Jan Svoboda: I'm Not a Photographer

Svoboda sought to redefine the language and perception of photography, deconstructing the process and form, playing with subject matter and presentation and considering the medium in relation to painting and sculpture, and within the traditions of Symbolism, Romanticism and Modernism.  His self-reflective, speculative works paved the way for wider experiments with photographic appropriation and mark him out as a pioneer of conceptual photography.  

After training to be a stage designer, Jan Svoboda began experimenting with photography in the late 1950s, initially using it to illustrate his own poetry before focusing on it as a primary concern. Hugely inspired by fellow Czech photographer, Josef Sudek, Svoboda’s early work similarly focused on systematic observations of Prague, as in the series, View of the Gasworks (1957-58), as well as encompassing metaphysically charged still lifes.

 

Title: I'm Not a Photographer
Publisher: Moravska Galerie, 2015
Author: Jiří Pátek
Photographer: Jan Svoboda
Graphic Design: Robert V. Novák
Format: Hardcover
Size: 27 x 21 cm, 295 pages
ISBN: 9788070272916
Edition: -