Jan Saudek

May's featured artist is my all time favourite photographer, Jan Saudek, from the Czech Republic.
Saudek's style is a mixture of the grotesque and the sublime, using hand tinted or monochrome images to portray his own perspective on the human condition, and whilst I don't really appreciate all his work, I find his figurative work appeals both to my sense of ambience and to my baser instincts. I have two books by Saudek. One is only a Taschen I bought here in Århus but the other is a Czech book I bought at an exhibition of Saudeks photographs in Prague in 1995.
If I recall correctly, then this was also my first contact with Saudek's work and at the time I was more than a little disapointed with Prague for I had hoped to see Alphonse Mucha's 'Slav Epic' which according to my books was to be found, on display in the Czech capital, but which I found no trace of.

Finding a gallery of Saudek's photography however (and a visit to Mucha's grave) soon put me back in a good mood. Fortunately for me I still had enough money to buy one of the book's they had at the gallery. There was a second, larger and much more expensive book which I was tempted to just grab and run off with, but which I promised myself I'd buy later on. I dutifully noted its ISBN number, but later I found no match for it so I never got that second treasure.

The image of a girl which decorates my side bar is an 'homage' to Saudek I did the year after I discovered him.
Saudek (and his twin brother) share their birthday with my brother Peter.

Wikipedia: Jan Saudek