Sudek’s Choice: Between Pictorialism and Modernism

Highly regarded in the history of twentieth century photography, Josef Sudek is perceived internationally as first and foremost a representative of Czech photography of the period. His photographs are associated with Prague and its surrounding areas and a relationship is often drawn between his imagery and that of Czech poets Jaroslav Seifert and Vladimir Holan. Given the international nature of the Pictorialist and Modernist movements, this paper examines the extent to which Sudek’s work can be appreciated as being strongly representative of national culture but also as participating in a larger spectrum of photographic practice. The period ca 1917–1976 during which Sudek was active experienced enormous shifts in terms of both style and thinking about photography as an art form, running the gamut from Pictorialism, Modernism, and Neue Sachlichkeit social documentary to performative and conceptualist uses of the medium. I will look at the extent to which Sudek’s work reflects this richly experimental and adaptive practice and its relationship to photographic practice in The United States and Europe. My paper first examines Sudek’s period of transition from Pictorialism to Modernism, and the residual aggregate impact of both schools on his work from the 1940s to the late 50s. It also will look at the influence of Drahomir Ruzicka’s work on this stage of Sudek’s evolution as a photographer. It then considers the impact and dictates of advertising photography’s international market and Sudek’s segue into Modernism from Pictorialism. Conclusion: open to experimentation in various aspects of Modernist expression and adapting his style according to commercial demands, Sudek nevertheless selectively developed printmaking and presentation strategies that were unique to his practice and remained committed to photography as a vehicle of personal expression.

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Ann Thomas is Senior Curator at the Canadian Photography Institute, National Gallery of Canada. She has organized numerous exhibitions and is the author of several catalogues and publications including Lisette Model (1990) (Wittenborn Award). She is the curator, contributing author and editor of Beauty of Another Order: Photography in Science, (1996) (Kraszna Kraus award), No Man’s Land: Lynne Cohen Photographs (2001), Modernist Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada (2007), and American Photographs 1900 –1950 (2011). In addition to publishing widely, she has lectured internationally, and served on numerous photographic award juries. Recent exhibitions include Donald McCullin (2013); The Great War and the Persuasive Power of Photography (2014) and The Intimate World of Josef Sudek, (2016) (co-curated with Vladimir Birgus and Ian Jeffrey).

Date
Thu, 12/01/2016 - 10:00
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