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JOSEF SUDEK (Czech, 1896-1976) STUDIO OF THE SCULPTOR HANA WICHTERLOV¡ pigment print image: 67?16...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
JOSEF SUDEK (Czech, 1896-1976) STUDIO OF THE SCULPTOR HANA WICHTERLOV¡ pigment print image: 67?16...
JOSEF SUDEK
(Czech, 1896-1976)
STUDIO OF THE SCULPTOR
HANA WICHTERLOV¡
pigment print
image: 67?16 x 83?4 in. (16.4 x 22.2 cm)
paper: 81?16 x 101?8 in. (20.5 x 51.1 cm)
1953
ESTIMATE: $8,000-12,000
PROVENANCE
From the artist to Private Collection, PRAGUE
Private Collection, PRAGUE
LITERATURE
Anna F·rov·, JOSEF SUDEK: THE PIGMENT PRINTS, LOS ANGELES, Cinubia, 1994, pls. 23 and 24 (illustrated)
Anna F·rov·, Ian Jeffrey, Barbara Michaels, Martin Peretz and Katherine Porter, JOSEF SUDEK: SIXTY PIGMENT PRINTS FROM THE ARTIST’S ESTATE, NEW YORK, Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, 1998, pl. 15 (illustrated)
A quick glance at the rich range of gray tones in Josef Sudek’s Studio of
the Sculptor Hana Wichterlov· reveals a hazy, dream-like space that
characterizes the mystery of his post-war photographs. A virtual recluse
after World War II, Sudek surrounded himself with close friends and fellow
artists, creating stunning photographs of still-lifes and the streets, squares and gardens of Prague that belied the troubling political situation in Czechoslovakia.
While the ostensible subject of Studio of the Sculptor Hana Wichterlov· is the artist’s studio, Sudek broke with convention and chose not to depict its interior. Instead, much like his 1950-54 series Windows of My Studio, exterior space commands his attention and contributes to the elusive tenor of the photograph.
Although the artist is absent, the scattered items speak of her presence and the process of artistic creation. Sudek, in fact, often preferred to photograph things rather than people and in conversation with Anna F·rov· in 1975 he spoke of the vitality and power of objects. “I believe that photography loves banal objects, and I love the life of objects. I am sure you know the fairy-tales of Andersen: when the children go to bed, the objects come to life, toys for example. I like to tell stories about the life of inanimate objects, to relate something mysterious: the seventh side of a dice” (JOSEF SUDEK: SIXTY PIGMENT PRINTS FROM THE ARTIST’S ESTATE, NEW YORK, Salander O’Reilly Galleries, 1998, p. 35).