CZECH FUNDAMENTAL
Czech avant-garde and contemporary photography 1920 - present
27.05. – 19.07. 2015
Opening reception: Tuesday 26. 05. 2015 at 6 pm

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 presents Art Informel, Surrealism, Minimalism from the Post-war era to the 1970s. Staged Photography, Postmodernism and New Experimentation from the 1990s forms the third and final section, featuring the very different modern and contemporary visions of Czech and Slovak photographers who became prominent in the 1990s. They represent the last mature generation not absorbed into globalization and digitalization, a phenomenon which has made all but impossible the presentation of photography - as Czech - in the decades following.

Over 180 works by 43 photographers are presented in 3 sections and include the artists (among others):
1. Origins of the Avant-garde 1920-1945
Constructivism, Poetism, Surrealism, New Objectivity
Frantisek Drtikol, Jaroslav Rossler, Jaromir Funke, Eugen Wiškovský, Milos Korecek, Vaclav Zykmund, Ladislav Emil Berka.
2. Post-war to 1970s
Surrealism, Minimalism, Art Informel
Josef Sudek, Vilem Reichmann, Miroslav Hak, Jan Svoboba, Emila Medkova, Eva Fuka, Bela Kolarova, Milota Havrankova, Miroslav Tichy.
3. Photography at the beginning of a new era - the 1990s:
Staged Photography, Postmodernism, New Experimentation
Jan Saudek, Aleš Kuneš, Suzanne Pastor, Nadia Rovderova, Jiri Sigut, Eliška Bartek, Stepan Grygar, Miro Svolik, Tono Stano, Peter Zupnik, Ivan Pinkava, Pavel Banka.

Curators of the Project:
It is curated by Gunther Dietrich, director of gallery for contemporary photography Photo Edition Berlin and Suzanne Pastor, Prague, after a first successful exhibition in the Berlin gallery in 2012.
Gunther Dietrich
PHOTO EDITION BERLIN
gallery for contemporary photography
Ystaderstr.14a, D- 10437 Berlin

Suzanne Pastor
Suzanne Pastor has lived and worked in the Bohemian capitol for well over 20 years, after living ten years in
Germany where she was confronted for the first time with Czech photography at the Rudolf Kicken Gallery in Cologne. She came to Europe in 1980 after working at the George Eastman House museum in Rochester, NY, to study in Kassel with Floris Neusüss and Klaus Honnef. She moved to Prague in 1990 to establish / found Prague House of Photography, where she worked as director and curator while continuing to be active in numerous other activities such as collecting, writing, lecturing and art-making.

Co-Curators and Project coordination of the Exhibition in Rome:
Gabriele Agostini c/o
Associazione Culturale
Centro Sperimentale di Fotografia adams
Sedi: Via Biagio Pallai 12 – Via Giovanni Vestri 28 00151 Roma

Museo di Roma in Trastevere
SILVANA BONFILI Curatrice Storica dell’Arte
Responsabile Museo di Roma in Trastevere Sovrintendenza ai Beni Culturali Roma Capitale