Jan Saudek

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Jan Saudek
Jan Saudek (2024).jpg
Jan Saudek (2024)
Born (1935-05-13) 13 May 1935 (age 89)
Prague, Czechoslovakia
NationalityCzech
Occupation(s)Art photographer, painter
Notable workThe World of Jan Saudek: Photographs, Jan Saudek-Il teatro de la vita, Story from, Czechoslovakia, My Country, and Photographs by Jan Saudek

Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935) is an art photographer and painter.

Contents

Saudek's art work represents a unique technique combining photography and painting. In his country of origin, Czechoslovakia, Saudek was considered a disturbed artist and oppressed by authorities. His art gained more prominence during the 1990s, thanks to his collaboration with the luxury art book publisher Taschen.

During the 2000s Saudek lost all his photo negatives in a dispute with a former partner. The pictures were managed and displayed by Saudek.com, his son’s company, against Jan’s will. In 2012 High Court in Prague invalidated contracts between Jan and Saudek.com, effectively returning control over the works to the artist. [1] [2]

Saudek is the author of many “mise en scene” that were re-taken and copied by other artists. The cliché of a naked man holding a naked new born baby with tenderness became a picture that was reproduced so many times that the composition became as commonplace as posing for a graduation picture.

During his life in communist Czechoslovakia, Saudek was labeled by the totalitarian regime as a pornographer.

He lived in poverty using the only room in his basement as his studio. A disintegrating wall and a window giving a glimpse into the backyard became the witnesses of his fantasies and collaborations with models of all different sizes and origins.

Life

Saudek and his twin brother Karel (also known as Kája) were born to a Slavic (Czech) mother and Jewish father in Prague in 1935. [3] Their mother's family came to Prague from Bohemia, and their father from the city of Děčín in the northwest part of that area. During World War II and after the invasion of the German Nazis, both sides of his family were racially persecuted by the invaders. Many of his Jewish relatives died in Theresienstadt concentration camp during the war. Their father Gustav was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in February 1945. Although their mother and many other relatives died, both sons and father survived the war. A Communist-dominated government gained power after the war to rule the country, enforced by the Soviet Union and considered to be behind the Iron Curtain.

According to Saudek's biography, he acquired his first camera, a Kodak Baby Brownie, in 1950. He apprenticed to a photographer, and in 1952 started working in a print shop; he was restricted to this work by the Communist government until 1983. In 1959, he started using the more advanced Flexaret 6x6 camera, and also engaged in painting and drawing. After completing his military service, he was inspired in 1963 by the catalogue for American photographer Edward Steichen's The Family of Man exhibition, and began to work to become a serious art photographer. In 1969, Saudek traveled to the United States, where he was encouraged in his work by curator Hugh Edwards of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Returning to Prague, Saudek had to work at his photography clandestinely in a cellar, to avoid the attentions of the secret police. With his work turning to themes of personal erotic freedom, he 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. [4] In 1983, the first book of Saudek's work was published in the English-speaking world. The same year, he became a freelance photographer; the Czech Communist authorities allowed him to stop 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 was also an artist, the best-known Czech graphic novelist. [3] [ citation needed ] [5]

Work

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

His best-known work is notable 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. He frequently re-uses elements (for instance, a clouded sky or a view of Prague's Charles Bridge). In this his photographs suggest the studio and tableaux works of mid-19th century erotic photographers, as well as the works of the 20th-century painter Balthus, and of Bernard Faucon.

Saudek's early art photography is noted[ by whom? ] 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 and the ambiguity between man and woman have also been some of Saudek's recurring themes. During the 1990s, his work at times generated censorship attempts in the West because of its provocative sexual content.

Saudek's imagery has sometimes had a mixed reception internationally. He gained early shows in 1969 and 1970 in the United States. In Australia, in June–July 1977 his work was welcomed by curator Jennie Boddington at the National Gallery of Victoria, [6] who sent the show to the Australian Centre for Photography in August, [7] in the Centre's third year. Both shows were accompanied by the same exhibition of four young Australian photographers. Jan Saudek: Story from Czechoslovakia, My Country, then appeared again in Melbourne at Church Street Photographic Centre in December and was reviewed favourably by women's activist Beatrice Faust. [8] Shepparton Civic Centre showed Photographic images 1956-1981 by Jan Saudek in June–July 1982, [9] followed by Benalla Art Gallery in September 1982. [10] Decades later, by contrast, his photograph Black Sheep & White Crow, which features a semi-naked pre-pubescent girl, was removed from the Ballarat International Foto Biennale in Victoria, Australia just before the opening on 21 August 2011; objections had been made related to allegations of child prostitution for his subject. [11]

Saudek's photographs have been featured as covers for the albums of Anorexia Nervosa ( New Obscurantis Order ), Soul Asylum ( Grave Dancers Union ), Daniel Lanois ( For the Beauty of Wynona ), Rorschach (Remain Sedate), and Beautiful South ( Welcome to the Beautiful South ).

Publications

Films and radio

Solo exhibitions

1963

1969

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1984

1985

1986

1987

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2015: Valeria Rabbit Hole Art Room, Warsaw, Poland 2020: Malostranská beseda, Prague, Czech Republic [15]

Collections

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

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References

  1. ↑ Velinger, Jan (15 June 2012). "Photographer Saudek wins back rights to his work". Radio Prague International. Radio Prague International . Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  2. ↑ Bezr, Ondřej (12 June 2012). "Jan Saudek vyhrál nad expartnerkou soud. Jeho snímky mu opět patří". iDNES.cz (in Czech). iDNES.cz . Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Asiedu, Dita (16 December 2001). "Saudek Brothers Documentary". Czech Radio . Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Hess, Hugo (22 October 2014). "Jan Saudek". WideWalls. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  5. ↑ "The "four-leaf clover" comics". Czech Radio. 28 February 2005. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
  6. 1 2 The Age, 03 June 1977, p.45
  7. 1 2 The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 September 1977, p.39
  8. ↑ Faust, Beatrice, 'No way to avoid a photograph's reality' The Age, 15 December 1977p.2
  9. ↑ 'Weekender' listings, The Age, 25 June 1982 p.48
  10. ↑ 'Weekender' Listings The Age 10 Sep 1982 p.37
  11. ↑ McCall, Gina (22 August 2011). "Photo withdrawn after child prostitution claim". The Age. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  12. ↑ Chuchma, Josef (20 March 2003). "Zraněný exhibicionista Jan Saudek" [Wounded exhibitionist Jan Saudek] (in Czech). iDNES.cz. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  13. ↑ "Blatenský Fotofestival" (in Czech). Fotoklub Kamfo Blatná. 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  14. ↑ "Malá synagóga v Trnave prináša výstavu fotografií Jana Saudeka" [Malá synagóga in Trnava presents an exhibition of photographs by Jan Saudek] (in Slovak). Teraz.sk. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  15. ↑ Janzer, Till (15 May 2020). "Foto-Ausstellung von Jan Saudek in Prag eröffnet" [Photo exhibition by Jan Saudek opened in Prague] (in German). Radio Prague International. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
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