The Josef Sudek Studio (Czech: Ateliér Josefa Sudka) is a gallery bearing the name of the renowned Czech photographer Josef Sudek. This single-storey pavilion[1] of only 61 square metres and located in the courtyard of the apartment buildings at no. 432 Újezd, Prague, is a replica of the original that Sudek used from 1927 to 1976. In 1990, the studio was listed as a national heritage site.[2]
Studio
This is the last existing example of this kind of photography studio built at the end of the nineteenth century.[citation needed] It was moved here in 1901 from what would later become the Prague district of Vinohrady. This kind of building was erected in the second half of the nineteenth century thanks to the boom in commercial and art photography. It is a unique piece of the national heritage not only in Prague, but in the whole Czech Republic.[3]
For Sudek the studio was not merely a place to work. It was also a source of inspiration and a frequent subject of his art photography. He photographed it at all times of the day and night and in every season, inside and outside, together with the neglected garden, particularly the strangely twisted tree in front of his now famous studio window.[4]
In 1985, a fire broke out in the studio, destroying the already derelict space. What remained after the firefighters had put out the blaze was unusable. The only solution was to make an exact replica of the original.[5]
A partner on the project and an investor in the construction and subsequent operation of the replica studio was PPF Art,[6] part of the PPF Group investment company. The replica studio was built in 2000 under the aegis of the then mayor of Prague, Jan Kasl, with the participation of the photography historian Anna Fárová, the Borough of Prague 1, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, CMC Architects, Květinový servis, Konstruktiva Branko, Terra Floridus, and Gema Art.[7]
PPF Art operates several art galleries and is the curator of unique collections, including Czech and Slovak photography. The basis of the photography collection is the photographs of Josef Sudek, including a set of photographs salvaged from his burnt-out studio. In addition to the Josef Sudek Studio, PPF Art also operates The Václav Špála Gallery and is the curator of a collection of paintings (and other works of art), which provides a cross-section of Czech painting from the late nineteenth century to the present.[8]
