Czech photo masters of the XX century: the work of Josef Sudek

Among the Czech photographers of the first half of the XX century and up to the 70s, Josef Sudek stands out noticeably. In his youth, he worked as a bookbinder, was a participant in the First World War, acting on the side of the Austro-Hungarian army. While at the front, Sudek was seriously wounded and lost his arm. However, this did not prevent the young man from mastering photography, he even used bulky equipment worn by his assistants. Sudek's teacher was the avant-garde photographer Jaromir Funke, one of the founders of the Czech Photographic Union. For a while Sudek focused on the style of romantic pictorialism. Pictures of the 30s taken for commercial purposes are marked with the stamp of modernism, the photographer himself preferred neo-Romanticism.

After the Second World War, landscapes began to appear mainly among Sudek's works: panoramas of Prague, forests of Bohemia. At the same time, he took a series of pictures of his own workplace, which turned out to be unusual due to the effects used. Images of interiors were included in the series "Labyrinths". In total, 16 books were published during the author's lifetime. The first exhibition took place in 1933, and a monograph dedicated to Sudek was prepared for the 60th anniversary. Photos are still often reproduced in new editions, the originals get to the most famous auctions. But despite the huge success, the author himself did not like fame, was shy, rarely appeared at his exhibitions and did not attend their opening.

Sudek is often called the "Prague poet". Even the most mundane pictures seem to emit a barely noticeable light. To catch the right moment, the photographer could stand at the equipment for a very long time and capture almost imperceptible changes in lighting through a long exposure. And this is without any calculations, Sudek was guided only by intuition. Rumor has it that he did not have an exposure meter - a device for measuring brightness. He showed the same places in completely different ways, for example, he filmed his garden snowy, rainy, sunny, foggy. Connoisseurs of beauty can purchase such beautiful pictures by clicking on the links to Violity.