Josef Sudek

Vintage silver print. With the photographer's stamp and annotations in pencil in an unknown hand on the reverse.

Sale: Swann, New York, 21 October 2008, lot 191
Stephen Cohen Gallery, California

This print is in overall good to very good condition. With two very light surface scratches in the bottom right quadrant, and very minor handling marks throughout the print, only visible in raking light. With an area of discolouration to the paper in the top left corner, and some light creases and bumps to the sheet in the margins. There are remnants of tape along the top edges on the reverse. Presented framed, glazed, and in a white mount.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

As for most photographers, Sudek’s photography was a reflection of his inner eye, his personal taste and his relationship with the surrounding world. His enduring fascination with light, and its absence, is at the root of some of the most haunting photographs of the twentieth century. He was willing to wait for hours, sometimes days to capture light at a particular angle.

As a photographer, he was also particularly concerned with the quality of the photographic print, which is an essential component in terms of the expressive potential of an image. He pushed photography beyond its preoccupations with painterly and modernist styles to explore his own particular form of romanticism. Sudek’s mastery of the pigment printing process enabled him to produce highly atmospheric and evocative images, thereby reaping all of the reflective and descriptive power of the gelatin silver print.

Prague during the first half of the twentieth century was a veritable hub of artistic activity, and Sudek had been drawn to photography from his early teens. The loss of his right arm during the First World War and the difficulties he now encountered in transporting photographic equipment did not deter him. In the decades during which Sudek took photographs he returned to the same subjects, forming extensive series that came to be among his most famous works. His own studio was one such inspiration. “Sudek’s studio window became an object of abiding fascination—rather like the surface of a canvas—reflecting moments of exquisite tenderness and hope when a flowering branch brushed against its pane, or of poignant melancholy when he observed the world beyond his window transformed by the playful infinity of mist.’’  (Ann Thomas & Vladimir Birgus, The Intimate World of Josef Sudek, Paris, 2016). Sudek had his first solo exhibition in Prague in 1933, and in 1936 his work was shown alongside that of László Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, and Alexander Rodchenko at the city's International Photography Exhibition.