Momento Mori
X.044.03
In 1910 Drtikol opened his own studio in Prague, where he quickly established himself as a prominent artist and famed portraiture photographer. His clientele included many of the most notable public figures of the day and within a decade his studio was famous throughout Europe.
Portraiture was the means by which he supported his studio and made a comfortable living, but Drtikol made his name as an artist through his nude studies in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles during the 1920’s and 1930’s.
In 1935 Drtikol abruptly stopped shooting photographs and devoted his time to painting and the study of Buddhism. He sold all his prints and negatives and never again took up the camera.
He gradually drifted into obscurity. His work fell out of fashion and by the time of his death in 1961, Drtikol was relatively unknown. It wasn’t until a decade or so after his death that art historians began to re-examine his work and his role in shaping modern photography.
From a portfolio entitled Drtikol, containing 9 silver gelatin contact prints that were made from vintage large-format, glass-plate negatives of Frantisek Drtikol, which date between 1900 and 1935. The majority of the images are female nudes. The portfolio is from a limited edition of 100 copies, and it was published in 1977 by the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House (Rochester, NY).