Saudek’s work collectively has been largely a part of the popular culture.

His work was the victim of censorship attempts in west during 1990s.

The themes often seen in Jan Saudek’s works are as follows: childhood evocation, child to adult evolution, and the ambiguity involving men and women often caused by religious reasoning. Saudek’s most popular work is his hand-tinted depiction of worlds of dreams inhabited by nude figures surrounded by walls. Eventually, all the barriers were cleared and he was free to work the way he wanted to.įrom 1977, he began using color tints and the technique of hand painting in his work. Also in 1987, the negatives of his photographs were detained by the police for some time.

Saudek started doing photography as a freelancer since he was stopped by the Czech Communists to work for the print shop and was not allowed to work as an artist. It was not until the 1970s that steadily the West began to recognize him as a top photographer from Czechoslovakia. This was because he couldn’t afford to take the risk of getting caught by the secret police, as the themes in his work revolved around political corruption, innocence and erotic freedom. When he returned to Prague, it became crucial for him to work in an underground cellar. Six years later, he went to the United States where Hugh Edwards, a curator motivated and encouraged Jan Saudek in his work. In 1963, he gained inspiration from a catalog of an exhibition, Steichen’s The Family of Man, in order to become a dedicated art photographer. In addition to this, he engaged himself in drawing and painting. It was an image of a grown up man cradling a baby while standing. After three years, Saudek shot a famous photograph titled Life. During his job, in 1959 Saudek gained photography experience through the 6×6 Flexaret camera. He did his apprenticeship with a photographer and then he began working for a print shop from 1952 until 1983. Moving away from his dreadful youth years, Saudek bought his first Baby Brownie camera by Kodak, in 1950. Saudek, his brother and his father survived the concentration camp, however several other people from his family died in Theresienstadt concentration camp. In Czechoslovakia he strived through his youth during WWII where Jews were the victims of German’s persecution.

Jan Saudek was born in Prague in 1935 to a Jewish father.

Jan saudek images