Detail View: University Art Galleries (UMassD): [Karel Tuma's photographs on display]

JOSEF SUDEK FOTOGRAFIE, PRAHA 1956 Photogravures of Work From 1918-55 - KAREL TUMA: Carnival in Roztoky and Unetice 2006

June 11 - September 10, 2009

2009

University Art Gallery (UMass Dartmouth Galleries)

Lasse B. Antonsen

June 11 - September 10, 2009 This exhibition of 71 photogravures by the Czech photographer Josef Sudek, is a presentation of slightly less than half of the images reproduced in the 1956 book the exhibition takes its name from. When the book was published in 1956, Josef Sudek had been a famous photographer in Czechoslovakia for quite some time, and a well-known figure in Prague where he was seen daily, carrying his large camera and tripod. Josef Sudek was born in 1896 in Kolin, Bohemia, and died in Prague in 1976. Originally trained as a bookbinder, he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army and served in World War I where he was wounded and lost his right arm. During his three-year convalescence in an Army Hospital, he took up photography. The earliest photographs in the exhibition show some of his fellow soldiers and the type of romantic Pictorialist images that he produced early on. Sudek then informally studied for a couple of years with the photographer Jaromir Funke, and the two developed a close relationship with strong mutual influences. Jaromir Funke and Josef Sudek can be seen as representatives of Czech modernism. Both, however, worked in a romantic and poetic mode that blends Pictorialist notions with the severity of modernism, while transforming the ordinary into a stage like presence, often reminiscent of the Surrealists' concern with a metaphysical reality. In the end, both Funke and Sudek developed a highly personal world, rich in complex moods and feelings. Josef Sudek has now become known as "The Poet of Prague. A shy, retiring person, he never married. He was not a recluse, however. He had a large collection of classical and modern music, and held weekly soirees in his studio, where artists and musicians listened to music from his vast record collection. His studio was destroyed by fire a few years after his death, but has now been rebuilt in his honor, and serves as an exhibition space for young Czech photographers work. Like Josef Sudek, Karel Tuma is a chronicler of Prague. However, where Sudek almost always focused on the city as largely empty of people, presenting Prague as a poetic, dreamy, and at times melancholy stage set, Tuma focuses on street life in ongoing series investigating the life of immigrants, gypsies, vagrants and drug addicts. Karel Tuma was born in 1975 in Prague. He was a business major in college. After college he worked as a stage technician at "Na Vinohradech" Theater in Prague. In 2005 he graduated from FAMU, the Film and Television School at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. While at FAMU, his strong social engagement led him to work for the organization "Clovek v tisni" (People in Need), and he became a founding member of the photographic group "Rovnyma nohama" (Straight Legs). Karel Tuma now teaches documentary photography at Charles University in Prague. Roztoky and Unetice are small towns located north and northwest of Prague, in the Czech Republic. The Carnival or Shrove Tuesday celebration featured in the photographs is partially a staged event with actors and puppets, funded by the government, and partially a spontaneous celebration by the local population. Karel Tuma is both a critical and sympathetic observer of the celebrations, expressing nostalgia for a time when he believed a more genuine celebration took place. The photographs show his conflicted attitude. Some images emphasize the pathetic nature of the celebrants, others the innocence and delight of children, and others again, the magical moments when time and ordinary life appear transcended. This is the first exhibition of Karel Tuma's work in this country.

photographs

http://www1.umassd.edu/cvpa/universityartgallery/past/2009/sudek.cfm

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Tuma, Karel

Czech

1975 - present

Karel Tuma was born in 1975 in Prague. He was a business major in college. After college he worked as a stage technician at "Na Vinohradech" Theater in Prague. In 2005 he graduated from FAMU, the Film and Television School at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. While at FAMU, his strong social engagement led him to work for the organization "Clovek v tisni" (People in Need), and he became a founding member of the photographic group "Rovnyma nohama" (Straight Legs). Karel Tuma now teaches documentary photography at Charles University in Prague. Roztoky and Unetice are small towns located north and northwest of Prague, in the Czech Republic. The Carnival or Shrove Tuesday celebration featured in the photographs is partially a staged event with actors and puppets, funded by the government, and partially a spontaneous celebration by the local population. Karel Tuma is both a critical and sympathetic observer of the celebrations, expressing nostalgia for a time when he believed a more genuine celebration took place. The photographs show his conflicted attitude. Some images emphasize the pathetic nature of the celebrants, others the innocence and delight of children, and others again, the magical moments when time and ordinary life appear transcended. This is the first exhibition of Karel Tu

http://www1.umassd.edu/cvpa/universityartgallery/past/2009/sudek.cfm

[Karel Tuma's photographs on display]

photography

photography

2000's

Roztoky and Unetice Carnvial

2013

BC