Josef Sudek (1896 – 1976)

His father died when he was quite young. He trained as a bookbinder in the first world war, he was injured on the italian front and lost his right arm. After he returned to Prague, he pursued photography as an amateur. After training at the state school of graphic art in Prague (1922- 24, under prof. Karel Novák). He began to earn a living as a photographer in his studio on Újezd street. He worked there with his sister until his death. (The studio has been rebuilt and today is used as an exhibition hall.)

Sudek was a founding member of associations that rejected the traditional concept of photography. The Prague photo club (1922 – 24) and the Czech photographic society (from 1924). Sudek won recognition as a photographer in the early 1920s, in his own country and at international photography salons. From about 1940 on, Sudek began to diverge from the main trend in modern photography. Both in terms of style and technique. He stopped making enlargements and began to take pictures using a camera for large format negatives (30 x 40 cm), from which he made contact prtints. It was this work that brought him international fame.