Jan Saudek

For other uses, see Saudek.
Saudek in 2010

Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech art photographer and painter.

Life

Saudek's father was a Jew[1] and this, coupled with his Slavic (Czech) heritage, caused his family to become a target of the Nazis. Many of his family died in Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. Jan and his brother Karel, or Kája, were held in a children's concentration camp for Mischlinge, located near the present Polish-Czech border. His father, Gustav, was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in February 1945. Both sons and father survived the war.

According to Saudeks's biography, he got his first camera, a Kodak Baby Brownie, in 1950. He apprenticed to a photographer and in 1952 started working as a print shop worker, where he worked until 1983. In 1959, he started using the more advanced Flexaret 6x6 camera, and engaged in painting and drawing. After completing his military service, he was inspired in 1963 by the catalogue for Edward Steichen's The Family of Man exhibition, to try to become a serious art photographer. In 1969, he traveled to the United States and was encouraged in his work by curator Hugh Edwards.

Returning to Prague, he was forced to work in a clandestine manner in a cellar, to avoid the attentions of the secret police, as his work turned to themes of personal erotic freedom, and used implicitly political symbols of corruption and innocence. From the late 1970s, he became recognized in the West as the leading Czech photographer, and also developed a following among photographers in his own country. In 1983, the first book of his work was published in the English-speaking world. The same year, he became a freelance photographer as the Czech Communist authorities allowed him to cease working in the print shop, and gave him permission to apply for a permit to work as an artist. In 1987, the archives of his negatives were seized by the police, but later returned.

Saudek lives and works in Prague. His brother Kája Saudek is also an artist, the best-known Czech graphic novelist.

Work

Poster for a film by Adolf Zika: Jan Saudek: Bound by Passion (2008).

His best-known work is noted for its hand-tinted portrayal of painterly dream worlds, often inhabited by nude or semi-nude figures surrounded by bare plaster walls or painted backdrops, frequently re-using identical elements (for instance, a clouded sky or a view of Prague's Charles Bridge). In this they echo the studio and tableaux works of mid nineteenth century erotic photographers, as well as the works of the painter Balthus, and of Bernard Faucon. His early art photography is noted for its evocation of childhood. His later works often portrayed the evolution from child to adult (re-photographing the same composition/pose, and with the same subjects, over many years). Religious motifs or the ambiguity between man and woman have also been some of Jan Saudek's recurring themes. His work was the subject of attempts at censorship in the West during the 1990s.

Some of Saudek's work has been used as covers for the albums of Anorexia Nervosa (New Obscurantis Order), Soul Asylum (Grave Dancers Union), Daniel Lanois (For the Beauty of Wynona), and Beautiful South (Welcome to the Beautiful South).

Saudek's imagery has had a mixed international reception. Quite early, he had shows in the United States and in Australia, where in 1970 his work was shown at the Australian Centre for Photography and was welcomed by curator Jennie Boddington at the National Gallery of Victoria. In the same country, by contrast, Black Sheep & White Crow, which features a semi-naked prepubescent girl, was removed from the Ballarat International Foto Biennale on the eve of its opening on August 21, 2011 following child prostitution claims.[2]

Publications (selected)

Films

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2015 Valeria Rabbit Hole Art Room, Warsaw, Poland

2012
  • Int. Photofestival Spillimbergo & Udine, Italy Centres of Art, Tarnow, Poland

2011

  • Chamber Gallery U Schell, Budweis, Czech Republic
  • Visio Art Gallery, Plzeň
  • Mondo Bizzarro Gallery, Rome, Italy
  • Phototheatron, Athens, Greece
  • Galerie Esther Woerdehoff (group exhibition), Paris
  • Ballarat Int. Photo Biennale, Melbourne, Australia

2010

  • Fotografija Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Fotofestival Nordic Light, Kristiansund, Norway
  • Kunsthandel gallery, Graz, Austria
  • Nordic Light (int. Festival of photography) Kristiansund, Norway
  • Fotografia Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2009

  • Gallery Velvet Kelly, Žilina, Slovakia
  • Monopoli-Castello Carlo V., Italy

2008

  • Velvet Gallery, Bojnice, Slovakia
  • Royal Palace (along with JPWitkinem (Joel-Peter Witkin?)), Milan, Italy

2007

  • Galerie Jan Saudek, Prague, Czech Republic

2006

  • International fotobienále, 6th edition, Moscow, Russia
  • IN FOCUS Gallery, Cologne, Germany

2005

  • House White Unicorn, Prague, Czech Republic
  • Gallery of Photography Past Rays, Japan
  • K. Mennour Gallery, Paris

2004

  • Krišal Gallery, Geneve, Switzerland
  • Lattuada Studio Gallery, Milan, Italy

2003

  • Broel Museum
  • Biennale de Venise, Italy
  • FIAC, Galerie K. Mennour, Paris
  • Krišal Gallery, Geneve, Switzerland

2001

  • Comenius Museum, Naarden, Netherlands
  • University of Nothingham

2000

  • Carousel de Louvre, Paris Art Gallery Mennour, Paris

1999

  • Paris Photo Gallery Mennour, Paris
  • VB Photographic Centre, Kuopio, Finland

1998

  • Bergamot Station Art Center BGH Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
  • Municipal House in Prague, Czech Republic
  • The Museum of Photography, Tel-Hai, Israel

1997

  • Museo Ken Damy, Brescia, Italy
  • Paris Photo, Krišal Gallery, Paris

1996

  • Museum of Art, Olomouc, Czech Republic

1995

  • A Gallery for fine photography, New Orleans, LA

1994

  • Parco Gallery, Tokyo

1993

  • Month of Photography, Palffy Palace, Bratislava, Slovakia

1992

  • Galerie Municipale du Chateau d'Eau, Toulouse, France

1991

  • Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
  • Portfolio Gallery, London

1990

  • Robert Koch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • Gallery Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan
  • RIP, Arles, France

1989

  • Photography Forum Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
  • Jan Kesner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1987

  • Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris

1986

  • Centre National de la Photographie, Paris
  • Photography Forum Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

1985

  • Münchner Stadtmuseum, München, Germany

1984

  • Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

1981 Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH Jacques Baruch Gallery, Chicago, IL Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery, New York

1980 FNAC - Montparnasse, Paris photokina, Cologne, Germany

1979 G.Ray Hawkins Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1978

  • Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
  • International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, NY

1977

  • Australian Centre of Photography, Sydney, Australia
  • National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
  • RIP, Arles, France

1976

  • Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • Jacques Baruch Gallery, Chicago, IL

1969

Group exhibitions (selected)

2012
  • Int. Photofestival Spillimbergo & Udine, Italy
  • Centres of Art, Tarnow, Poland

2011

  • Chamber Gallery U Schell, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
  • Visio Art Gallery, Plzen, Czech Republic
  • Mondo Bizzarro Gallery, Rome, Italy
  • Phototheatron, Athens
  • Galerie Esther Woerdehoff (group exhibition), Paris
  • Ballarat Int. Photo Biennale, Melbourne, Australia

2010

  • Fotografija Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Kunsthandel gallery, Graz, Austria
  • Nordic Light (international festival of photography) Kristiansund, Norway
  • 2009
  • Münchner Stadt Museum - History of nude in photography (museum collection)
  • Munich State Museum, Munich, Germany

2003

  • Absolut Generations, 50th Biennale of Modern Art, Venezia, Italy

2001

  • Nude in, Czech Republicech Photography, Museum of Art, Olomouc, Czech Republic
  • Nude in, Czech Republicech Photography, Prague Castle, Prague, Czech Republic
  • Typical Men, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Scotland

2000

  • Absolut Ego, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris

1998

  • Zärtlicher Blick auf schöne Damen, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany

1997

  • Month of Photography, Paris
  • The Body in Contemporary, Czech Republicech Photography, Macintosh Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland

1996

  • Security and search in, Czech Republicech photography 90s, Prague Castle, Prague, Czech Republic

1995

  • Fotofeis - Scottish International Festival of Photography, Scotland

1993

  • Fotofeis - Scottish International Festival of Photography, Scotland

1990

  • Tschechoslowakische Photos der Gegenward, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany

1985

  • Das Aktfoto, Münchener Stadtmuseum, München, Germany

Collections

Saudek's work is held in the following permanent collections:

References

  1. ↑ Asiedu, Dita (16 December 2001). "Saudek Brothers Documentary". Czech Radio. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Photo withdrawn after child prostitution claim
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