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About the Czech photographer František DRTIKOL (1883-1961)
After an apprenticeship as a photographer at the Antonin MATTAS studio in Příbram, František DRTIKOL attended the Teaching and Research Institute for Photography in Munich from 1901 to 1903 (later the Bavarian State Teaching Institute for Photography, from 1990 the State Academy for Photo Design in Munich). He ran his own studio from 1907 to 1935. In 1945/46 he was a professor at the School of Graphic Arts in Prague. His work focused on nude photography in the Art Deco style. His early works show the influence of Prague Symbolism and 'Art Nouveau'. He gave up photography before the Second World War and devoted himself to painting. František DRTIKOL died in 1961; only recently has his work regained a high status in the history of Czech photography.
Photo books with works by František DRTIKOL
- 'Fotograf František Drtikol' (1972); 'Photograph des Art Deco' (1986, 1993); 'Tschechische Avantgarde-Fotografie 1918-1948' (1999); 'Lehrjahre, Lichtjahre. The Munich School of Photography 1900-2000' (2000); 'Czech Vision. Avantgarde Photography in Czechoslovakia' (2007); 'Drtikol - Photography' (2012)
Exhibitions
- 1924: Group exhibition at the Royal Photographic Society, London;
1925: 'Exposition internationale des Arts Décoratifs', Paris;
1972: Retrospective, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague;
1984: 'Czech Photography 1918-1948', Museum Folkwang, Essen;
1999: 'Modern Beauty. Czech Avant-garde Photography 1918-1948', Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, Mission du Patrimoine photographique, Paris, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona and Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne.
2004: 'Photographs from 1918-1935', Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague;
2009: 'Czech Photography of the 20th Century', Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn;