The exhibition Czech Fundamental is organized by gallery Photo Edition Berlin in collaboration with Museo di Roma in Trastevere and Centro Sperimentale di Fotografia, Rome. The exhibit engages the viewer in a dialogue between old and new - Czech photography from the very beginnings of the avant-garde in the 1920s, to a broad selection of contemporary artists whose works exhibit an individual, authorial or experimental approach to the medium. Featured are photographs fundamental to the development of a specifically Czech vision - Frantisek Drtikol's nudes, Jaroslav Rossler's and Jaromir Funke's contemplative compositions, surreal arrangements by Vaclav Zykmund and Josef Sudek's poetic still-lifes. The exhibition presents Constructivism, Surrealism and New Objectivity from 1920 - 1945. The second section pr...
From Surrealism and other avant-garde experimentation to realism and classic photo reportage, Czech photographers have long played a key role in all areas of photography and continue to do so to this day.
This exhibition is the first in Germany to present the history and development of Czech photography from 1900 to the turn of the millennium. Beginning with Art Nouveau-inspired pictorialism, the comprehensive survey traces the rise of avant-garde photography and the development of photo montage in the 1920s to the 1940s. It examines the influence of ideological pressure on photography during the Second World War, the Stalinist 1950s and the period of Communist 'normalisation' after the occupation in 1968 and introduces the visitor to the multifaceted range of contemporary trends.
With more than 440 photographs alo...