Josef Sudek (March 17, 1896 Kolín - September 15, Prague)

was an important Czech photographer of Prague motifs, studio arrangements, still lifes, reports, landscapes and advertisements. He started photographing at the age of 17. He created his masterpieces at a mature age - after resigning himself to the influences of modern currents. In the 1930s, his photographs mainly reflected the outside world, and it was not until the 1940s that he found his unmistakable creative form in turn to himself, thanks to which he is also known abroad. At that time, his famous views from the studio window and remarkable still lifes began to emerge, both processed by the contact imprint of negatives of various sizes into positives. Sudek's work was not interrupted by war or post-war external pressure, which forced artists to follow the doctrine of socialist realism. At that time, on the contrary, Sudek returned to pictorialism and in many of his works anticipated the later development of photography for postmodern synthesis, so that it would become a living source of inspiration for future generations. Together with František Drtikol, Jaroslav Rössler and Jaromír Funke, he is one of the most important Czech photographers of the period between the First and Second World Wars. He is also an exceptional avant-garde photographer in Europe.