Frantisek Drtikol

pigment print, the photographer's blindstamp on the image, signed and dated in pencil on the mount, signed, titled, and annotated in ink and with a 1927 Salon International d'Art Photographique, Béthune, France, exhibition label on the reverse, framed, Buhl Collection and Guggenheim Museum exhibition labels on the reverse, 1927

Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, 1997

Béthune, France, Salon International d'Art Photographique, 1927

New York, Guggenheim Museum, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection, June - September 2004, and 4 other international venues through 2007 (see Appendix 1)

Palm Beach Photographic Centre, In Good Hands: Selected Works from the Buhl Collection, March 2011

Middletown, Delaware, Warner Gallery at St. Andrew's School, In Good Hands: Selected Works from the Buhl Collection, October - November 2011

Jennifer Blessing, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection (Guggenheim Foundation, 2004), pp. 119 and 212 (this print)

This print has all of the richness and presence characteristic of pigment prints. Drtikol was a master of this exacting printing technique, and his skill at rendering his own images in this medium is evident in this print. The dark areas have great depth, and the highlights a creamy tonality. The print is essentially in excellent condition. Close examination shows some minor wear on the edges. The print is lifting slightly from the mount in the lower left corner. The mount is somewhat soiled. It is creased near the lower left corner, but this does not affect the print. Drtikol has titled the print on the reverse of the mount in French, presumably in deference to the Béthune, France, exhibition venue. Some slight paper remains on the reverse of the mount suggest that another exhibition label may have been removed. Also on the reverse, Drtikol has identified the print as "pigment," numbered it "VII.," and given his address as follows: "Praha II, Vodickova ul. 7, Tchecoslovaquie." The numbers "25-8" have been written in blue crayon on the reverse, as well.
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Few photographers explored the genre of nude photography as extensively as Czech photographer Frantisek Drtikol.  Drtikol’s nudes ranged from sublime and atmospheric Pictorialist studies to phantasmagoric, modernist abstractions.  The present photograph belongs to a series of dramatically-lit nudes created in the late 1920s that demonstrate Drtikol’s masterful use of lighting to create deep and ominous shadows.  The theatricality and emotion of this image is entirely conveyed by the sitter’s hands, which push away an unseen horror. 

Drtikol was a master of the pigment process, and here he uses it to great effect, creating rich dark tones and subtly modulated midtones.  The present photograph is an exhibition print.  At the time of this writing, no other prints of the image have been located.