Josef Sudek Euro LF pioneer?

[Christopher Nisperos]

Today is Josef Sudek's birthday. If he were still alive, he'd be 109. Sudek was Czech, and as far as I can tell, he and France's Eugene Atget occupy unique positions in the history of early 20th century photography on the European continent in employing their pure and simple vision using large format photography. To be sure, they weren't the only ones shooting large format ... it's just that they did it better than others at the time.

In the late 1920's/early 1930's while most photographers on the European continent were using small plate cameras and early rollfilm cameras -- and as Leica-mania gained ground -- Josef Sudek, in spite of his grave handicap of being one-armed, was schlepping his large format cameras and tripod through the narrow cobblestone streets and up the steep hills around Prague Castle.

While my post is a bit of a pretext to honor this great, shy and gentle artist, I do have one question: is anyone aware of any other photographers on the European continent during above the mentioned period who used large format as extensively and expressively as the Atget and Sudek (actually, Sudek photographed almost until his death in 1976)? I'm sure I'm missing someone in one the former "Iron Curtain" countries, for example.

Meanwhile, for an interesting bio on Sudek, go to:
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~sawyer/Sudek.htm

[Bill_1856]

That's certainly an interesting observation, if true. And thanks for the link.

[dan nguyen]

Merci beaucoup pour le lien...

Sudek is one of my favorite old-timers....

[Ole Tjugen]

Knud Knudsen started earlier (and stopped earlier too), but he carried a plate camera all over western Norway between 1864 and 1900. He was one of the pioneers of the "artistic landscape" - taking pictures solely for the pictorial content and not to depict the subject. Although the vast majority of his work was of the latter type...

The University of Bergen, Norway has a collection of about 16.000 of his negatives.

[Antonio Corcuera]

Spanish pictorialist photographer, Jose Ortiz Echague (1886-1980) - most of his prints are using the Fresson technique. The University of Navarre has an extensive website on his legacy, which is worth checking out - http://www.unav.es/oechague/

[Christopher Nisperos]

To Bill and Dan, de rien! And to Ole and Antonio, thanks for opening my eyes. I'll look up Knudsen (sounds interesting).
Antonio's link to the University of Navarre's site for Jose Ortiz Echague's work is a revelation! I said to myself, "Wow. This guy was shooting (and printing) 100 years ago a look that, today, we think Salgado invented".

One thing I really appreciate about this forum is that it keeps me humble. No matter how much we (think) we know, we always discover new things here, or refresh our memory. When I was a tech rep for EPOI, Joseph Cooper (Nikon Handbook) once told me, in the simplest of wisdom, "You can't know everything .. that why they make dictionaries".

Anyway, next up, —perhaps on another thread— I'll post some information about Jean Dieuzaide, a French photographer who should be better known (he died a couple of years ago). I must say, his work is a bit maligned in his own country ---by the
Cartier-Bressonians in Paris -- as being banal and uninteresting . . . but then again, they feel the same way about Ansel and most of the West Coast type of photography anyway, so to heck with them.

Any forum participants from Russia? I have a nagging suspicion that somebody there must have done some important large format work in the early part of the 20th century. But I could be wrong. Afterall, with a revolution still fresh in the air, maybe guys (or gals) weren't in the mood to shoot landscapes as the country was in turmoil.

Reminds me of what I told a French photojournalist friend of mine when he paraphrased Cartier-Bresson's snobby remark about the West Coasters ('I don't understand these guys. The world is falling apart and all they can photograph is rocks and trees'). I told him, "Where there is misery and horror, you photograph misery and horror. Where there is the grand beauty of nature all around you, why should look for misery and horror to photograph? Shut up and drink your coffee."

Sorry to get bloggish!

[Antonio Corcuera]

yes, Ortiz Echague's work is extraordinary and hardly known outside Spain. As for Russian masters, I only know Rodchenko, not sure if he did any LF, but he has great pictures like this one: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1998/rodchenko/texts/photography_jpg.html

[CP Goerz]

I still remember this picture of Sudeks from over ten years ago it was a chestnut tree in bloom, it was so #$%^&* perfect. Every tree picture I have ever taken looked harsh and lifeless by comparison...maybe they harsh and lifeless but he showed me how bad I was....THANKS!!!! ;-)

CP Goerz.

[Mark Sawyer]

Please add me to the growing list of Sudek admirers. His is among the most beautifully seen and sensitive photography I know of, especialy that shot around his studio windows.

"...is anyone aware of any other photographers on the European continent during above the mentioned period who used large format as extensively and expressively as the Atget and Sudek "

If you haven't seen Frederick Evans' work in the catherdrals, attics, and barn lofts of England, you're in for a treat. Beautifully printed in platinum, these are the most expressive architectural photographs I know of, (very different from what we automatically think of as "architectural photography" today.) Peter Henry Emerson also did some wonderful things; especially his work on the Norfolk Broads.

[paulr]

"The world is falling apart and all they can photograph is rocks and trees'

I think William Carlos Williams answered him best:

It is difficutl / to get the news from poems / Yet men die miserably every day / For lack / Of what is found there.

There's a lot of great contemporary Czech and Slovak photography ... in some ways very different from Sudek, but all coming from the same surreal/metaphysical/pataphysical tradition. The young guys all consider Sudek to be their patron saint. Jan Saudek got famous for a bit in the 80s, but I like the work of these new guys much more.

My friend Anne Mcdonald introduced me a whole group of them ... she curates this site:

http://www.czechslovakphotos.com/