In 1922 and 1923 he studied at the State School of Graphic Art with Karel Novack. In 1924 he helped found the avant-garde Czech Photographic Society.
Sudek started his own photographic business in 1928 and took on a variety of commercial and portrait assignments. In 1940 he discovered the quality of large format contact prints. In 1961 he became the first artist to receive the “Artist of Merit” award from the Czech government.
Sudek once stated, “I believe that photography loves banal objects…I like to tell stories about the life of inanimate objects, to relate something mysterious. If you take photography seriously you must get interested in another art form.”