Josef Sudek

One-handed photographer whom even his life-long handicap did not prevent from taking photos as nobody else

Josef Sudek was born in Kolín (1876) and was trained as a bookbinder in Prague. At that time he started taking photos. He began his military service just before the start of First World War and he was only twenty years old when he was seriously wounded in Italian front with a grenade. After the war he studied photography, started his business and gradually he became a popular photographer. He took photos of people, advertisements, Prague architecture as well as landscape mood. He changed many styles and techniques…and finally found his own ´handwriting´.

Josef Sudek belongs to the most significant photographers of his generation, such as Drtikol, Rössler or Funke. Even during his life he was considered a world photographer who influenced many others by his work (from Czech photographers we can name Koudelka or Reich). Yet he did not consider himself an artist – he claimed that a photography was just ´craft that needs a certain taste´. However, we have been charmed by his photos until today. He did not have a hand but his eyes were able to look.