The first comprehensive survey of Czech avant-garde photography of the first half of the twentieth century.
Not until the fall of the communist regime in 1989 and the end of Czechoslovakia's cultural isolation did the world begin to appreciate the Czech avant-garde photographers of the first half of the twentieth century. This first survey of Czech avant-garde photography introduces the important work of František Drtikol, Jaromir Funke, Jaroslav Rössler, Jindøich Štyrský, Josef Sudek, and numerous others whose work made Czech photography synonymous with visions of modernity. The essays introduce the period and explore the background and connections among the photographers. Biographical profiles are also included. But the book's main attraction is its outstanding collection of duotone and color images, many published here for the first time. 
The Czech edition of this book received the "Best Photographic Publication of 1999-2000" award from Primavera Fotográfica in Barcelona and from Month of Photography in Bratislava and was one of six finalists for the 2001 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award.

Czech Photographic Avant-Garde, 1918-1948

Arts & Photography

Birgus, Vladimír

History & Criticism

The MIT Press

Frantisek Drtikol: Modernist Nudes

Robert Koch Gallery Inc

First published in 1946, Abeceda Dusevniho Prazdna (The Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness) offers an extraordinary look inside a German forced labor camp in Breslau, Poland, during 1941-1943. It is remarkable that Zdenek Tmej, a Czech citizen made to work for the Nazi war effort, was able to photograph at all, let alone produce such a poetic response to the horrors of the war. Tmej portrays the experience of captivity through images loaded with furtiveness and despair. Errata's edition reproduces every page spread from this extremely rare and fragile document, including the original texts by Alexandra Urbanova, translated for the first time into English, and a contemporary essay by Czech photo historian Vladimir Birgus. This little-known masterpiece today stands as an ever-relevant symbol of survival and resistance.The Errata Editions' Books on Books series is an ongoing publishing project dedicated to making rare and out-of-print photography books accessible to students and photobook enthusiasts. These are not reprints or facsimiles but complete studies of the original books. Each volume in the series presents the entire content, page for page, of an original master bookwork which, up until now, has been too rare or expensive for most to experience. Through a mix of classic and contemporary titles, this series spans the breadth of photographic practice as it has appeared on the printed page and allows further study of the creation and meanings of these great works of art. Each volume in the series contains illustrations of every page in the original photobook, a new essay by an established writer on photography, production notes about the creation of the original edition and biographical and bibliographical information about each artist.

Zdenek Tmej: The Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness: Books on Books No. 10

Urbanova, Alexandra

Photography & Video

Errata Editions

Czech photographer Frantisek Drtikol (1883-1961) reinvented the genre of nude photography for the early twentieth century. Drtikol opened his Prague studio in 1907, and his nudes from this early period convey the dreamy eroticism of Art Nouveau and the foreboding accents of Prague Symbolism that he was to return to throughout his somewhat brief career (Drtikol abandoned photography for painting in 1935, and it was not until curator Anna Fárová's now legendary 1972 Prague exhibition that this work was rediscovered by a broader public). But Drtikol quickly absorbed into his photography the myriad new idioms of the interbellum years, and freighted his nudes with the dramatic lighting of silent film and the more austere geometric effects and dynamic poses of Futurism, Cubism and Bauhaus. Surveying his daring and expressive nudes of the 1920s and 1930s, this important publication charts Drtikol's adventurous treatments of the nude as they evolved in their quirky conversation with modernist innovations--from the early nymphs and femme fatales to more abstracted studies that dramatize light and kinetic qualities. This smartly conceived volume confirms Drtikol's place as one of the greatest photographers of the early twentieth century.

Frantisek Drtikol

Fárová, Anna

Hatje Cantz

Jaroslav Rossler (TORST)

Individual Artists

Torst

Josef Sudek (1896–1976) was a Czech photographer, best known for his photographs of Prague. He was a bookbinder before turning to photography after losing his right arm in WWI. This book, published to accompany an exhibition, examines how Sudek’s photographs reflect his relationship to the world around him, from intimate explorations of cherished objects and views through his window to his night walks through the streets of Prague and its periphery, as well as excursions into the surrounding countryside. With essays, reminiscences by two former assistants, and stunning illustrations, here is a compelling view of Sudek’s photographs, and the art of his friends and fellow artists. Sudek’s legacy includes some of the 20th century’s most haunting images of nature, monuments, city streets, and objects—all transformed by his sensitivity to the power of light to reveal and the power of darkness to render all impenetrable.

The Intimate World of Josef Sudek

Jeffrey, Ian

Thomas, Ann

Lahoda, Vojtech

Mlcoch, Jan

Vischi, Christophe

5 Continents Editions

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Books by Birgus, Vladimír