Ateliér Josefa Sudka

Located in the courtyard between two blocks of flats at Újezd 432, Prague, the studio is a little ground-floor pavilion with an area of 61 m². It was declared a cultural monument in 1990 for two reasons. Firstly, it is the last preserved nineteenth-century photographic studio located in a garden, having been moved there from Královské Vinohrady in 1901. The studio is a unique technology monument, and not just in Prague but in the whole country. It is an example of the buildings that were erected during the commercial and art photography boom in the second half of the 19th century. Secondly, it is linked with the life and work of the most important Czech photographer, Josef Sudek, who began using it in June 1927. He not only worked here, but also lived in the studio with his sister (and assistant), Božena Sudková, until he moved to another ground-floor flat, at Úvoz 24, Prague, in 1959, and only Božena remained in the studio. To the end of his life, however, Sudek continued to use the darkroom in this studio.

The studio was of great importance for Sudek, especially at the beginning of his career. It was where his company used to be based and where he carried out most of the work that was ordered from him. When his photography business was closed down during the early years of the Second World War, the studio was no longer just a place for Sudek to work, but was also a source of his inspiration and an object of his art photography. He depicted the studio at all times of the day and year, inside and out, together with the garden with its lush vegetation and the strangely twisted tree that stood in front of his famous window.

In this studio at Újezd in Prague Josef Sudek created several large series such as The Window of My Studio (1940–54), A Walk in My Garden (1944–53), The Garden of My Studio (1950–70), and Still Life on the Window of My Studio (1950–58). These works have achieved global acclaim and so the space in which they were made has also become famous.

The art gallery is geared towards photography and its role in the context of contemporary art. Most of the scheduled exhibitions display photographs created by Czech authors of the younger and middle generations, who work with photography (as a medium) as part of the post-conceptual tendencies of contemporary art.

The programme of exhibitions regularly reflects Josef Sudek’s legacy. Every summer, the gallery’s programme includes at least one photography display that relates either directly to Josef Sudek’s photographs or those of his peers or disciples.

The gallery is solely dedicated to art photography.