Josef Sudek

"During a legendary career that spanned 60 years, twentieth-century Czech photographer Josef Sudek demonstrated a craftsmanship and technical virtuosity that was unparalleled among his contemporaries. HIs approach to photography, characterized by its representation of light, still resonates today. Early in his career, Sudek was aware of Cubism, Surrealism, the Czech avant-garde and other prevailing art movements of the 1920s and 1930s, yet he ultimately sought his own form of expression. HIs photographs possess a contemplative quality, infusing ordinary subjects with poignancy and transforming his observations into timeless visual poems. The Legacy of a Deeper Vision presents more than 175 photographs from the Art Gallery of Ontario's collection, and takes us on a complex autobiographical journey of Sudek's art, life and indomitable spirit. This catalogue features essays from the foremost writers on Sudek's work, including photo-historian and curator Antonín Dufek, Canadian Art editor Richard Rhodes, photographer Goeffrey James and AGO curator Maia-Mari Sutnik. It also contains excerpts from John Banville's Prague Pictures: Portraits of a City and a chronology of this remarkable photographer by the late Anna Fárová, to whose memory the exhibition is dedicated. These photographs cover every stage of Sudek's career, revealing his imagination, versatility and a lifelong quest for mastery of his photographic vision."--Page 2 of cover.