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Josef Sudek
From the Glass Labyrinth Cycle
1968-1972 (ca)
Gelatin silver print
11x8 1/2 ins (27.9x21.6 cm) (image)
Swann Galleries - New York
Art & Storytelling: Photographs & Photobooks, Feb 25, 2016, Sale 2406, Lot: 145
LL/65491
Sudek specialist Maia Sutnik, who corrected the title and date, provided the following information about this print: "This large and beautifully complex series composed of many mystical elements and hermetic meanings, was Sudek's response to the disheartening criticism he received about his exhibition held at the Czech Writers' House, in 1963.
[H]is photographs were seen as overly refined and his subject matter failed to account for "the people," that is, the working man on the street, which was the Communist regime's prerequisite at the time. On the other hand, Sudek felt the critics lacked judgement and began the 'Labyrinth' series as his antidote to the common perception about art -- and specifically his art.
Taking a cue from his good painter friend Vladimir Fuka, who had used 'Labyrinths' in his titles, Sudek worked in his studio from 1968 to 1972 creating three cycles named Labyrinths: 1. 'Glass ' labyrinths; 2. 'Paper' labyrinths, and revisited earlier work naming them, 3. "Labyrinth + ," an appended descriptive. While he may have used an image from a 1940s negative in the latter cycle, however, this print is from 1968-1972 Glass cycle.
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