Frantisek DrtikolZena ve Svetle: Vyber 46 Aktu

Photographs: Frantisek Drtikol

Text: J R Marek

Publisher: Nakladatelstvi E. Beaufort A.S,

62 pages

Pictures: 46

Year: 1930

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(Women in Light. 46 Selected Nudes)

This work is Drtikol's seminal collection of nude studies. "Although influenced early in his career (while studying photography in Munich) by the decorative trend of Jugendstil or Art Nouveau, Drtikol moved, with Žena ve Světle, into his own modernist style of photography that prefigured and influenced the emerging Bauhaus aesthetic. He built sets and props out of plywood and used an arc lamp to cast strong shadows. The graphic presentation of the book is striking with the gum prints on thin paper, one to a page, set off by large page numbers. By 1935 Drtikol was creating wholly abstract works, in which the nudes were replaced by figurines or geometric shapes made from painted plywood. At age 52, at the peak of his international fame, Drtikol abandoned photography altogether to concentrate on painting, meditation, and oriental philosophy until his death in 1961."

(Andrew Roth, The Book of 101 Books, page 64ff.) (Parr/Badger, Vol. 1, page 79)

Hardcover under an illustrated jacket. 24,8 x 17,1 cm. Text in Czech. B&W photographs beautifully reproduced in gravure. The book itself is in very good condition. The extremely scarce jacket has been professionally restored cause some part were missing.

Referenced in: The Photobook: A History - Volume I