years of Communis~ dictatorship and political and cultural isolation from Western Europe, the USA, and many other democratic states, the forced collectivization of agriculture, the confiscation of private property, the mass persecution of opponents of the totalitarian regime, and show trials. 2 June - President Edvard Benes resigned. 14 June - Klement Gottwald was elected President of the Republic. The first great wave of emigration began ; by 1951 more than 25,000 Czechoslovaks had left the country.

1949 1 January - the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) was estab lished ; its members - Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union, and , a month later, Albania - were to work together to develop a Socialist economic bloc. May - at its Ninth Congress the Czechoslovak Communist Party declared Socialist Realism to be the principal approach to art. Background checks on university students led to almost one-fifth being expelled as 'politically unreliable '.

9 May - the Soviet Army entered Prague.

1950

16 May - President Edvard Benes returned to Prague.

The census revealed that Czechoslovakia had a population of 12,338,450, of which 8,896,133 lived in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.

From May to October - President Benes issued a series of decrees concerning , among other things, the confiscation and re-allocation of the property of Germans, Hungarians, traitors, and collaborators, elections to the National Assembly, and the nationalization of mines, key industries, and banks. From 17 July to 2 August - the Potsdam Conference of the three Great Powers agreed to the deportation of the ethnic Germans of Czechoslovakia; by November 1946 about 2,170,000 Germans had been expelled , many under cruel conditions , and some met with a violent death.

Show trials, often staged with the help of Soviet advisers, led to the conviction of dozens of opponents of the Communist regime ; the best-known victim of judicial arbitrariness was the democratic politician Milada Horakova, who was charged with high treason and espionage and executed together with several other members of 'her group'. Monasteries and, later, convents were closed down; many monks and nuns were interned.

1946

1953

25 May - the elections to the Constitutional National Assembly were won in Bohemia, Moravia, and Moravian Silesia by the Communists with 40 per cent of the vote , and in Slovakia by the Democratic Party with 61 per cent. The Stalinist Klement Gottwald became Prime Minister of the Czechoslovak Government.

14 March - the Chairman of the Czechos lovak Communist Party and President of the Republic, Klement Gottwald, died shortly after returning from Stalin 's funeral in Moscow. His death , combined with Khrushchev 's influence in the Soviet Union , helped Czechoslovakia gradually to emerge from the worst period of Communist totalitarianism.

f

381

21 March - Gottwald was succeeded as President by his Prime Minister, Antonfn Zapotocky. May - experimental television broadcasts were launched in Prague. 30 May - a currency reform was announced , devalu ing ordinary people's savings and causing prices to rise sharp ly. In many places , its introduction was met with strikes and demonstrations, the forerunners of the first mass demonstrations against the Communist regime.

1954 May- the Warsaw Pact, a military-political alliance of Soviet-bloc states, was established ; Czechoslovakia was a member from its inception.

1956 The leadership of the Czechoslovak Communist Party reacted slu ggishly to Khrushchev's speech criticizing Stalin 's rule, particularly the cult of personality, which he de livered at a closed session just after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in Moscow.

1957 13 November - the Czechoslovak President. Antonfn Zapotocky, died. He was succeeded by another Communist Party functionary, Antonfn Novotny.

1960 9 May - a partial amnesty was declared for political prisoners. About 5,000 were released , followed by another 2,500 prisoners in 1962. 11 July - The National Assembly adopted a new constitution in which the State was renamed the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Czechoslovak Communist Party was explicitly said to have the leading role in society.

1963 Czechoslovakia's gradual and moderate liberalization was in part precipitated by the condemnation of the political show trials from the beginning of the 1950s and the adoption of economic reforms chiefly initiated by the economist Ota Sik, which introduced certain elements of a market economy.

1968 3-5 January - the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party decided to separate the offices of President of the Republic and First Secretary of the Party. The latter office was held by Alexander Dubcek, who proceeded to promote the democratization of Socialism. This paved the way for the 'Prague Spring'. 30 March - General Ludvik Svoboda took the place of Anton in Novotny as President of the Republic after the latter's resignation. April - the new Action Programme of the Czechoslovak Communist Party included support for 'Socialism with a human face' and democratization. 27 June - the 'Two Thousand Words' manifesto, prepared by the writer Ludvik Vaculik , was published , calling for people to take an active interest in public affairs. The Party immediately condemned the manifesto as counter-revolutionary. 11-12 July-at their meeting in Warsaw, representatives of the Soviet Union , Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, and Poland warned against counter-revolution in Czechoslovakia. 20 August - Warsaw Pact forces , numbering about 750,000 soldiers, with 6,300 tanks and 800 aircraft, began to occupy Czechoslovakia. 21 August - the occupying forces, led by the Soviet Army, took control of the most important towns and institutions. The Czechoslovak Government protested at the armed intervention and several thousand ordinary people vented their anger in spontaneous demonstrations during which many dozens were killed. Following the failure of an attempt by dogmatists and conservatives within the Communist Party leadership to form a government that wou ld co ll aborate with the Soviets , the pro-reformists , including Dubcek, were forced onto a plane and flown to the Soviet Union. 23-26 August - complex negotiations were held in Moscow between the leaders of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Under great pressure , the Czechoslovak delegation, with the exception of Frantisek Kriegel , signed the 'Moscow Protocol '. The Czechoslovak leaders thereby permitted occupation forces to be temporarily stationed in Czechoslovakia , and pledged to ban 'anti-Socialist organizations', reinstate censorship , and dismiss reformist officials. When implemented , this ended the Prague Spring democratization and ushered in the era of 'normalization '. 27 October - the Act of Federation was passed. From the beginning of the following year, Czechoslovakia was to become a federation of two equal nations , the Czech and the Slovak.

1964 October - the removal of Khrushchev, and his replacement by Leonid Brezhnev in the leadership of the USSR, led to a new era for the entire bloc of Soviet satellite states , including Czechoslovakia.

1967 27-29 June - the Fourth Czechoslovak Writers ' Congress in Prague sharply criticized the Commun ist regime , calling for more thorough economic reform and a return to European cu lture. The Party leadership, with Anton in Novotny at its head, at first condemned the call for greater freedom and liberalization; by the end of the year, however, most of its members broke ranks and opposed Novotny.

382 1

opponents were not executed , nor were they subjected to mass arrests. The regime considered it sufficient to remove them from their jobs, force them to do menial work, and to withdraw their right to publish ; their children were not accepted at secondary schoo l or university and the secret po li ce monitored their personal contacts and correspondence.

1970 Purges in the Communist Party led to 327,000 members (almost 22 per cent of the Party) being expelled. Many lost their jobs and their fam ilies were also often persecuted. In all , 127,000 Czechos lovak citizens emigrated after August 1968.

1975 29 May - the General Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Gustav Husak, also became President of the Republic. Czechoslovakia signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which was held in Helsinki and was attended by thirty-two heads of state. The Helsinki Accords contains human rights provisions, which to a certain extent encouraged the activity of dissidents and exiles.

1977 1 January- Charter 77 was published , calling on the Communist regime to enter into open discussion with nonCommunists , to desist from breaching the Constitution, and to respect democratic rights. The first spokesmen of the Charter 77 human rights movement, which became the main focus of opposition circles , were the playwright Vaclav Havel, the philosopher Jan Patocka, and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs from the Prague Spring period, Jiri Hajek. The declaration sparked a furious reaction from Party and Government circles.

1980 In early November, 15,276,799 people lived in Czechoslovakia , 10,288 ,946 of whom lived in the Czech Socialist Republic. The Prague-Brno-Bratislava motorway was opened.

1985 Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His election paved the way for the policies of glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union. Under Husak the Czechoslovak Communists were reluctant to embrace Gorbachev's reforms. Nevertheless, members of the Czechoslovak Communist Party's leadership began cautiously to promote economic and social reform.

1988

1990

1993

January - about 600,000 people signed a petition for the restoration of religious freedoms.

26 February - an agreement was concluded in Moscow for the Soviet Army's withdrawal from Czechoslovakia. The last Soviet soldiers left on 27 June 1991.

The independent Czech Republic was established, with a population of 10,302,000 and an area of 78,864 square kilometres. The independent Slovak Republic was established at the same time. 26 January - Vaclav Havel was elected the first President of the Czech Republic.

10 December-for Human Rights Day a sanctioned assembly of independent initiatives was held in Prague. Th e assembly was organized by Charter 77 and other groups.

1989 January - members of a crowd marking the twentieth anniversary of Jan Palach's death were attacked by police in Prague. There followed a week- long series of protest events which came to be known as 'Palach Week '. Several hundred protesters were arrested. Among those imprisoned was Vaclav Havel. More than 1,350 people, mostly people employed in the arts and academia , immediately signed a petition for Havel's release and for human rights and greater political transparency. 17 November - a student march which came after a sanctioned gathering in the centre of Prague was brutally dispersed by the police. A false report on the killing of a student sparked mass demonstrations against the Communist regime beginning the following day, which turned into the 'Velvet Revolution'. The first to react were students and people employed in theatre , who the next day announced a strike. 19 November -the Civic Forum was founded in Prague, bringing together opponents of the totalitarian regime. Its leader was the playwright and dissident Vaclav Havel. The Civic Forum rapidly expanded to other Czech towns , and became the main organ izer of demonstrations, which in Prague were attended by hundreds of thousands of people. 24 November - Milos Jakes resigned as General Secretary of the Czechoslovak Comm unist Party. 29 November - the Federal Assembly removed from the Constitution the article about the Communist Party's leading role in society. This marked the end of four decades of Communist rule.

Apri l - laws were passed making all forms of ownership equal before the law. June - the first free elections to be held for more than forty years were won by the Civic Forum and its Slovak counterpart, the Public Against Violence. The turnout was about 97 per cent-of all eligible voters. 2 October - the Federal Assembly approved the Restitution Act, making possible the return of confiscated property.

1994 4 February - the first privately held state-wide Czech television station, TV Nova, began broadcasting. Its commercial programming soon made it the most popular TV channel in the country.

1995 1991 From February to April - the Civic Forum split into the right-of-centre Civic Democratic Party, led by Vaclav Klaus, and the left-of-centre Civic Movement, led by Jiri Dienstbier. 26 February - the Act on Large-Scale Privatization was passed; this facilitated the transfer of State-owned property into private hands.

September - the Czech crown became a freely convertible foreign currency.

1996 June and July - the Civic Democratic Party won the general elections. Its chairman, Vaclav Klaus, became Prime Mini ster.

1 July - the Warsaw Pact was disestablished in Prague.

1997

16 December - the 'Europe Agreement' was signed for Czechoslovakia's accession to the European Union.

The worsening economic situation forced the Klaus Government to make stringent cuts in the State budget and introduce a programme of economic revitalization.

1992

November - scandals over financial contributions to the Civic Democratic Party from dead or non -existent sponsors and the loss of coalition partners led to a government crisis and the resignation of the Klaus Government.

18 May- the first round of voucher privatization was launched. This was a controversial method of transferring the ownership of almost 1,500 State-owned companies to more than 8.5 million registered citizens. Most of these people then entrusted their shares to investment funds. 5-6 June - the general elections in the Czech Republic were won by the Civic Democratic Party, led by Vaclav Klaus , in coalition with the Christian Democratic Party. The Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, led by Vladimir Meciar, was victorious in Slovakia.

10 December - in the new government of Marian Calla, the Communists did not have a majority for the first time since the 1948 takeover. Husak resigned as President of the Republic.

17 July- deputies from the Slovak National Council in Bratislava passed a resolution for the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Slovak Republic.

29 December - Vaclav Havel was elected President of the Republic.

20 July- Vaclav Havel resigned the Czechoslovak presidency.

1998 2 January - President Vaclav Havel appointed a caretaker government led by the Governor of the Czech National Bank (and a former Communist Party member), Josef Tosovsky. June - the general elections were won by the Czech Social Democratic Party. Milos Zeman was made Prime Minister.

1999 12 March - Together with Poland and Hungary, the Czech Republic became a member of NATO.

1968 16 January - the student Jan Palach committed selfimmolation on Wenceslas Square, Prague, in an attempt to rouse the public from their apathy towards the occupation and limitations on freedom. Palach's funeral provided the occasion for a mass demonstration. 17 April - after Alexander Dubcek's forced resignation, Gustav Husak became the First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party's Central Committee. His succession marked the gradual resurgence of the bureaucratic totalitarian regime and the persecution of anyone who had openly opposed it or been active during the Prague Spring. Unlike in the 1950s, however, political

1987 The Soviet Union's more open policy was reflected in the new Czechoslovak Act on State-run Enterprises, which gave businesses greater freedom in decisionmaking. The policy also led to closer cooperation with West European countries and greater space for criticism in the mass media. 17 December-the hard-line bureaucrat Milos Jakes took up the key role of General Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. Husak remained President of the Republic.

j 383

A Bibliography of Twentieth-century Czech Photography

Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch, Aki w fotografii czeskiej 1960-2000, Poznari: Galeria fotografii "pf ", 2003.

Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotog rafie v mezivalecnych inscenacich E. F. Buriana', Revue Fotografie, 1981 , No. 1, pp. 78-81 .

Vladimir Birgus and Pierre Bonhomme, Beaule moderne: Les avant-gardes photographiques /cheque, 1918-1948, Paris and Prague: KANT, 1998.

(The list does not include books on the individual photographers or unpublished dissertations cited in the notes to the individual chapters.)

Vladimir Birgus and Pierre Bonhomme, Modern/ krasa. Ceska fotograficka avantgarda 1918-1948, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy and KANT, 1999

Vladimir Birgus, Horka feta 1939-1947 ocima ceskych fotografu I The Bitter Year: Europe 1939-1947 through the Eyes of Czech Photographers, Opava: Slezska univerzita, 1995.

VLADIMiR BIRGUS

Vladimir Birgus, 'Contemporary Czech Photography, in Retrospect ': Biennale of International Photography, Skopelos: 1996.

Jaroslav Andel, The Avant-Garde Across Media: Josef Bartuska and the Linie Group 1931-1939, Prague: Obecni dum, 2004. Jaroslav Andel and Anne Tucker (eds) , Czech Modernism 1900-1945, Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts, 1989. Jaroslav Andel , Ceska fotografie 1840-1950: Pribeh modern/ho media, Prague: Galerie Rudolfinum , 2004. Jaroslav Andel , El arte de la Vanguardia en Checoslovaquia 1918-1938 I The Art of the Avant-garde in Czechoslovakia 1918-1938, Valencia: IVAM, 1993. Jaroslav Andel , The New Vision for the New Architecture: Czechoslovakia, 1918-1938, Prague: Slovart, 2005. Jaroslav Andel and Emmanuel Starcky (eds), Prague 1900-1938: Capitale secrete des avant-gardes, Dijon: Musee des Beaux-Arts, 1997. Jaroslav Andel (ed.), Umeni pro vsechny smys/y: Mezivalecna avantgarda v Ceskos/ovensku, Prague: Narodni galerie, 1993. Susanne Anna (ed.), Das Bauhas im Osten: Slowakische und Tschechische Avantgarde 1928-1939, Stuttgart: Verlag Gerd Hatje, Ostfildern bei Stuttgart, 1997. Michel and Michele Auer, Encyclopedie internationale des photographes de 1839 a nos jours I Photographers Encyclopaedia International, 1839 to the Present, Hermance and Geneve: Editions Camera Obscura, 1985. Petr Balajka (ed.), Encyklopedie ceskych a s/ovenskych fotografu, Prague: Asco, 1993. Frederick Baldwin and Wendy Watriss , Choice: Nineteen Contemporary Czechoslovak Photographers, Houston and Prague: FotoFest Houston and Artcentrum , 1990. Pavel Banka and Michaela Thelenova (eds), 2 + 18: 10 let atelieru fotografie Fakulty uziteho umeni a designu Univerzity J. E. Purkyne v Listi nad Labem, Listi nad Labem: Univerzita J. E. Purkyne, 2004. Ludvik Baran, Praha objektivem mistru, Prague: Panorama, 1981. Ludvik Baran, Zazraky fotografie, Prague: Orbis,1964. Timothy 0. Benson (ed.), Central European Avant-Gardes: Exchange and Transformation, 1910-1930, Los Angeles and Cambridge: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2002.

Vladimir Birgus, 'Czech and German Avant-Garde Photography ', in Photoresearcher ESHPh, 2005, pp. 8, pp . 30-34. Vladimir Birgus (ed.): Ceska fotograficka avantgarda 1918-1948, Prague: KANT, 1999. Vladimir Birgus (ed.), Czech Photographic Avant-Garde 1918-1948, Cambridge (Mass.) and London: The MIT Press, 2002. Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Ceska fotografie 90. let I Czech Photography of the 1990s, Prague: KANT, 1998. Vladimir Birgus, Ceska fotografie a svetove umelecke sbirky, in 62. Bulletin Moravske galerie, Brno 2006, pp. 47-64. Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch, Ceska fotografie 20. stoleti: Pruvodce, Prague: KANT and Umeleckoprumyslove museum v Praze, 2005. Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch, Czech Photography of the 20th Century: Guide, Prague: KANT and Umeleckoprumyslove museum v Praze, 2005. Vladimir Birgus, 'Ceska a slovenska fotografie 80. let ', in Ceska a slovenska fotografie dnes, Prague: Orbis, 1991 , pp. 2-17. Vladimir Birgus, 'Ceskoslovenska fotografie v datech ' 1945-1990, Ceskoskoslovenska fotografie, 1990, Nos 1-12, 1991 , Nos 1-12, 1992, Nos 1-12. Vladimir Birgus, 'Firsernes tjekkoslovakiske fotografi I Czechoslovak Photography of the 1980s', Katalog, 1991 , N~~ p~4-3. Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotografia czeska lat 90', Format, 2002, No. 41 , pp. 82-87. Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Fotografia txecoslovaca contemorania, Barcelona: Fundaci6 ,,laCaixa", 1992. Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotograficky adresar Geske republiky', in Listy o fotografii 2, Acta photographica universitatis silesianae opaviensis, Opava: lnstitut tvurci fotografie Slezske univerzity, 1998, pp. 98-115. Vladimir Birgus and Zdenek Kirschner, Fotografie absolventu FAMU, Prague: Umeleckoprumyslove museum v Praze, 1987. Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotografie a fokalky skupiny Ra', Revue Fotografie, 1989, No. 4, pp. 76- 79.

Vladimir Birgus (ed .), Absolventi /nstitutu tvurci fotografie FPF Slezske univerzity v Opave 1991-2006 I Graduates, Institute of Creative Photography, FPF Silesian University in Opava 1991-2006, Opava: Slezska univerzita, 2006.

Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotografie v ceskych zemich a na Slovensku' 1945-1989, Revue Fotografie, 1989, No. 4, pp . 2-11 ; 1990, No. 1, pp. 12-23, No. 2, pp. 10-19, No. 4, pp . 60-65.

Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch, Akt v ceske fotografii I The Nude in Czech Photography, Prague: KANT, 2000.

Vladimir Birgus and Pavel Scheufler, Fotografie v ceskych zemich 1839- 1999, Prague: Gracia Publishing, 1999.

Vladimir Birgus (ed.), lnstitut tvurci fotografie FPF Slezske univerzity v Opave: Diplomove a klauzurni prace 1998-2003 I Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University in Opava: Diploma and Final Portfolios 1998-2003, Opava: Slezska univerzita, 2003. Vladimir Birgus and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Jistoty a hledani v ceske fotografii 90. let I Certainty and Searching in Czech Photography of the 1990s, Prague: KANT, 1996. Vladimir Birgus and Margit Zuckriegl , Maestri de/la fotografia dellavanguardia ceca neg/i anni Venti e Trenta I Masters of the Czech Avant-Garde Photography of the 1920s and 1930s, Milan: Si lvana Editoriale, 2001. Vladimir Birgus, 'Fotografija v ceschskom avantgarnom teatre', in Cheshskoe iskusstvo i literatura, Moscow and Saint Petersburg : Gossudarstvennyj institut iskusstvoznanija and Aleteja, 2003, pp. 231-38. Vladimir Birgus, 'Novaja fotografija', in Cheshskoe iskusstvo i literatura, Moscow and Saint Petersburg : Gossudarstvennyj institut iskusstvoznanija and Aleteja, 2003, pp. 203-21. Vladimir Birgus, 'Ot piktorializma k avantgardu ', in Cheshskoe iskusstvo i literatura, Moscow and Saint Petersburg: Gossudarstvennyj institut iskusstvoznanija and Aleteja, 2003, pp . 190-96. Vladimir Birgus (ed.) , Pedagogove lnstitutu tvurci fotografie FPF Slezske univerzity v Opave I Teachers of the Institute of Creative Photography of the Faculty of Philiosophy and Science, Silesian University in Opava, Opava: Slezska univerzita, 2001. Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch , 'La photographie !cheque dans les annees soixante', in Michael Wellner-Pospisil and Jean-Gaspard Palenicek (eds), Culture /cheque des annes 60, Paris 2007, pp . 279-92. Vladimir Birgus, 'Religi6zni motivy ve fotografii v ceskych zemich do roku 1914', in Ales Filip and Roman Musil (eds), Neklidem k Bohu: Nabozenske vytvarne umeni v Cechach a na Morave v letech 1870-1914, Olomouc and Prague: Muzeum umeni Olomouc, 2006, pp. 239-53. Vladimir Birgus and Tomas Pospech, Tenkrat na Vychode: Cesi ocima fotografu 1948-1989 I Once Upon a Time in the East: Czechs through the Eyes of Photographers, 1948-1989, Prague: KANT, 2009 Vladimir Birgus (ed .), Tschechische Avantgarde-Fotografie 1918-1948, Stuttgart: Arnoldsche , 1999. Vladimir Birgus, 'Die Tschechische Avantgarde-Fotografie zwischen den zwei Weltkriegen I Czech Avant-garde Photography Between the Two Wold Wars', in Gottfried Jager (ed.), Die Kunst der Abstrakten Fotografie I The Art of Abstract Photography, Stuttgart: Arnoldsche 2002, pp . 138-61. Vladimir Birgus, 'Tschechische Fotografie der Avantgarde 1918-1938', in Ada/bert Schiffer Jahrbuch, NF Band 11 , Munich, 1997, pp . 70-80. Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch, Tschechische Fotografie des 20. Jahrhunderts, Bonn and Prague: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland and Umeleckoprumyslove museum v Praze and KANT, 2009.

1385

Vladimir Birgus, Reinhold Mil3elbeck, and Miroslav Vojtechovsky, Tschechoslowakische Fotografie der Gegenwart. Cologne and Heidelberg: Museum Ludwig and Braus, 1990. Vladimir Birgus, Vyvoj ceskoslovenske fotografie v datech 1945-1989, Prague: Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, 1990. Vladimir Jindrich Bufka, Katechismus fotografie, Prague: Hejda a Tucek , 1913. Lenka Bydzovska and Karel Srp (eds), Aventinska mansarda: Otakar Storch Marien a vytvarne umeni, Prague : Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1990. Lenka Bydzovska and Karel Srp, Cesky surrealismus, Prague: Argo and Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1996. Sigrid Canz, Die sudetendeutsche Fotoszene 1918-1938 im Zeitschriftenspiegel, Adalelbert Stifter Jahrbuch, NF 11, Munich, 1997, pp. 81-100. Milan Chlumsky, 'Die Sch6nheit der "Explosante fixe ": Bemerkungen zur tschechischen surrealistischen Fotog rafie', Fotogeschichte, 1997, No. 65, pp. 73-84. Urszula· Czartoryska and Antonin Dufek, 'Miedzywojenna fotografia czeska', Fotografia , 1982, No. 1, pp. 13-18. Ivan Dejmal (text), 1999: Fotografie ceske spolecnosti I Photographs of Czech Society, Lomn ice nad Popelkou: JB Studio, 2000. Frantisek Dolezal (ed.), Socialisticka fotografie. Prague: Prace, 1951. Frantisek Dolezal, Thema v nave fotografii. Prague : Osveta, 1952. Antonin Dufek, 'Abstraktnye i nefigurativnye tendencii ', in Cheshskoe iskusstvo i literatura, Moscow and Saint Petersburg: Gossudarstvennyj institut iskusstvoznanija and Aleteja, 2003, pp. 196-203. Antonin Dufek, Aktualni fotografie, Brno: Moravske galerie v Brne, 1982. Antonin Dufek, Avantgardni fotografie 30. let na Morave. Olomouc: Oblastni galerie vytvarneho umeni, 1981. Antonin Dufek,. Sue Davies , and Jiri Hlusicka, Czechoslovakian Photography: 27 Contemporary Czechoslovakian Photographers, London: The Photographers ' Gallery, 1985. Antonin Dufek and Urszula Czartoryska, Czeska fotografia 1918-1938, L6dz: Muzeum Sztuki, 1985. Antonin Dufek, Cernobila fotografie, Prague: Odeon, 1987. Antonin Dufek (ed.), Ceska fotografie 1918-1938, Brno: Moravske galerie v Brne, 1981 .

Anton in Dufek, Fotografie jako umeni v Ceskoslovensku 1959-1968. Z fotograficke sbirky Moravske galerie I Photography as Art in Czechoslovakia 1959-1968. From the photographic collection of the Moravian Gallery, Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 2001. Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie v Gechach a na Slovensku 1918- 1945', Revue Fotografie, 1989, No. 3, pp. 2-9. Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie ve veku vizitkomanie a zivych obraztl': Gechy 1860-1890, in Tat'ana .Patrasova and Helena Lorenzova (eds)., Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umenivol. Ill , pt 2, Prague: Academia , 2001, pp. 240-53. Antonin Dufek, Fotografie 1890-1918, in Vojtech Lahoda et al. (eds), Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. IV, pt 1, Prague: Academia, 1998. pp. 195-208. Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie dvacatych let; Fotografie tricatych let', in. Oejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. IV, pt 2, Prague : Academia, 1998, pp. 205-22 , 323-54. Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie 1958-1970', in Rostislav Svacha and Marie Platovska , Oejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. VI, pt 1, Prague: Academia, 2007, pp. 255-93.

Antonin Dufek, 'Fotograficka sbirka Moravske galerie v Brne', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1975, Nos 2, 4, 6, 1O, 12, 1976, Nos 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 1977, Nos 1-12, 1978, Nos 1-12. Anton in Dufek and Emil Zavadil, Facing the End of the Century: Five Czech Photographers, Prague 1996. Antonin Dufek, Fotografie, in Mahulena Neslehova (ed.), Cesky informel.· Prukopnici abstrakce z let 1957-1964, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1991 , pp. 159-92.

386 1

Antonin Dufek, Tela v ceskoslovenske fotografii 1900-1986, Kromeriz: Muzeum Kromerizska, 1986. Antonin Dufek and Ute Eski ldsen, Tschechische Fotografie 1918-1938, Essen: Museum Folkwang , 1984. Anton in Dufek, Treti strana zdi: Ceska a slovenska fotografie 1969-1989 ze sbirek Moravske galerie v Brne I The Third Side of the Wall: Photography in Czechoslovakia 1969-1989 from the Collection of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 2008. Antonin Dufek, V case, Cheb: Galerie 4, 1986. Antonin Dufek, Vize, Brno: Dtlm umeni mesta Brna, 1988. Karel Dvorak, 'Sedesat let ceske krajiny ve fotografii ', Revue Fotografie, 1978, No. 3, pp. 22-28. Alena Dvorakova and Viktor Fischer (eds.), Propojeni obrazem: Ceska humanitarni fotografie 1990-2000 I Image Link: Czech Humanitarian Photography 1990-2000, Prag ue: Sprava Prazskeho hradu, 2001.

Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie 1970-1989', in Rostislav Svacha and Marie Platovska, Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. VI , pt 2, Prague: Academia, 2007, pp. 753-87.

Monika Faber (ed .), Oas lnnere der Sicht: Surrealistische Fotografie der 30er und der 40er Jahre, Vienna: 6sterre ichisches Fotoarchiv im Museum moderner Kunst, 1990.

Antonin Dufek, 'Exilova fotografie', in Rostislav Svacha and Marie Platovska, Dejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umenivol. VI, pt 2, Prague: Academia, 2007, pp. 789- 95.

Anna Farova, Ceskoslovenska fotografie v exilu (19391989), Prague: Asociace fotograftl , Unie vytvarnych umelctl , GFVU, and Ministerstvo kultury, 1992.

Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie 1989-2000', in Rostislav Svacha and Marie Platovska, Oejiny ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, vol. VI, pt 2, Prague: Academia , 2007, pp. 981-99.

Anna Farova, 'Czech Photography. Myth, Modernism and Magic', in At the Still Point: Photographs from the Manfred Heiting Collection 1111, Amsterdam and Los Angeles 2000, pp. 189-92.

Antonin Dufek, 'Fotografie mezi internacionalnim stylem a regionalnimi inspiracemi', in Miroslav Ambroz (ed.), Videnska secese a moderna 1900- 1925, Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 2004, pp. 238-45.

Anna Farova, 9 & 9, Prague 1981.

Antonin Dufek, Fotoskupina DOFO, Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 1995.

Anna Farova , Dve tvare, Prague: Torst , 2009.

Antonin Dufek, 'K brnenske mezivalecne fotografii', In 49. Bulletin Moravske galerie, Brno 1993, pp. 144-52. Antonin Dufek, 'Man Ray a fotografie v Geskoslovensku', in 58./59. Bulletin Moravske galerie v Brne, Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 2003 , pp. 228-39. Antonin Dufek, 'Das Medium Fotografie im Zeitalter KOnstlerischer Avantgarden', in Europa, Europa. Das Jahrhundert der Avantgarde in Mittel· und Osteuropa, Bonn: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1994. Antonin Dufek, Mesta, Brno: Dtlm umeni mesta Brna, 1987.

Antonin Dufek, Ceska fotografie 1939-1958 ze sbirek Moravske galerie v Brne, Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 1998.

Antonin Dufek, 'Spo ntaneous Eclecticism: Czechoslovak Photography' in the 80s, in Questioning Europe, Biennale Fotografie, Rotterdam , 1988.

Antonin Dufek, My 1948-1989: Fotografie ze sbirky Moravske galerie v Brne, Brno: Moravska galerie v Brne, 1999. Anton in Dufek, Okamzik: Aktualni fotografie 2, Brno: Moravske galerie v Brne, 1987. Antonin Dufek, 'Sjurealisticeskaja fotografija', in Cheshskoe iskusstvo i literatura, Moscow and Saint Petersburg : Gossudarstve nnyj institut iskusstvoznanija and Aleteja, 2003 , pp. 221-31. Anton in Dufek, Spolecnost pred objektivem I Society Through the Lens 1918-1989, Prague: Obecni dtlm, 2000.

Anna Farova, '9 & 9 (Ginoherni klub , Plasy) , 11 (Fotochema), 37 (Chmelnice)', Vytvarne umeni, 1995, Nos 3-4, pp. 74-82.

Anna Farova, 'Fi lm und Foto und die Tschechos lowakei ', in Ute Eski ldsen and Jan-Christopher Horak (eds), Film und Fata der zwanziger Jahre, Stuttgart: Gerd Hatje, 1979, pp. 180-82. Anna Farova, 'Fotograficka sbirka UPM v Praze', Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1973, Nos 1-12, 1974, Nos 1-12. Anna Farova, Fotografie 7 a 7, Prague: Galerie Vaclava Spaly, 1967. Anna Farova, 'Im Gang des Theaters Ginoherni klub', Camera, 1980, No. 7. Anna Farova , Osobnosti ceske fotografie I ze sbirek Umeleckoprumysloveho muzea v Praze, Roudnice nad Labem: Galerie vytvarneho umeni, 1973. Anna Farova, Osobnosti ceske fotografie I ze sbirek Umeleckoprumysloveho muzea v Praze. Prague: Umeleckoprtlmyslove museum v Praze, 1974.

Anna Farova, 'Tjeckoslovakisk fotografi', Fotograficentrums Bildtidning, 1982, Nos 3-4 , pp. 2-47. Anna Farova , 'Ursprung und Gegenwart tschechoslowakischer Fotografie', Album, 1985, No. 3, pp. 1-37. Tomas Fassati and Josef Moucha, Osobnosti ceskoslovenskej spolocensky zaujatej fotografie, Banska Bystrica: Galeria F, 1987. Krzysztof Fijalkowski , Objective Poetry: Post-war Czech Surrealist Photography and the Everyday, History of Photography, 2005 , No. 2, pp. 163-73. Lucia L. Fiserova (ed.) , Sestka. Sest ceskych skol I Six: Six Czech Schools of Photography, Prague: Prazsky dilm fotografie, 2007. Murray Forbes, Antonin Dufek, Vaclav Macek, and Vladimir Birgus, Czech and Slovak Photography from Between the Wars to the Present, Boston : The Navigator Foundation , 1993.

Jaroslav Krupka, 'Z historie Geskeho klubu fotograftl amatertl v Praze ', Spous(, 1939-1940, No. 3, pp. 2-4, No. 4, pp.2-5 , No.5, pp.2-4, No.6, pp. 1-3, No. 7. pp. 1-3.

Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes , Czech Press Photo: Fotografie desetileti I Czech Press Photo: Photographs of a Decade, Prague: Czech Photo , 2004.

Jan Kriz, 'Fotografie v soucasne ceske malbe a grafice', Revue Fotografie, 1977, No. 4, pp. 27-32.

Daniela Mrazkova (ed.), Co je fotografie? I What is Photography?, Prague: Videopress, 1989.

Ales Kunes and Tomas Pospech , Citanka z teorie fotografie, Opava: Slezska univerzita, 2003.

Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes, Jakou barvu ma domov: Ceska a slovenska krajina ocima fotografu v promenach stoleti, Prague: Mlada fronta, 1988.

Ales Kunes, Surrealist/eke incidence: Ceska fotografie sedesatych let, Prague: Prazsky dtlm fotografie, 1986. Alena Labova, Dejiny ceskoslovenske fotozurnalistiky, Prague: Statni pedagogicke nakladate lstvi, 1977. Ladislav Labek, Pocatky a rozvoj fotografie v Plzni, Pilsen : Narodopisne museum Plzenska , 1924. Lech Lechowicz, 'Fotografia v kregu czeskiej awantgardy miedzywojennej', Acta universitatis lodziensis, Folioa scientiae artium et litterarium I, l:.6dz, 1990, pp. 125-46.

Howard Greenberg, Anette Kicken, and Rudolf Kicken (eds), Czech Vision: Avant-Garde Photography in Czechoslovakia, Ostfildern: Hatje Gantz Verlag, 2007.

Lubomir Linhart, Socialni fotografie, Prague: Knihovna Leve fronty, 1934.

Andela Horova (ed.), Nova encyklopedie ceskeho vytvarneho umeni, Prague: Academia, 1995.

Lubomir Linhart , 'Socialni tema v mezivalecne ceske fotografii ', Revue Fotografie, 1979, Nos 1, 2, 3, 4.

Andela Horova (ed.), Nova encyklopedie ceskeho vytvarneho umeni. Dodatky, Prague: Academia, 2006.

Olga Maia, Miroslav Petricek, and Karel Srp, Soucasne umeni I Contemporary Collection: Czech Art in the 90s, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1998

Jiri Jasmanicky, Fotografove I Photographers, Prague: Geske centrum fotografie, 2007. Jiri Jenicek, Fotografie jako zreni sveta a zivota , Prague: Geskoslovenske filmove nakladatelstvi, 1947. Jiri Jenicek, Uvahy a fotografii, Prague: Geskoslovenske filmove nakladatelstvi, 1947 Vaclav Jirtl, O zakladnich otazkach tvurci prace ve fotografii, Prague: Orbis , 1954. Juan I-Jong and Dan iela Mrazkova (eds), 'Contemporary Czech Photography', Photographers International, 1996, No. 27, pp. 10- 101. Frantisek Kalivoda , Komunisticka vytvarna avantgarda a socialni fotografie, Brno: Dilm umeni mesta Brna, 1961 .

Jiri Masin and Josef Prasek , Ceskoslovenska fotografie, Prague: Odeon , 1967. Lorenzo Merlo (ed.), II nudo fotografico nell Europa dell Est, Bologna: Gratis Edizioni , 1988. Jan Mlcoch and Pavel Scheufler, Cesky piktorialismus 1895-1928, Prague: Geske centrum fotografie, 1999. Jan Mlcoch, 'Geska fotografie v ere atomu, Sputniku a umelych hmot', in Daniela Kramerova and Vanda Skalova (eds) Bruse/sky sen: Ceskoslovenska ucast na Svetove vystave Expo 58 v Bruselu a zivotni sty/ 1. poloviny 60. let, Prague: Arborvitae , 2008, pp. 330-39.

Zdenek Kirschner and Josef Kroutvor, Ceska fotograficka moderna, Prague: Umeleckoprtlmyslove museum v Praze, 1989.

Josef Moucha and Helena Musilova, Fotogenie identity: Pamet' ceske fotografie I The Photogeny of Identity: The Memory of Czech Photography, Prague : Prazsky dilm fotografie , 2006.

Zdenek Kirschner, Ceska fotografie 1989-1994, Prague: Asociace fotograftl , 1994.

Josef Moucha, Nave pohledy: 16 mladych autoru CSSR Cheb: Galerie 4, 1986.

Petr Klimpl, Ceska amaterska fotografie 1945-1989, Prague: UKVG, 1989.

Josef Moucha, Rozvoj ceske dokumentarni fotografie, Liberec: Okresni kulturni stredisko, 1989.

Agnieszka Klos, 'Perspektywa czystych brom6w : Format, 2002, No. 41 , pp. 73-77.

Josef Moucha, Katerina Klaricova, and Pavel Scheufler, Promeny ceske dokumentarni fotografie. Cheb: Galerie 4, 1989.

Jiri Ko lis, Stranky z alba, Stadion, 1986, Nos 1-13.

Josef Moucha, Pribeh Galerie 4, Cheb: Galerie 4, 1995.

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Josef Moucha, 'Fotografie rezistence: 1939-1989', in Josef Alan (ed.), Alternativni kultura: Pribeh ceske spolecnosti 1945-1989, Prague: Nakladatelstvi Lidove noviny, 2001, pp. 306-75.

0 czeskiej mi~dzywojennej awangardzie fotograficzn e'j,

Daniela Mrazkova, Masters of Photography, Prague. Artia , 1987. Daniela Mrazkova, Pribeh fotografie, Prague: Mlada fronta , 1985. Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes, 150 let ceskoslovenske fotografie , Ceskoslovenska fotografie, 1988, Nos 1-12. Daniela Mrazkova and Vlad imir Remes , Tschechoslowakische Fotografen 1900-1940, Leipzig: VEB Fotokinoverlag , 1983. Stepanka MOllerova, Tela jako dukaz, Olomouc: Muzeum umeni Olomouc 1998. Floris M. NeusOss, Oas Fotogramm in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Cologne 1990. Jerzy Olek, Fotografia e/ementarna, Wroclaw: Galeria Foto-Medium-Art, 1983. Martina Pachmanova (ed.) , Tela a fotografie: 1. rocnik bienale festivalu foto Praha-Kolin I Body and Photography, The First Biannual Festival Fata Praha-Kolin, Prague: Prazsky dtlm fotografie, 1998. Suzanne Pastor, lnszenierte Fotografie: Die Prager Fotoszene, Braunschweig : Museum tor Photographie, 1996. Jiri Patek , 'lnscenovana fotografie 70. let. Lekce Epos a diskuse nejen o manyre', in 62. Bulletin Moravske galerie, Moravska galerie v Brne, 2006. pp. 109-20. Jiri Patek, Prijemne zavislosti: lnscenovana fotografie 70. let I Sweet Fixations: Staged Photography of the 1970s, Brno: Moravska galeriev Brne, 2009. Jaroslav Petrak , Zen svetla a stinu: Problem umelecke fotografie v teorii a praxi, Prague: B. Koci, 1910. Jaroslav Petrak , Dejiny a vyznam fotografie, Pilsen: Faustus, 1912. Jaroslav Petrak, Zaklady umelecke fotografie, Prague: B. Koci, 1916. Claude Philippot and Zdenek Primus , Photographie Progressive en Tchecoslovaquie 1920-1990, Vandoeuvreles -Nancy: Galerie Robert Doisneau, 1990. Zdenek Pilar and Jan Rezac, Akty a akty: Fotografie a kresby, Bratislava: Tatran , 1986. Alan Porter (ed.) , 'Die Tschechoslowakei Heute', Camera, 1980, No. 7.

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Tomas Pospech , 'Geska fotografie v obdobi dogmatickeho spanku', in Listy a fotografii 2, Acta photograph/ea universitatis silesianae opaviensis, Opava: lnstitut tvtlrci fotografie Slezske univerzity, 1998, pp. 59-68.

Bohumil Krcil , Ceska fotografie v exi/u, Brno: Host, 1990.

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Josef Kroutvor and Monika Faber, Fotografie der Moderne in Prag 1900-1925, Schaffhausen: Edition Stemmle, 1991.

Daniela Mrazkova and Vladimir Remes, Cesty ceskoslovenske fotografie, Prague: Mlada fronta, 1989

Arnost Pustka, 'Ke vzniku a ukoltlm fotografickeho oddeleni Slezskeho muzea v Opave', in Fotografie

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Anna Farova and Martina Kudlacek, Positivita: Zeitgen6ssische Fotografie aus der Tschechoslowakei 1989-1990, Vienna: Fotogalerie Wien, 1990.

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1387

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Pavel Scheufler, Praha 1848-1914: Cteni nad dobovymi fotografiemi, Prague: Panorama, 1984.

Ladislav Sole and Vladimir Remes, Ceskoslovenska novinarska fotografie, Prague: lnterpress , 1989.

Pavel Scheufler, Prazske fotograficke ateliery II (18891918), Prague: Muzeum hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1989.

Svatava Steinerova (ed.), Bibliografie dejin ceskoslovenske fotografie a kinematografie, Prague: Rozpravy Narodniho technickeho muzea, 1967.

Adolf Schneeberger, 'Maj fotograficky svet: Vzpominky na zacatky, kluby a lidi kolem nich ', in Listy o fotografii. Acta photograph/ea universitatis silesianae opaviensis, Opava: lnstitut tvarci fotografie Slezske univerzity, 1998, No. 2, pp. 42-52. Robert Silverio, Postmoderni fotografie: Fotografie jako umeni na konci dvacateho stoleti, Prague: AMU, 2007.

Zdenek Rossmann, Pismo a fotografie v reklame, Olomouc: Index, 1938.

Jiri Siostrzonek, 'Fotograficky projekt Lide Hlucinska 90. let XX. Stoleti', in Listy o fotografii 2, Acta photograph/ea universitatis silesianae opaviensis, Opava: lnstitut tvarci fotografie Slezske univerzity, 1998, pp. 74-75.

Hana Rousova (ed.), Linie, barva, tvar v ceskem vytvarnem umeni tricatych let, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1988.

Rudolf Skopec, Ceskoslovenska fotografie mezi dvema svetovymi valkami, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1967.

Hana Rehakova and Dusan Vesely, Zakazane dejiny ve fotografiich CTK, Prague: X-Egem, 1999.

Rudolf Skopec, Dejiny fotografie v obrazech od nejstarsich dob k dnesku, Prague: Orbis, 1963.

Mette Sandbye, 'En anden virkelighed: Surrealismen i tjekkist fotografi I Another Czechoslovak Reality: Surrealism' in Czechoslovak Photography, Katalog, 1991 , No. 4, pp. 16-21.

Rudolf Skopec, Sto let fotografie, Prague: Eduard Beaufort, 1939.

Joel Savary (ed.), De Prague et de Boheme, Bretigny: Espace Jules Verne, 1988. Alain Sayag (ed .), Photographes /cheques 1920-1950, Paris: Centre Pompidou , 1983. Debra Schaller, 'The Perceptual Transformation of Matter in Czech Photography and Cubist Architecture', Centropa, 2005, No. 1, pp. 26-39. Pavel Scheufler and Jan Hozak, Clovek a technika v ceske fotografii do roklu 1914, Roztoky u Prahy: Stredoceske muzeum, 1987. Pavel Scheufler, 'Die Anfange der modernen Fotografie in den b6hmischen Landern', Adalbert Stifter Jahrbuch, NF 11 , Munich, 1997, pp. 41-53. Pavel Scheufler, Fotograficke album Cech 1839-19 14, Prague: Odeon , 1989. Pavel Scheufler, Fotografie v Praze 1839-1914, Prague: Muzeum hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1986. Pavel Scheufler, Fotografie v Cechach 1839-1914, Prague: Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, 1990. Pavel Scheufler, 'Fotografie v Gechach a na Slovensku 1889-1919', Revue Fotografie, 1989, Nos 1, 2. Pavel Scheufler, Galerie c. k. fotografu, Prague: Gracia Publishing, 2001. Pavel Scheufler, Historische Photographien aus Nord- und Nordwestb6hmen, Munich : Sudetendeutsches Arch iv, 1994. Pavel Scheufler and Jan Hozak, lndustriekultur in B6hmen, NOrnberg: Centrum lndustriekultur, 1992. Pavel Scheufler, Jizni Cechy objektivem tfi generaci, Geske Budejovice: Jihoceske nakladatelstvi, 1989.

Petr Tausk, Die Geschichte der Fotografie im 20. Jahrhundert, Cologne: DuMont, 1977. Petr Tausk, Hlavni vyvojove cesty ceskoslovenske fotografie, Prague: Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, 1969. Petr Tausk, Lyricke proudy v ceskoslovenske fotografii. Brno: Dam umeni mesta Brna, 1973. Petr Tausk , Photography of the 20th Century, London: Focal Press, 1980. Petr Tausk , Prehled vyvoje ceskoslovenske fotografie od roku 1918 at po nase dny, Prague: Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, skriptum FAMU, 1986.

Slovnik ceskych a slovenskych vytvarnych umelcu, Ostrava: Vytvarne centrum Chagall, since 1998.

Petr Tausk , 'The Roots of Modern Photography in Czechoslovakia', History of Photography, 1979, No. 3, pp. 253-71.

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Petr Tausk, 'S urrealistic Influences in Czechoslovakian Photography', in lnterkamera 1969, Prague 1969.

Ludvik Soucek, Amateur Fotos aus der Tschechoslowakei I Amateur Photography in Czechoslovakia I Photographie d'amateur en Tchecoslovaquie, Prague: Arlia 1963.

Karel Teige, 'Cesty ceskoslovenske fotografie', Blok, 1948, No. 6, pp. 77-86.

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I 389

Index Number of page in italic refers to the authors of the pictures.

Abbott, Berenice 95 Adamec, Martin 324 Adams, Robert 324 Alt, Hynek 294,318, 318 Altenberg , Peter 11 Altschul , Pavel 64 , 83, 98, 126, 364 , 366 Ambroz, Miroslav 385 Ambroz, Vladimir 244, 387 Andel, Jaroslav 51 , 68, 69, 101 , 141 , 243 , 243, 250, 260, 289,370, 371,374,376, 378,379 Anderle , Jiri 315 Antonioni, Michelangelo 254 Aragon, Louis 117 Arbus, Diane 202, 249 , 370 Arman (Armand Pierre Fernandez) 254 Armutidisova , Irena 316, 327, 342 Arp, Hans 95 Atget, Eugene 95 Auerbach , Erich 119, 120, 153 Aufricht, Karol 86 Augustin , Karl 114 Aulehla, Gustav 155, 156, 159, 164, 197, 199, 200, 213 Bacon, Francis 315 Bahensky, Antonin 198 Bajgar, Radek 287 Balajka, Petr 179, 260, 326 , 375 , 376 Balcar, Martin 377 Baldwin, Frederick 294, 374 Balicek, Petr 256, 371 Baltz, Lewis 324 Balzar, Jaroslav 34 Banka, Pavel207,252 , 258, 261,281, 289, 320, 321 , 326, 327, 328 , 329,371 , 372, 374, 375 , 377 Baran, Ludvik 125, 128, 173, 179 Barbusse, Henri 117 Barney, Matthew 378 Barta, Jaroslav 199, 202 , 203, 204, 205, 252,293, 293, 295,371,372,374, 376, 379 Barthes, Roland 325 Bartos, Jiri 369 Bartos, Michal 199, 294 Bartusek, Jan 154, 369 Bartuska, Josef 50, 66, 99 , 101 , 101, 118, 364, 366 Baruch, Anne 376 Baudelaire, Charles Pierre 173 Beaufort, Edu ard 365 , 366 Bechers, Bernd and Hilla 376 Becker, Boris 318 Bellmer, Hans 97, 365 Bene, Stanislav 175, 369

3901

Benes, Edvard 119, 127, 366 , 380 , 381 Benes, Jaroslav 252, 270, 321 , 328 , 373, 374 Benes, Marian 290, 292 Beran, Jan 128, 153, 174 Beran, Rudolf 381 Beran, Tomas 317 Berka, Ladislav Emil 50 , 63 , 63, 363 , 373 , 375 , 378 Bernat, Miro 138 Berry, Ian 197 Biermann, Aenne 60 , 63 , 64 Bilek, Miroslav 174,254,371,372 Bill, Max 367 Binko, Josef 9, 12, 14 Birgus, Vladim ir 12, 37, 50, 51, 68, 69, 87, 100, 101 , 120, 128, 129, 141 , 157,158, 159, 178, 179,199, 200, 203, 207, 208, 209, 23~260, 261 , 287, 289,294, 295, 326 , 327 , 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 375, 376 , 377, 378,379 Bisicky, Jindrich 24 , 30, 31 Blatny, Ivan 99 Blossfeldt, Karl 97 BIOhova, Irena 59 , 86 , 116 Bocek, Jaroslav 174, 208 , 295 Bocek, Radovan 207, 287, 297, 374 Bohac, Vilem 177 Bohdan, Vlado 294, 298 Bohunovsky, Josef203, 371 Boltanski, Christian 254 Bondy, Egon (Zbynek Fiser) 241 Bonhomme, Pierre 378 , 379 Borhan, Pierre 373 Borovicka, Milan 174, 256, 261, 371 Borovy, Frantisek 47, 366 , 367 Botticelli, Sandro 313 Bollinger, Josef 113 Boubat, Edouard 369 Boudnik, Vladimir 241, 244 Bowie, David 317,341 Brabcova, Jana 23, 24 Brachtlova, Michaela 313, 316 Brandt, Bill 84 Brany, Antonin 294 Brassa"i (Gyula Halasz) 174,369 Bratrsovsky, Emil 317, 327 Breton, Andre 95, 98 , 139, 367 Breza, Peter 257 Brichta, Jindrich 362 Brikcius, Eugen 242, 242 Brody, Ondrej 244 Brok, Jindrich 169, 173, 177, 367 Bromova, Veron ika 310, 316,327, 379 Broz, Vaclav 126 Brudna, Denis 375 Bruguiere, Francis Joseph 48, 362 Brunclik, Pavel 320 , 328 Bruner-Dvorak, Jaroslav 24, 28 Bruner-Dvorak, Rudolf 22, 23 , 24, 27, 377 Brychtova, Jaroslava 177 Budik, Milos 153, 174 Bufka, Vladimir Jindrich 11 , 16, 19, 361 , 374 , 385 Bulhak, Jan 363 Bullaty, Sonja 371

Burian, Emil Frantisek 100, 363 , 365 Buxbaum, Roman 207, 209 Bydzovska, Lenka 1oo, 142, 178, 261 , 378,385 Caban , Simon 373 Cahun , Claude 318 Capa , Robert 127,128,370 Capek, Josef 361 Capek, Karel 64 , 364 Capkova, Gabriela 202 Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) 182, 183,314 Cartier-Bresson , Henri 153, 204, 364 , 368 , 369 , 372,375 Caujoll, Christian 375 Cejka, Jaromir 201 , 202, 372 Cermak, Frantisek 64 Cernicky, Jiri 323, 327, 328 Cernousek, Miloslav 174 Cerny, Vaclav 364 Cervenak, Martin 324 Cesar (Cesar Baldaccini) 254 Chalupa, Resl 115, 364 Chalupecky, Jindrich 139, 242, 244 Chapl in, Charles 46 Chatrny, Dalibor 242, 259 Chevalier, Maurice 34 Chirico , Giorgio de 95, 97 Chochola, Vaclav 125,127,140,141 , 142, 152, 158, 170, 176, 177, 180, 366, 369, 371,376 , 379 Chocholova , Blanka 87 , 125, 129, 142, 158,289,376, 377,379 Chotek, Karel (Carl) Maria 9, 14, 11 3 Chuchma, Josef 159, 326 , 328 Chytilova, Vera 177, 254 Cihak , Frantisek 149, 158, 178 Cihakova-Noshiro , Vlasta 245, 328 , 375 Cihlar, Michal 322 , 373 Cisar, Karel 324, 328 Coburn , Alvin Langdon 36 , 48, 51 , 362 Cocteau , Jean 34 Coppola, Francis Ford 318 Cudlin , Karel 129, 198, 199,287 , 290,293, 294, 296,372, 374 d'Este, Francis Ferdinand 9, 22, 23, 24 , 27, 28 , 380 Dafoe, William 317 Dall , Salvador 95 Dasek,Josef64,363 David, Daniel 319 David , Jiri 312,318, 319 , 328 , 350, 351, 377 David , Ludwig 114 David, Vladimir 290 Davidova , Eva 156, 159 Davidova, Zdena 319 Davidson, Bruce 370 Davies, Sue 385 Deal , John 325 Delpire, Robert 159, 209, 294, 369, 372 Dezort, Jovan 153 Dias, Pavel 148, 154, 159, 164, 197, 200, 289, 292 , 369 , 371 , 377

Dieuzaide, Jean 375 Divis, Jan 362 Dlohoska, Jaroslav 365 Dobrovolsky, Bohumil 197 Dolezal , Frantisek 149, 151 , 157, 158, 367 , 368,368,385 Dolezal , Stanislav 51 , 378 Dopitova, Milena 322 , 328, 355 Dostal, Frantisek 199, 205, 208, 372 Dostal, Martin 178, 244,319, 328 Drahos, Tom 256, 259, 261 , 287 Drbohlav, Karel 83 , 125, 366 Drezdowicz, Ladislav 287 Drtikol, Frantisek 6, 8, 1O, 10, 11 , 12, 16, 24, 32,33,34,36,37, 38, 39, 40, 41 , 42,49 , 50, 51 , 51 , 84, 97 , 100, 115, 169, 176, 249,257 , 288,314, 361,362, 363 , 364, 365 , 368, 369 , 370, 372,373,374, 375,376 , 378, 379 Dubcek, Alexander 197, 382 Dufek, Antonin 7, 12, 37 , 51 , 68 , 69, 87 , 100,101 , 119,120,141 , 158,175,178, 179, 205, 208, 209, 245, 249,253 , 260, 261 , 289, 294, 295, 326 , 327 , 369, 370, 371 , 372, 373,374,375,376, 377, 378, 379 Dukat, Vojta 287 DOrer, Albrecht 313 Durych , Jaroslav 363 Dvorak, Frantisek 154, 174, 369 Dvorak, Karel (photographer) 24 Dvorak, Karel (publicist) 159, 174, 179, 385 Dvorakova, Alena (and Viktor Fischer) 292, 295,299, 385 Eckert, Jindrich (Heinrich) 9, 12, 113 Egert, Jiri 197 Ehm,Josef34, 61 , 62 , 66 , 137, 140, 142, 143, 169,365, 366, 367 , 368 Einhorn , Erich 127, 152, 152, 205, 367, 368,368,369 , 374 Einhornova, Milada 152, 153 El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky) 60 , 368 Erenburg , llya Grigoryevich 362 Erfurt, Hugo 363 Erml, Jiri (George) 287, 375 , 377 Ernst, Max 46, 95 , 97, 138 Evans, Walker 324 Faber, Monika 12, 37,120,376,385, 386 Fabinger, Jaroslav 36, 362 , 366 Fafek, Emil 127, 366 Fanderlik, Milota 362 Fara, Libor 169, 259 Farova, Anna 12, 37 , 51 , 68, 87, 101 , 129, 142,153, 158,159, 173, 179,204,205, 206, 208, 209 , 249, 260,261 , 287, 289, 291 , 294, 295 , 326 , 368 , 369 , 370, 371 , 372, 373 , 374 , 375, 376 , 377, 378, 385 Farova, Gabina 287, 313 , 317 , 343, 377 Fassati , Tomas 203, 289, 373 , 386 Faster, Petr 321 Faurer, Louis 152 Favrod , Charles-Henri 374 Feininger, Andreas 369

Feist, Werner David 59, 116, 118 Feuerstein , Bedrich 48 Feyfar, Jaroslav 12, 23 Fiedler, Franz 11 , 12, 113, 116, 120, 363 Filla, Emil 140, 249 Findeis, Martin 258 Finsler, Hans 59, 118 Fischer, Viktor (and Alena Dvorakova) 292, 295, 299, 385 Fiser, Jaroslav 295, 260, 322 Fiser, Zdenek 203, 371 Fiserova, Jarmila 371 Fleck, Robert 6 Flusser, Vilem 325 Fojtik, Jiri 174 Foltyn , Jiri 259, 260, 374 Foltyn , Ladislav 59 , 116 Forbes, Murray 372, 376 , 386 Forman , Milos 177 Fragner, Jaroslav 61 Francke , Angelika 6 Frank, Karl Hermann 367, 381 Frank, Robert 152, 156 Frankl , Hanus 66 , 67 Freiberg , Jan 289, 324 , 328, 388 Frie, Alberto Vojtech 24 Frie, Josef Vaclav 116 Fridland , Semion 150 Fridrich , Frantisek (Franz) 113, 377 Friedlaender, Stanislav 254, 261 , 374, 375 Friedlander, Lee 249, 370 Frings, Jutta 6 Fuchs, Bohuslav 61 , 67, 69, 363 Fukova, Eva 172, 175, 178, 187 Funke , Jaromir 6, 33, 35, 35, 36 , 37, 49 (and Anna), 51 , 56, 57, 58, 59 , 60, 60, 61 , 62,63,65,66, 68, 71 , 7~83, 84,86, 95 , 97, 97, 100,101 , 106,137, 140, 169, 170, 249,251 , 321 , 328,362 , 363, 364, 365,366,367,368, 369, 371 , 372, 373, 374,375 , 376 , 377, 378, 387 Fyman , Vladimir 62 Gabcan, Fedor251 , 253 Gabrielova, Vera 62 , 366 Giacomelli, Alberto 95 Gil, lvo 200, 201 , 204, 370, 372, 377 Gilbert and George (Gilbert Proesch/ Prousch and George Passmore) 376 Glozar, Jan 202, 207, 374 Goebbels, Joseph 117 Goldin, Nan 319,379 Gorbachev, Mikhail 382 Goring, Hermann 117 Gossage, John 325 Gottwald, Klement 151, 368, 380, 381 , 382 Gribovsky, Antonin 173, 173, 368 Gross, Frantisek 100 Grosz, Georg 46 Grubnerova, Frence (Franze) 34, 116 Grunzweig, Bedrich 153, 159 Grygar, Stepan 207, 209, 253 , 260, 271, 321 , 372 , 373, 374,378 Habart, Filip 317 Ha.cha, Emil 126, 129, 381

Hackenschmied, Alexandr 62, 63, 64 , 66, 69,82 , 84, 100, 363 , 363,364, 373, 378, 379 Hajek, Karel 64, 66, 82 , 82, 83, 86, 87, 125, 126, 126, 127, 129, 151 , 158, 364, 365, 366,367 , 368, 379 , 382 Hajn, Jan 173, 173, 368 Hak, Miroslav 50, 97, 100, 101 , 110, 125, 127, 137, 139, 142, 146, 170, 175, 250, 365 , 366, 367 , 369,376 Halas, Antonin 375 Hampl , Jan 174, 369 Hampl , Jiri Hamplova, Hana 251 Hanel, Ola! 242 Hanka, Josef 125 Hanke, Jiri 202,206 , 208,222, 223,317, 327, 374 , 375 Hankeova, Razena 222 Hanzlova, Jitka 317, 327 , 346, 347 Hardy, Bert 84 Hasek, Jaroslav 118, 119, 204, 364, 365 Hatlak, Jindrich 141 Hatlakova, Jaroslava 62 Hausenblas, Josef 67 , 363 Hausmann, Raoul 46, 116, 118, 120, 365 Havel , Vaclav 155, 205, 289,290,294, 318,350,382, 383 Havelkova, Jolana 159, 316, 317, 321 , 327, 328 , 340, 376 Havlik, Vladimir 244 Havlova, Ester 321 Havrankova, Milota 326 Haworth-Booth, Mark 159, 372 Heartfield , John 46, 98 , 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 364, 365, 365, 369 , 371 Heckel, Vilem 155, 155, 159 Heckelova, Eva and Helena 155 Hecko, Pavel255,317, 327, 374 Heger, Jiri 371 Heisler, Jindrich 137, 138, 138, 139,241 , 365 , 366,367 , 367 Heiting, Manfred 12, 142, 372, 373 , 374, 375, 376, 385 Hejda, Josef 64 Helbich, Petr 250, 260,265,319 Helfert, Zdenek 293, 293, 295, 379 Hellmich, Elsa 114 Henneberg, Hugo 113/114 Heraclitus 243 Hermann, Karel (Karl) 364, 367 , 381 Heydrich, Reinhard 125, 381 Heythum, Antonin 47, 362 Hinst, Anton in 174 Hipman, Karel 23, 361 Hipman, Vladimir 63, 69 , 74, 150, 365, 366 Hitler, Adolf 45, 83 , 113, 115, 117, 125, 126, 324 , 364,380,381 Hlavac, L'udovit 87 , 376 Hnik, Josef 287, 371 Hnizdo, Vladimir 64, 86 , 89, 118 Hoch, Hannah 46, 97,116, 365 Hochova, Dagmar 156, 159, 161, 176, 197, 317 , 372,375 Hofer, Candida 324 Hoffman, Michael Eugene 374

Hoffmann, Heinrich 150 Holomicek, Bohdan 204, 205, 206, 207, 209,226,22~290, 293, 295,372, 374, 377 Holy, Adam 317 Honty, Tibor 63, 69 , 86, 90, 118, 127, 133, 153, 158, 169, 170, 178, 181, 367, 368 Horacek, Milan 287 Horak, Jan-Christopher 385 Horak, Jiri 255, 370 Horakova, Milada 381 Horejsi, Anna 6 Horinek, Borivoj 204, 251 , 372 Horn, Wilhelm 113, 361 Hornickova, Daniela 204, 293, 293, 295, 372 , 379 Horova, Andela 377 , 386 Horska, Eva 370 Hosek, Jaroslav 86 Hozak, Jan 24, 376, 377 , 387 Hrabal, Bohumil 204, 241 , 260 Hradil, Josef 207 Hrbek, Emanuel 66, 98 , 365 Hrubes, Petr 318 Hruby, Karel Otto 151 , 153, 153, 174, 370 Hruska, Martin 254, 372 , 374, 376 Hucek, Miroslav 154, 159, 160, 198, 200, 369, 372 Huckova, Barbara 37 4 Hudec-Ahasver, Pavel 369 Hudecek, Jan 259, 284, 374 Hugnet, Georges 97 Humhal , Pavel 315 Hummelova, Jana 6 Harka, Vratislav 252, 372 Husak, Gustav 197, 199, 249, 382, 383 Husak, Josef 372 Husnik, Jakub 9 Huszar, Tibor 203 lbrahimovic, lbra 292, 292, 295 lgnatovich , Boris 60, 365 lllek, Frantisek 83, 125, 364 lllek, Zbynek 373 Issa, Salim 317 , 327, 348 lstler, Josef 139, 373 Jakob, Wenzel6 Jakrlova, Hana 294, 295, 303 Janacek,Jiri 179, 370 Janacek, Leos 370 Janakova, Iva 69, 379 Janda, Bohumil 96 Janda, Rudolf 139, 366 Janis, Frantisek 174 Janovsky, Alexandr 371 Jarcovjakova, Libuse 200, 202, 204, 372 Jaros, Milan 292 , 294 Jaros, Otakar 126, 371 Jarry, Alfred 369 Jarsky, Josef 64 Jasansky, Lukas 323, 324, 325, 328 , 354, 378 Jasansky, Pavel 200 , 205, 207 , 252, 258, 283,287, 317,372,373 , 374, 375

Jaskmanicky, Jiri 187, 260, 378, 379 Jenicek, Jiri 36, 37, 63 , 65, 82, 86, 125, 127, 153, 158, 173,363,364,367, 368, 386 Jetelova, Magdalena 322, 328 Jicinsky, Karel 366 Jindra, Jan 202 , 206, 207, 293 Jirasek, Vaclav 258, 313,326, 334, 335, 376 Jires, Jaromil 254 Jirik, Frantisek Xaver 361 Jirkal, Karel 372 Jira, Jiri 287, 290 Jira, Vaclav 50, 64, 80, 82, 83, 86, 87 , 90, 125, 151 , 152, 153, 154, 158, 174, 364, 367,368 , 370, 371 , 386 Jodas, Miroslav 153, 154, 156, 158, 369 Johann, Antonin 86 Johannek, Willi 115 Josek, Petr 290 Kabourek, Bohumil 370 Kaczkowski , Adam Ferdynand 368 Kadoun , Jan 376 Kafka, Franz 116, 175, 204 Kafka, Ivan 242, 244, 245, 322, 328 , 374 Kalhous, Michal 325 , 328 Kalivoda , Frantisek 84 , 364, 365, 386 Kamarad , Ladislav 320 Kamenicky, Josef Jiri 99 , 365 Kamenik, Karel 207 Kania, Karel 151 Karasek, Oldrich 153, 154, 198, 199 Karchnak, Jaroslav 321 Karlas, Otakar 373 Kasparik, Karel 50, 64, 65, 86 , 87, 88, 89, 99, 137, 365 , 366 Kavan , Ondrej 199, 207, 317 Kellner, Robert 126 Kerlicky, Karel 7, 288, 379 Kern, Michal 242, 374 Kertesz, Andre 97 , 364 Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich 153, 172, 381 , 382 Kintera, Kristof 324, 328 Kippenberger, Martin 318 Kirschner, Zdenek 37, 51 , 87, 120, 178, 209,260,289, 327 , 371,372,373, 374, 375 , 376,377 Klaricova, Katerina 209, 371 , 373, 386 Klaus , Vaclav 318,350,383 Klee, Paul 45, 95 Klein, Ferry 115, 364 Klein , William 152, 254, 318, 376 Klempfner, Moritz 113 Kliment, Lukas 207, 372 Kliment, Petr 207 Klimes, Svatopluk 320, 322, 328 Klimpl, Petr 178, 203, 203, 371 , 374, 386 Klimt, Gustav 11,114 Klodova, Lenka 244, 316, 327 Knapp, Wilhelm 179, 371 Knizak, Milan 241, 242, 244 Koblic, Premysl 83 , 84, 86 , 141 , 362, 363 Kocan, Robo 378 Kocek, Bedrich 153, 198

I 391

Koch, Jindrich (Heinrich) 59 , 61 , 68 , 112, 116, 118 Kocman, Jiri Hynek 242, 246 Koenigsmarkova, Helena 6 Kohn , Rudolf 83 , 85, 86, 126, 364, 366 Kohout, Pavel 153 Kohoutek, Jaromir 175, 368 Kokoschka, Oskar 45 , 117 Kolar, Jiri 158, 169, 175, 177, 178, 259 Kolar, Viktor 156, 159, 159, 199, 201 , 205, 206, 207, 209, 232,233, 293, 295 , 302, 371 , 372, 374 , 375, 376, 377,378 Kolafova, Bela 175, 178, 190, 191 , 374 Kolibal, Stanislav 250 Kolis , Jifi 198, 290 Koons , Jeff 318 Kopasz, Viktor 259 Koppitz, Rudolf 11 , 12, 113, 116, 120, 363 Koran, Jaroslav 202 Korecek, Milos 138, 139, 144, 145, 253, 366 , 367, 373 , 374 Korecky, Jifi 258, 374 Kosel, Hermann Clemens 12, 113 Kost'al , Rostislav 255 , 261 , 272, 370, 371 Kosuth , Joseph 242 Kotalik , Jifi T. 379 , 386 Kotas , Bohumil 203 Kotek, Lubomir 199, 205 , 252, 287, 288 Kotzmannova, Alena 325, 328 , 356 Koubek, Petr 208 Koudelka, Josef 6, 128, 156, 157, 159, 166, 167, 196,197, 205,206,207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 234, 235,287 , 288 , 291 , 294 , 320 , 369, 370, 371 , 372, 373, 375,376, 377 , 378, 379 Kovac, Ivan 203 Kovanda, Jifi 244, 245, 246 Kovarik , Slavoj 173 Kozlik, Vladimir 256, 258 , 261 , 374 , 375 Kracikova, Maria 292 Kramer, Fred 177, 179, 179 Kramerova, Daniela 178, 386 Krasl , Frantisek 151

Kroupa , Adolf 368, 369 Kroutvor, Josef 37 , 120, 261 , 289, 314, 326, 328, 374, 376 , 386 Krouzek, Jaroslav 371 Kruis , Karel 11 , 12, 18 Krupka, Jaroslav 34, 36 , 362, 363, 386 Kubes, Mi loslav 156, 157 Kubicek, Jan 175, 369 Kubin , Alfred 45 Kubin , Josef 86 Kucera, Jaroslav 24, 30, 199, 206, 208, 218, 21~287, 293,295 , 371 Kucerova, Alena 370 Kudlacek, Martina 375, 385 Kuklik, Karel 174, 175, 179, 251 , 260, 319, 369 Kundera , Ludvik 138, 142, 366 Kundera, Milan 173, 177 Kunes, Ales 7, 158, 178, 254, 259, 285, 289, 315, 321 , 322, 328, 374,376 , 377, 378 , 379, 386 KOnstner, Johann 364 Kupka, Frantisek 45 Kuscynskyj, Taras 252, 256, 261, 371 Kyncl, Ivan 205, 287 Kyndrova, Dana 159, 199, 201 , 203, 206, 208, 21~292, 293,295,378 Kyndrova, Libuse 197 Kytka, Rupert 172, 173, 368 Lacina, Bohdan 100 Lada, Josef 118 Lamarova , Milena 256 , 261 Lang , Dominik 244 Lang , Jack 375 Lange, Jessica 317 Langer, Milan 242 Langhans , Jan Nepomuk (Jan F.

Kratky, Cestmir 174,175,178, 259, 369 Kratky, Frantisek 23, 24 Kratochvil , Antonin 6, 198, 205, 206, 286, 287 , 291 , 294, 295, 300, 301, 317 , 327, 341 , 375 , 377 , 378 , 378, 379 Kratochvilova, Marie 253, 260 Kraus, David 317 , 327 Kraus , Karl 116 Krcil , Bob 287, 294, 375 , 386 Krejcar, Jaromir 48 Krejci, Jaroslav 205, 207, 209, 259 , 287, 289, 317 , 374 Krejci , Milan 372 Krejci , Petr 101 Krejzek, Petr 258, 313 Krenek, Jiri 294, 295, 308 Kriz, Jan 158, 179, 209 , 260, 326 , 328 , 386 Kriz, Vilem 366 Krizik, Jan 372 Kroha , Jiri 84, 87, 92, 93, 364 Kroll, Petra 376 Kronbauer, Viktor 207, 317

Langhans)9 , 34, 37 , 149 Langhans , Ludwig 115 Lartigue, Jacques-Henri 23 Lauffova, L.'.uba 257, 372 Lauschmann , Jan 36 , 37, 37, 64, 86 , 362, 363, 364 Lautreamont, Comte de (Isidore Lucien Ducasse) 95 Ledr, Jiri 376 Lehky, Vladimir 34 Lehovec, Jifi 62, 63, 64, 86, 363 , 364 , 365, 373 , 378 Leibovitz , Annie 317, 379 Lendelova-Fiserova, Lucia 208 , 260, 289, 294, 295, 326 Lenhart, Otakar 66, 78, 99 , 99, 137, 365 , 366 , 374 Lewczyriski , Jerzy 254 Lhotak, Zdenek 199, 208 , 216, 312, 315 , 326, 374,379 Libansky, Abbe 205 Libensky, Stanislav 177 Linhart, Lubomir 84, 85, 87 , 142, 149, 151 , 153, 158, 171, 173,178, 364, 364, 365, 368,386 Lloyd , Harold 46 Loos, lvo 199, 206, 214

Kropp, Vilem 153, 158, 369

Lorelle , Lucien 34

392 1

Lowy, Franz 113 Ludvik, Jakub 316 Ludwig , Karel 125, 127, 128, 129, 141 , 141, 142, 366, 367, 371 , 379

Milosz, Czeslaw 206 , 209 Mir6, Joan 95, 260 Misselbeck, Reinhold 375 Missolz, Jerome de 375

Lukas, Jan 64 , 82 , 83, 87 , 125, 128, 128, 129, 151 , 151, 154, 158, 169, 173, 178, 198, 287, 364, 366 , 367, 377 Lukas, Petr 287 , 375 Luskacova, Marketa 156, 159, 165, 197, 201 , 207, 208, 370, 372, 376 Lustig , Arnost 177 Lutterer, Ivan 202, 204, 208, 225, 253, 293 , 293, 295, 317,327 , 372,374 , 378, 379 Luzum , Jaroslav 174, 369 Lysacek, Petr 324

Mlcoch, Jan 12, 37, 51, 68, 69, 101 , 120, 142, 178, 179, 243, 245,24~261 , 289, 375, 376,377, 378 , 379 Model, Lisette 152 Modigliani, Amedeo 259 Moholy-Nagy, Laszlo 36, 48 , 60, 82 , 85, 96, 97, 100, 115, 116, 364, 365,368 , 369 Monterosso, Jean-Luc 377 Morimura, Yasumasa 318 Moucha, Josef7, 12, 37,51 , 87, 128, 129, 158, 178, 200, 207, 208, 209, 215,238, 289, 294,326,327,328, 373,374 , 375, 376,377 Moudry, Pavel 372 Mrazkova, Daniela 12, 37, 69 , 87, 159, 179, 205, 208, 209 , 249, 261 , 289, 294, 295,327,328,370,371 , 372, 373 , 374, 374, 375, 378 Mrkvicka, Otakar 47, 362 Mrskos, Frantisek 361 Mucha, Alfons 9, 12, 13, 23, 24 Mucha, Josef 125 Munchmeyer, Nela 6 Muselik, Roman 258,313 Musilova, Helena 208 , 289, 327, 386

Mac Orlan , Pierre 363 Macek, Vaclav 209, 261 , 326, 377, 386 Machotka, Miroslav 253, 271 , 321 , 372, 373 , 374 Macku, Jifi 174 Macku, Michal 258 , 261 , 315, 326, 339, 374, 375 Mahler, Lisa 34, 116 Maia, Olga 6, 326 , 327, 328 , 328, 386 Malik, Jaroslav 322 Maly, Antonin 371 Maly, Jan 85, 202 , 204 , 208 , 225, 317 , 327 , 372 , 374, 378 Man Ray (Emmanuel Rudzitsky) 36, 46 , 48 , 49, 51,60,85 , 95,96 , 97, 140, 362 , 363, 364, 365,368 , 378,385 Manuel, Gaston and Lucien 34 Mara, Pavel 251, 312, 314, 315 , 326, 332, 374 Marco, Jindrich 127, 128, 129, 134, 135, 197,208, 366 , 367 , 369 , 370,371,377 Marek, J. R. 365 Marhoun , Bohdan 174 Markalous, Evzen 47, 53, 67, 82 , 363 Marsalek, Frantisek 255, 272, 370, 372 Martinovsky, Miroslav 198 Martinson, Dorothy 372 Masaryk, Tomas Garrigue 24, 45 , 380 Masin, Jifi 69, 142, 178, 370,386 Maska , Jifi 324 Masson , Andre 95 Matejcek, Antonin 34 Materna, Dan 290 Matthies-Masuren , Fritz 114 Mautner, Gustav 9, 114, 114 Mayer, Emil 12, 113 Mayerova, Milca (Milada) 47, 363 Mazal, Pavel 174 McLuhan , Marshall 243 Mecl, Ivan 321 Medek, Mikulas 170, 241 Medkova, Emila 170, 170, 175, 178, 188, 241 , 253, 261 , 369 Menzel, Jiri 177 Meyerowitz, Joel 370 Michals, Duane 324 Michl, Milan 256, 371 Miler, Karel 243, 245, 247 Miller, Arthur 318 Miller, Henry 177, 195, 370

Myska, Miroslav 253, 292 , 371 Nadvornik, Pavel 202, 287, 374, 375 Navratilova, Martina 318 Nebor, Leos 154, 159, 369 Nedoma, Petr 51, 289, 378 Neff, David 287, 290, 307 Neisl, Ivan 367 Nemec, Bohumil 99 , 137, 150, 365, 366 Nemec, Ivan 287 Nemec, Ondrej 205 Nemec, Tomki 199, 287, 290 Nemirowsky, Jacob 114 Nesleha, Pavel 322 Neslehova, Mahulena 178, 385 NeussOs, Floris Michael 374 Newman, Arnold 176 Newton, Helmut 254, 318 , 377 Nezval, Vitezslav 47, 47, 67, 95, 96, 97 , 99 , 101,137, 363 Nissl, Richard 115 Nohel, Jaroslav 99 , 137, 365, 366 Nouza, Oldrich 364 Novak, Ada 99, 364 Novak, Josef 125, 126 Novak, Karel (Carl) 9, 11 , 12, 15, 34, 43, 66, 113, 361 , 362, 363, 374 Novak, Ladislav 242 Novotny, Antonin 382 Novotny, Michal 290 Novotny, Milon 155, 159, 162, 163, 197, 199, 208, 212,369,370 Nozicka, Alois 175 Obrovsky, Jakub 10 Oplatka, Hans Ernest 83, 85 Othova, Marketa 321 , 325, 328, 357

Otto, Jan 47 Ovcacek , Eduard 175 Pabel , Hilmar 197 Pachmanova, Martina Pacina , Michal 257 , 277, 328, 373, 374 Pacovsky, Jaroslav 151 Pad'ouk, Rudolf 36, 363 Pajurek, Frantisek 150, 151 Palach, Jan 197, 212, 287, 288 , 382, 383 Paler, Zdenek 250 Palka , Dusan 204, 372, 37 4 Pardubsky, Emil 127 Parr, Martin 379 Paspa, Karel Maria Eduard 47, 47, 363 Pasternak, Jerry 314 Pastor, Suzanne 321, 375, 377, 378, 379 Patek, Jifi 260, 261 , 289 Pau l, Alexandr 63, 66, 83, 125, 173, 364, 365 Pawek, Karl 369 Pecak,Josef327, 374 Pechoucek, Michal 324, 328 Pekar, Frantisek 84, 365 Pekar, Stano 203 Pekarek, Jifi 198, 290 Pepe, Oita 318,327 , 344, 345 Pernica, Oldfich 207 Peterka, Miroslav 154 Peterson , Christian A. 12, 37, 375

Po near, Jaroslav 287, 319 Popelar, Martin 324 Popper, Grete 113, 114, 118, 119, 120 Portel , Robert 314, 319, 322, 323 , 376 Pospech , Tomas 7, 157, 203,207, 208, 209,260,289, 293,294, 295, 304, 321 , 321,326,328 Pospisilova-Wilsonova, Helena 205, 242, 287 Posselt, Jan 361 Postupa, Ladislav 174, 177, 179, 189, 259 , 369,370,376 Povolny, Frantisek 50, 86, 99, 99, 150, 365,367 Precek, lvo 172, 173, 178, 252, 254, 259, 260,368 Prekop , Rudo 257, 261, 277, 278, 312, 324, 326, 373 , 374 , 375, 377 Preslova, Mila 323 , 328 Preucil , Frantisek 151 Pribik, Jindrich 176, 179, 254, 261,279, 287 Primus , Zdenek 51 , 120, 178, 244, 374, 375, 386 , 387 Prokop, Jaroslav 289, 373 Prokupek, Bohumil 251 , 319 Prosek, Josef 139, 142, 152, 153, 154, 158, 169, 175, 176, 177, 178, 367, 369 , 370 , 386, 387 Prosek, Karel 151 Ptacek, Josef 207, 250, 250, 260, 287, 293,

Petr, Vaclav 47 Petrak, Jaroslav 9, 12, 361 Petruj, Evzen and Josef 34 Philippot, Claude 374, 386 Pia!, Edith 34 Picasso, Pablo 258, 259 Pietzner, Carl (Karel) 12, 113 Piffl , Rudolf 115 Pikart, Arnost 35, 36, 64, 83 Pikous, Jan 175 Pilat, Frantisek 86 Pinka, Ludvik 9 Pinkava, Ivan 258, 261 , 313, 314, 326, 336, 33~338,373,374, 376, 377 Pi rka, Josef 23 Pisafik, Vojtech 198, 207 Pitlach , Milan 198, 199 Pizl , Karel 364 Plato 49 Plicka, Karel 63, 86, 87, 87, 137,139,365, 366 , 366, 368 Plitz, Martin 316 Pliva, Ladislav 242 Podestat, Vaclav 7, 202, 206, 207, 209, 292,294, 295, 305 Pohribny, Jan 259, 320, 328 , 330, 373 Pokorny, Camillo 34 Pokorny, Josef 203 , 203, 371 , 372 Pokorny, Miroslav 201, 204, 372 Polacek, Jifi 202, 208, 225, 252, 253,317 , 327, 372, 373,374, 378 Polak, Martin 318,323,324, 325,328, 352, 354, 373 , 378 Polak, Petr 318 Polasek, Milos 197

Rada, Eduard 364 Radnicky, Viktor 138 Rainer, Arnulf 258 Rajzik, Jaroslav 251 , 260, 269, 289 , 370, 372,373,374 Rakovec, Oldrich 150, 151 Rampakova, Zora 372 Rasl, Tomas 319 Rawova, Nadja 259, 373 , 374 Reach, Zikmund 23, 25 Reco, Jan 199,200, 201 , 203, 372, 374 Reich , Jan 250, 260, 264, 319 , 371 , 372, 374 Reichmann , Vilem 100, 119, 120, 138, 147, 169, 170, 170, 173, 175, 178, 253, 254, 259 , 261,366,367, 369, 373, 374,375 Remes, Vladimir 69 , 87 , 159, 205, 209, 289, 294, 370 , 371 , 372,373, 374, 386, 387 Renger-Patzsch, Albert 60, 97 Reno, Jean 317 Reynek, Bohuslav 254 Rezac, Jan 139, 142, 158, 178,369, 369, 377, 386,387 Riboud , Marc 204, 372

Policansky, Karel 64 , 86

Richter, Ota 198, 199

319, 328 Puchmertl , Jaroslav 366 Pulicar, Jaroslav 207, 294, 295 Purkyne , Jan Evangelista 289, 362 Pustka, Arnost 369, 386 Puita, Jifi 175 Pycha, Ondrej 317 Quedenfeldt, Erwin 48

Richter, Viktor 128 Richtr, Jaroslav 242 Rimpler, Josef F. 115, 362 Rodchenko, Alexander 36, 60, 85, 365 Roger, Christian 374 Roh, Franz 98 Rohan , Rene 324 Rohr, Rob 115 Ronis, Willy 369 Rosicky, Petr 287 Rossler, Jaroslav 6, 33, 34, 36, 37, 44, 46, 47 , 48, 49, 50, 50, 51 , 52,54, 55,60 , 65, 66, 67, 68, 68, 70, 78, 79, 175, 178, 251 , 254, 361,362 , 363, 365, 370,372 , 374, 375 Rossmann , Zdenek 59 , 66, 67, 69 , 116, 363, 365,387 Rossmannova, Marie 59, 116 Rothmayer, Otto 171 Rousova, Hana 50 , 51 , 373, 387 Rovderova, Nadia 323 Rublic, Jifi 151 Rudinska, Libuse 292 Rudolph II Habsburg 249 Ruff, Thomas 317 Ruller, Tomas 244, 316, 327 Ruscha, Ed (Edward) 324 Ruzicka, Drahomir Josef 11 , 12, 18, 34, 35, 36, 37 , 64, 6~362, 363 , 368 , 372, 375 Ruzicka , Michal 290

Sechtlova, Marie Michaela 158 Sedlacek, Pavel 327 Sedlackova, Lenka 6 Sedlak, Jozef 203, 376 Seidl , Dusan 6 Seidl, Josef 113, 115 Seidli ng, Clifford 176, 177, 194 Seifert, Jaroslav 4 7 Sejkot, Roman 287, 290, 291 Sejn , Milos 242, 323 Sekal , Zbynek 241 Sesulka, Pavel 202 Setele, Otto 9 Setlik, Jadran 316 Sever, Jifi 65 , 139, 140, 142, 170, 175, 367 , 369 Shakespeare, William 256 Sherman, Cindy 318 , 376 , 378 Shishkin, Arkady 150 Sibik, Jan 198, 287, 290, 294, 306, 379 Signac, Paul 117 Sigut, Jiri 323, 323, 328 Sikora, Rudolf 242 , 374 Sikula, Petr 253, 253, 370, 371 Silpoch, Jan 287, 289 Si lverio, Robert 294 , 314, 387 Sima, Josef45, 47, 48, 95 Simanek, Dusan 203, 204 , 251, 260, 266, 372, 387 Simanek, Vit 291 , 292

Rybak, Michal 31 Rypar, Vladimir 82, 87 , 158

Simar'iova, Jarmila 292, 387 Simecek, Peter 374 Simkova, Jeny 257 Simlova, Stepanka 320, 322, 328 Simon, Robert Anton in 366 Simr, Petr 294 Siostrzonek, Jifi 387 Siskind, Aaron 174 Sitensky, Ladislav 82, 86 , 87, 125, 126, 12~ 129, 169,173, 364 Sivakova, Libuna 202 Skacha, Oldrich 205, 287 Skala, Frantisek 244, 323, 328, 352 Skala, Milan 375 Skalnik, Joska 372 Skalova, Vanda 178, 386 Skarda, Augustin 1O, 16, 361 , 362 , 364 Skoch, Jifi 254 Skopec, Rudolf 173, 366, 369, 370, 387 Skoupi lova, Petra 317 Skurikhin , Anatoly 150 Skvorecky, Josef 177 Sladek, Anton 257 Slama , Vojtech v. 294, 295, 295 Slansky, Josef 64, 363

Sagi , Jan 200 , 207, 236, 242, 243, 267, 294, 295, 371 , 372, 374 Saglova, Zorka 242, 243, 244 Salomon , Erich 370 Sander, August3 17, 370,376 Sander, Gerd 376 Santeul, Claude de 363 Santholzer, Vilem 362 Santi, Hynek 151 Sapara , Vojtech 368 Saudek, Jan 6, 176, 177, 179, 192, 193, 254, 255, 261,274, 275,288,313,326, 371 , 372, 373 , 374, 375 , 377, 378,378 Sayag, Alain 69, 372, 375 , 387 Schachtl, Josef lgnac 113 Schad , Christian 36, 48, 362 Schaufler, Jaroslav 151 Schejbal , Jan 290 Scheufler, Pavel 12, 24, 37 , 119, 178, 209 , 289, 295, 371,372 , 373, 374, 376, 377 , 379, 379 Schick, Otmar 366 Schiele, Egon 11 , 20,361 Schinzel , Karl 361 Schlosser, Otto 11, 34, 114, 115, 116, 117, 366 Schneeberger, Adolf 35, 36 , 36, 37, 83 , 362 , 363,387 Schneider-Rohan, Rudolf 34, 43, 65, 176 Schonberg , Arnold 116 Schorm , Evald 177, 369 Schwitters, Kurt 116 Sechtlova, Marie 153, 158

Slapal, Filip 321 Slavik, Herbert 287, 290,317, 327 Slavikova, Viera 374 Slivka, Dusan 87, 372 Smejkal , Frantisek 51 , 101, 142, 371 , 374, 387 Smirous, Karel 21 Smok, Jan 151 , 158, 173,176, 177, 202, 257, 260, 287, 368, 369 , 370,371 , 373, 374 Smokova, Vera 260

1393

Smola, Oldrich 127 Snob! , Josef 258, 259, 287, 294, 317, 322 Sobek , Evzen 289, 293 , 294, 295, 304, 387 Sokol, Zdenek 258, 313 , 334 Sole, Ladislav 376, 387 Sontag , Susan 243 , 325 Soros, George 312 Soucek, Karel 151 Soucek, Ludvik 100, 142, 153, 170, 174, 178,368, 369,387 Soupault, Philippe 95 Sousedik, Borek 207, 209, 372 Sova, Svatopluk 125, 127, 132, 366 Sozansky, Jiri 315 Spacek, Vladimir 287, 377 Spa.ta, Jan 369, 375 Sperl , Daniel 157, 292, 295 , 298 Spicner, Jindrich 252 Spielmann , Petr 68 , 371 Spillar, Rudolf 9 Splichal, Jan 251 , 254, 261, 374 Spumy, Milos 174 Srp , Karel 6, 100, 101 , 141 , 142, 178, 245 , 261 , 289, 326, 328 , 376,378 , 379 , 385 , 386, 387 Stach , Jiri 331 Stacho, L'.ubo 203 , 374 Stachova, Marie 83, 83, 98, 105 Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich 137, 151 , 153, 169, 172, 241,324, 368 , 380,381 , 382 Stanek, Jan Vaclav 126 Stanko, Vasil 257, 261 , 278, 312 , 374, 375,377 Stano, Tono 257,261 , 276, 277, 312, 313 , 314, 317,324, 326 , 333, 372,373,374, 375 , 376 , 377 , 378 Starcky, Emmanuel 378 Starek, Jan 208 St'astny, Bohumil 65, 82 , 141, 142, 365 Stech, Frantisek and Hana 7 Stech , Vaclav Vilem 362 Stecha, Pavel 197, 201 , 202, 203, 204, 208 , 220,221, 287, 289 , 290, 321 , 370, 372, 374,376, 377 Stehli, lren 201 , 202, 203, 204, 208, 224, 252,372,377 Stehlik, Karel 34 Steichen, Edward 364, 368 Stein, Stepanka 317, 327, 348 Steiner, Rudolf 49

Straka, Oldrich 64, 83 , 86, 91 , 125, 173, 364, 371 Strand, Paul 48, 59 , 60 , 68 Strati! , Vaclav 244, 318,328 , 353,376 Strba, Martin 375 Streit, Jindrich 6, 199, 204, 205, 209, 228,

229,230,231,291,292 , 295 , 303, 372, 374, 375 , 376, 377, 37~378,379,387 Stremcha, Bohumil 23, 26 Stri:iminger, Vilem 34 Struth , Thomas 324 Styrsky, Jindrich 46, 47, 82 , 94, 95 , 96 , 97 , 100, 101 , 102, 103, 107, 115, 138, 169, 170, 362,364, 364, 365,366 , 367, 367, 369, 372,376 Subr, Josef 363 Suda, Kristian 200, 208, 377 Sudek, Josef 4 , 6, 34, 35, 36, 37, 37, 61 , 63 , 65, 6~ 68, 69 , 74, 83 , 84, 97 , 113, 115, 136, 137, 140,141 , 142, 168, 169, 170, 171 , 171 , 172, 176, 178, 182, 183, 184, 185, 249, 250, 250, 252, 253 , 288 , 291 , 319, 321 , 362, 363 , 364 , 365 , 366 , 367, 368,369, 36~370 , 371, 371,372 , 373, 374, 375, 376, 377 , 37~378 , 379 Sugimoto, Hiroshi 320 Sukup , Milos 151 Suruvka, Jiri 244 , 323 , 325, 328 Sutnar, Ladislav 65 , 68 , 69, 365, 387 Svankmajer, Jan 17 4 Svitek, Jaro 373 Svoboda , Jan175, 179, 248, 250, 252, 260, 262,26~321 , 325 , 370 , 372 , 374 , 375, 376, 377 Svoboda, Jaromir 207 Svoboda,Josef173,368 Svoboda, Ludvik 382 Svoboda, Vaclav (Jindrich Marco) 197, 208 , 370 Svolfk, Miro 257 , 258, 261 , 280, 312 , 313 , 324, 326, 372, 373 , 374 , 375 , 377,378 Svorcik, Venek 151 Sychra, Miroslav 251 Sykora, Zdenek 177 Sykorova, Daniela 153 Synek, Karel 118, 119, 364, 365 Synge , Laurence Millington 363 Szarkowski , John 371

Steinerova, Svatava 387 Steinert, Otto 174, 369 , 387 Steklik, Jan 242 Stembera, Petr 243 , 245, 247 Stepita-Klauco, Matej 369 Stetkova, Jitka 6 Stibor, Miloslav 176, 179, 195,259,370, 371 Sticha, Pavel 287 Stieber, Frantisek 222 Stieglitz, Alfred 11 , 35 , 374 Stochl , Slava 83 , 127, 129,364, 366 Stoilov, Viktor 159, 288, 317 , 375

Taborsky, Hugo 50, 66 , 99, 365 Tachezy, Jan 151 Tanguy, Yves 95 Tannenbaum , Ed 319 Tausk, Petr 87, 174,369,370,371 , 387 Taylor, Alan John Percival 370 Taylorova, Libuse (Liba Taylor) 198, 287 Teige , Karel 45, 46, 46, 47, 47, 48, 59 , 66, 67, 68, 95 , 96 , 97, 98 , 98, 101 , 104, 117, 118, 120, 137, 141 , 142, 362 , 362, 363 , 365, 366, 367,369 , 376, 387 Teller, Jurgen 319 Tereba, Stanislav 155, 155, 368 Thelenova, Michaela 322 , 328 Thorek, Max 363 Tichy, Josef 174

Straka, Bohumil 151

Tichy, Miroslav 207 , 209 , 239

394 1

Tillmans , Wolfgang 319 Tittelbach , Vojtech 363 Tmej, Zdenek 83, 87, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131 , 364 , 366 , 369, 371, 379 Toman, Jindrich 51, 120, 387 Toman , Jiri 172, 178, 186, 240, 241 , 244, 366 Toman , Prokop M. 387 Tomik, Fero 254 Topic, Frantisek 151, 366, 367 Topol, Josef 159, 208, 372 Tournier, Michel 375 Toyen (Marie Cerminova) 46, 47, 95, 96, 97, 137, 138, 138, 366 , 367 Trcka, Anton Josef 11, 12, 20, 113, 114, 120, 361 , 374 Trestik, Tomas 294, 309, 327, 387 Tschichold , Jan 364 Tucker, Anne Wilkes 328, 374 Tuma, Karel 292 Tuma, Michal 252, 256 Tuma, Miroslav 207, 371 Tuma, Stanislav 251 , 268, 317 , 374 Turek , Jiri 317, 327 Uelsmann, Jerry N. 370 Vaculik, Ludvik 208, 378, 382 Vajd , Aleksandra (Sasha Vajd) 318 , 319, 321 Valenta, Jaroslav 198 Valoch , Jiri 178, 242, 244, 245, 245, 328, 387 Valter, Karel 50, 99 , 101, 364 , 388 Valuskova, Milena 259 Vancat, Pavel 179, 209, 260, 261 , 289, 324 , 327 , 328, 388 Vanek, Jindrich 11 , 11 , 34 Vano, Robert 317, 327 Varga, Kamil 257,258,313, 326, 375, 377 Vavra, Jaroslav 173, 368 Vavrousek , Pavel 201 , 372 Vcelicka, Geza 83 Vejvoda, Rudolf 362 Velkoborsky, Petr 201, 202 Veprek, Emil 64, 74 Veverka, Rudolf 361 Vimr, Vladimir 7, 379 Vinci, Leonardo da 314 Virt, Zdenek 173, 176, 177, 178, 370 Visek, Jiri 254, 317 Vitali , Christoph 6 Vlcek , Tomas 50, 242, 245, 261 Vobecky, Frantisek 98, 101 , 108, 138, 169, 365 , 366 , 367 Vojacek, Josef 259 Vojtechovsky, Ludek 321 Vojtechovsky, Miroslav 179, 208, 251, 260, 269, 289,294,319,326,373, 374 , 375, 376,378, 379 Vorisek, Josef 64, 65, 83 Voskovec, Jiri 47, 116, 362, 363 Vosta, Cenek 83 Vranova, Jana Vraz, Enrique Stanko 24 Vsetecka, Jiri 154, 158, 197, 200, 287, 371

Vybiral , Martin 258 Vymola, Julius 126 Watriss , Wendy 294, 374 Watzek, Hans 12, 113, 114 Weinertova, Vera 371 Wellner, Karel 361 Wenisch , Max 11 , 34 , 114, 115, 117 Werich , Jan 116 Westerbeck, Colin 376, 388 Weston , Brett 365 Weston , Edward 35, 62, 362 White, Clarence Hudson 11, 35 , 362 Wicpalek, Heinrich 115, 121,364 Wiener, Georg 114 Willinghi:ifer, Helga 6 Winogrand, Garry 249 , 370 Wiskovsky, Eugen 50 , 61 , 61, 62 , 63, 64, 65 , 66, 67, 68 , 69, 72, 73, 76, 77, 84 , 98 , 101 , 109, 139, 363, 364, 366, 367 , 368 , 369 , 375, 376 Wojnar, Jan 244 Wurm , Franz 201 Zachovalova, Marie 292 Zajfc, Miroslav 198 Zapletalova, Veronika 320, 322, 328 Zapotocky, Antonin 85, 334, 382 Zatorsky, Jan 290 Zavadil , Emil 6, 377, 385 Zemlinsky, Alexander von 116 Zentel , Lukas 294 Zhor, Petr 256, 273, 322 Zid licky, David 261 Zidlicky, Vladimir 258, 261, 282, 322 , 370 , 372 , 373,374, 378, 388 Zika, Adolf 314, 379 Zimova, Iva 292 Zivr, Ladislav 100 Zoubek, Olbram 223 Zuckerkandl , Teresa 114 Zuckrieg l, Margit 69 , 379 Zupnik, Peter 257, 259, 261, 322, 372, 373 , 374 , 375, 377, 378 Zych , Alois 11 Zykmund , Vaclav87, 100, 110, 138, 142, 144, 145, 158, 173, 174, 366 , 367, 369, 373 , 376 , 387, 388

Czech Photography of the 20th Century Text and selection of photographs: Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch Chronology and Bibliography of Czech Photography of the 20th Century: Vladimir Birgus Graphic design and layout: Vladimir Vimr and Martin Vimr Translation : Derek and Marzia Paton and William McEnchroe Editing: Vladimir Birgus Copy-editing of the English edition: Derek Paton Referees: Tomas Pospech The authors thank in particular Emilie Benesova, Stepanka Bieleszova, Adam Boxer, Jindrich Chatrny, Blanka Chocholova, Rumjana Daceva , Gabriel Dvorak, Antonin Dufek, Anna Fa.rove., Robert Fleck, Angelica Francke , Jutta Frings , Howard Greenberg, Anna Horejsi, Miroslav Hrabeta, Jana Hummelova, Vaclav Jehlicka, Wenzel Jakob, Jiri Jaskmanicky, Jiri Kafka, Annette Kicken , Rudolf Kicken, Ruzena Knotkova, Ondrej Kocourek, Robert Koch , Helena Koenigsmarkova , Josef Koudelka, Jaroslav Kucera, Ales Kunes , Pavel Lagner, Miroslav Lekes, Olga Maia, Milan Mikus, Elinor Mildeova, Josef Moucha, Daniela Mrazkova, Miroslav Myska, Marta Nozkova, Jiri Patek, Vaclav Podesta.I, Marek Pokorny, Blanka Polakova, Vladimir Remes, Miloslava Rupesova, Pavel Scheufler, Ina Schmidt-Runke, Lenka Sedlackova, Dusan Seidl, Karel Srp, Viktor Stoilov, Irena Sorfova, Daniel Sperl , Frantisek Stech, Hana Stechova, Jitka Stetkova, Jiri Svestka, Jaroslav Vil, Sylva Vitova-Rbsslerova , Helga Willinghbfer, Pavel Zatloukal , and Emil Zavadil. The photographs were kindly lent by the Umeleckoprumyslove museum v Praze, Moravska galerie v Brne, Muzeum umeni Olomouc, Pam~tnik narodniho pisemnictvi (Prague) , Galerie hlavniho mesta Prahy, Muzeum mesta Brna, Sbirka Svazu ceskych fotografu ulozena v Narodnim archivu v Praze, Narodni technicke muzeum (Prague), Galerie Maldoror (Prague) , lnstitut tvurci fotografie Slezske univerzity v Opave, Geske centrum fotografie (Prague) , Galerie Gambit (Prague) , Galerie Jiri Svestka Praha I Berlin, Galerie Pecka (Prague) , Vytvarne centrum Chagall (Ostrava) , PPF Art (Prague), Nadace Geske foto (Prague), Galerie Kicken Berlin, Galerie Berinson (Berlin), Magnum Photos Paris, Howard Greenberg Gallery (New York), Ubu Gallery (New York) , Sbirka Miroslava Lekese Brno, and many private collectors. Published by KANT (Karel Kerlicky) in collaboration with the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague , with funding from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. Research was made possible by funding from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (project no. 408/05/2765, carried out at Silesian University, Opava) and from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic as part of 'Czech Institutions of Modern Design of the Twentieth Century', project no. MK 00002344201 , carried out under the auspices of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. Prepress: Karel Kerlicky Printing: PBtisk s. r. o. , Pribram, Czech Republic

© Text: Vladimir Birgus (Chs 1 to 17) and Jan Mlcoch (Chs 1 to 17), Vladimir Birgus (Chronology and Bibliography of Czech Photography of the 20th Century) © Photographs: the photographers and their estates © Translation: Derek and Marzia Paton and William McEnchroe © Graphic design and layout: Vladimir Vimr and Martin Vimr © Nakladatelstvf KANT, Prague, 2010 [email protected], Kladenska 29, CZ-160 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic Also available through D. A. P. I Distributed Art Publishers, 155 Sixth Avenue , New York, N.Y. 10013, USA, Tel. ++1(212) 6271999. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized without permission in a written form from the publisher.

ISBN (English edition): 978-80-7437-027·4 (KANT) ISBN (Czech edition): 978-80-7437-026-7 (KANT) ISBN (English edition) : 978-80-7101-090-6 (UPM) ISBN (Czech edition) : 978-80-7101-089-0 (UPM)