Josef Sudek

Born 17 March 1896; died 15 September 1976. Co-founder, with Jaromír Funke, of the Czech Photographic Society, Prague, 1924. He was trained as a bookbinder, and took up photography as an amateur. As a conscript in WWI he was wounded and lost his hand. He later studied with Karel Novák at the State School of Graphic Art 1922 to 1924. From 1928 until his death he worked in the same wooden studio building in Prague, itself becoming a subject of many of his photographs. Early in his career he did advertising work, portraiture, and landscapes. From 1940 he stopped making enlargements and made only contact prints from large negatives. He lived in seclusion from the beginning of World War II, and concentrated on still lifes. He received the Czech government artists of merit award in 1961. (ULAN 2006)