His works became covers of several music albums.įig. During his career, Saudek released dozens of publications.

Jan Saudek appears to be a witness of decadent scenes of the XIX-XXth centuries in his modest basement studio. Saudek’s photographs seem to be a dark carnival world of Dostoevsky’s novels with child prostitution and consumptive blush. The topics are the man and woman relationship, sex, nudity, flagellation, suicide, teen sexuality, male dominance, etc. The same poses are repeated with different characters: adults or kids. Saudek’s works contain some recurring motifs and compositions. During the 2000s, Saudek’s lost his photo negatives, so his pictures are being displayed on the web for free.įig. In the 1990s, Saudek collaborated with Taschen, which allowed him to be more notable in the artistic world. The first book of his photographs was published in 1983 when he became a freelance photographer. In the late 1970s, his works start gaining popularity in the Western world. Its’ modesty can be seen in lots of Saudek’s pictures. Saudek lived in poverty, and his studio was a room in a basement. At that time, he was considered by authorities as a pornographer. ‘ The Deep Devotion of Veronika‘ ()Īfter the return to Prague, Saudek had to work secretly not to attract the local police. By the end of the 1960s, he traveled to the USA and attended the Art Institute of Chicago.įig. Since that time, he began studying and working to become a professional photographer. His photographic activity stopped being a hobby in 1963 after he had seen the catalog of the exhibition of the American photographer Edward Steichen (“The Family of Man”).

In the 1960s, he underwent military service. Being forced by the government, he started working in a print shop. Saudek often makes his shots in sepia or b&w colors, but even hand-colored photos reminding of vintage works seem disturbing, partly due to their soviet surroundings with scuffed walls and carpets everywhere.Īt the beginning of the 1950s, Saudek was an apprentice of a photographer. Despite being prolific, the photographs made by a holocaust witness living in his youth under a Soviet regime have a dark shadow on them.

Saudek began his career as a photographer in 1950 when he bought his first camera Kodak Baby Brownie. The mother died in a camp, but the father was left alive by a miracle as his sons. Jan Saudek and his twin brother Kaja Saudek, being born in the family of a Czech mother and Jewish father, survived the holocaust. Jan Saudek, early 2000s () The Camp and the Camera Saudek treats the color as a way to accentuate details, like model make-up or her veins.įig. The Czech photographer Jan Saudek (born 1935) creates his sensual hand-colored daguerreotypes today, using the photograph as a sketch. In October, we’ve published an article devoted to pornographic daguerreotypes of the 19th century.

Saudek photography