Czech Photography

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor:

Tomáš DVOŘÁK, Václav JANOŠČÍK, Josef Ledvina

Name of lecturer(s):

Tomáš DVOŘÁK, Václav JANOŠČÍK, Josef Ledvina

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

The lecture series presents to students important chapters in the history of Czech photography. Along with this, it shows the potential application of critical and theory apparatuses of the well-known to first-year students from the Photography History and Theory in a Local Context course and in an analysis of the works of artists.

Mode of study:

lecture

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

none

Course contents:

01. (??/02) Introduction (Josef Ledvina)

Overview of course structure, requirements at the end and study materials.

02. (??/02) Czech Photography of the 19th century (Petra Trnková)

A visit to the archive of the Art History Institutie and presentation of its photograph collection.

03. (??/03) František Drtikol (Josef Ledvina)

František Drtikol is possibly the best known Czech photographers and is of course whose pieces retrieve the highest prices in auctions. The lecture will investigate the rood=ts of this success. Along with this, (and in relationship to it) it will focus on Drtikol's positionas the medium between pictorial symbolism and inter-war modern.

04. (??/03) Jaromír Funke and Jaroslav Rössler (Tomáš Dvořák)

The lecture introduces the work of Jaromír Funk and Jaroslav Rössler with an emphasis on the discussion of abstract and photography without a camera in the Czech Avant garde.

05. (??/03) Josef Sudek through documentary film (Martin Čihák)

06. (??/03) Surrealism in Czech photography (Ladislav Šerý)

The lecture focuses on the position of surrealism in the European avant garde and the genesis of its Czech form from the Devětsil and poetism movements. Avant garde processes are noticeable in the photographic works of Eugena Wiškovsky, Jaromír Funk and Jaroslav Rössler, strict surrealistic approaches are found in the works of Jindřich Štyrsky, Karel Teig and later Vilém Reichmann, Jiří Severa and Emilia Medkova. Emphasis will be place on the surrealistic prinicples and particularly the specific technical steps which mark the photographic works of the mentioned artists.

07. (??/04) The fine position of photography of the 1960s (Katarína Mašterová)

Photography of the 1960s experiments on the threshold of classical types of fine arts. Josef Sudek, in his later original works creates from photos an object (puřidla a veteše). Jan Svoboda develops this principle with references to the painter's canvas. Běla Kolářová, Emila Medková and others work with photography on the edges of new experimental graphic techniques.

08. (??/04) Czech documentary for normalization (Hana Buddeus)

The 1970s and 80s, limited by the historical events - August '68 and the Velvet revolution - were different periods without great historical changes. Therefore, photographers turned their interest to the aestheticizing the normalized everyday, devoting themselves to topics on the perifery of social interest and, of course, documenting the activities of dissent.

09. (??/04) Czech postmoderna (Josef Ledvina)

The lecture presents postmodernism in relation to the particulars of the environment of Czechoslovakia of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s. It focuses on a neopictorial tendency in the work of artists of the so called Slovak New Wave and the „critical postmodern“ in the form of the pair, Lukáš Jasanský and Martin Polák and in self-portraits of the photo series of Václav Stratil.

10. (??/04) Accelerating photography (Václav Janoščík)

It is probably not possible to characterize the stituation of contemporary (Czech) photography. But it is possible to speculate on contemporary realities, in the era of the digital image and information war and inflation of photography, that many artists continue to devote themselves to this media. In examples of contemporary (Czech) artists using photography, we attempt to analyze generally (often unintentioned) link their work and the function of semio-kapitalism. The guide will not be the subject, critique or strategy but time and speed, in which the photos circulate.

11. (??/05) Photography, concept, action (Hana Buddeus)

Conceptual art creates a new space for the application of photography which when appearing in the context of art, often has the character of photo-journalism or amateur photography. In the lecture we will focus on the most important figures of Czech conceptual art and performance, primarily of the 1970s and 80s with emphasis on their approach to documentary photography.

12. (??/05) Close (Josef Ledvina)

Consultations on course paper topics.

Recommended or required reading:

Petr. A. Bílek – Josef Vojvodík – Jan Wiendl (eds.), „A Glossary of Catchwords of the Czech Avant-Garde. Conceptions of aesthetics and the changing faces of art 1908-1958“, Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University: Togga, 2011.

Vladimír BRIGUS – Jan MLČOCH, „Czech Photography of the 20th Century“, Prague: KANT 2010.

Krzysztof Fijalkowski — Michael Richardson — Ian Walker, "Surrealism and Photography in Czechoslovakia.

On the Needles of Days", Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited 2013.

Matthew WITKOWSKY, „Foto. Modernity in Central Europe. 1918-1945“, New York – London: Thames & Hudson 2007.

Assessment methods and criteria:

The exam is in the form of a course paper of at least 10000 characters.

The work will be dedicated to one photographic work or collection of works by a selected Czech artist and the student will apply theory and critical apparatuses with which they have become acquainted in previous instruction in photography history and theory.

Requirement for successful completion of the course:

Submission of the essay and 70% lecture attendance.

Course web page:

Note:

none

Schedule for winter semester 2016/2017:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2016/2017:

	06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu	místnost 112 Učebna KF 112 (Lažanský palác) Ledvina J. 12:20–13:55 (přednášková par. 1)
Fri

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
	Thu	12:20–13:55	Josef Ledvina	Učebna KF 112 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Photography EN - Bachelor (qualification subject)