01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Jan Saudek's Deep Devotion of Veronika, with Footnotes - #51

Jan Saudek, Czech, b. 1935

Deep Devotion of Veronika (My First Portrait of Veronika Schiele), c. 1995

Gelatin silver print with hand coloring

22.44 x 19.69 in. (57 x 50 cm.)

Private collection

Jan Saudek 's compositions evoke the dramatic tableaus of early photography, with subjects artificially posed in front of the viewer. For many years, Saudek’s work remained underground in Prague as it would have garnered the attention of the secret police for its depiction of nudity and overt eroticism; at the time. His work has been exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY, and the Getty in Los Angeles, CA. More on this work

Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech art photographer and painter. 

According to Saudeks's biography, he got his first camera, a Kodak Baby Brownie, in 1950. He apprenticed to a photographer and in 1952 started working as a print shop worker, where he worked until 1983. In 1959, he started painting and drawing. After completing his military service, he was inspired in 1963 by the catalogue for Edward Steichen's The Family of Man exhibition, to try to become a serious art photographer. In 1969, he traveled to the United States and was encouraged in his work by curator Hugh Edwards.

Returning to Prague, he was forced to work in a clandestine manner in a cellar, to avoid the attentions of the secret police, as his work turned to themes of personal erotic freedom, and used implicitly political symbols of corruption and innocence. From the late 1970s, he became recognized in the West as the leading Czech photographer. In 1983, the first book of his work was published in the English-speaking world. The same year, he became a freelance photographer as the Czech Communist authorities allowed him to cease working in the print shop, and gave him permission to apply for a permit to work as an artist. More Jan Saudek

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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