Emila Medková,

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Emila Tláskalová (19 November 1928 – 19 September 1985) was a Czech photographer, one of the important exponents of the Czech art photography in the second half of the 20th century. Her work was influenced by

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

. She was the wife of painter

Mikuláš Medek Mikuláš Medek (3 November 1926, Prague – 23 August 1974, Prague) as a painter unites the artistic tradition of over three generations and thanks to the originality of his expression, depth and spirituality of his extraordinary work, he occupies ...

Biography

Medková was born in Ústí nad Orlicí. Her father was a

typographer Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...

and her mother was a seamstress. The family moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, where, in 1942, Emila began to attend the class of the

landscape photographer Landscape photography shows the spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes ...

Josef Ehm Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) * ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film *Musik Josef Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura, and is the only company in Japan spe ...

at a specialized photography school in the Smíchov district of Prague. Her work has been directly linked to Surrealism. In the early period, she joined a circle of young artists centered around

Karel Teige Karel Teige (13 December 1900 – 1 October 1951) was a Czech modernist avant-garde artist, writer, critic and one of the most important figures of the 1920s and 1930s movement. He was a member of the ''Devětsil'' (Butterbur) movement in the 1 ...

. From 1947 to 1951, she and Mikuláš Medek created collections of staged photographs. She married him on 12 September 1951. From the early 1950s, she focused on creating several loosely overlapping thematic cycles that went through her whole career, up to her death. At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, she became a leading exponent of the Czech

Informel Informalism or Art Informel is a pictorial movement from the 1943–1950s, that includes all the abstract and gestural tendencies that developed in France and the rest of Europe during the World War II, similar to American abstract expressio ...

photography. Although she found inspiration mainly in Prague, she created extensive photographic cycles of Paris (1966) and Italy (1967). The life and work of Medková were covered in a monograph designed by art historians Karel Srp and Lenka Bydžovská, curators of her first comprehensive exhibition, held in 2001. Medková gave only one interview in her life. It was initiated by the renowned art historian

Anna Fárová Anna Fárová (1 June 1928 – 27 February 2010) was a Czech art historian who specialized and catalogued Czech and Czechoslovak photographers, including František Drtikol and Josef Sudek. She was one of the pioneers of writing on history of photo ...

and published in 1976 in the magazine ''Československá fotografie'' (Czechoslovak Photography). After the death of her husband (Medek died in 1974), she suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and was partially paralyzed. She died in

"Czechoslovak Photography From 1915 to the 1960s"

From 10 June to 31 August 1992 the Jacques Baruch Gallery in Chicago showed an exhibit called "Czechoslovak Photography From 1915 to the 1960s.” It showed 90 images by 16 photographers with a range of renown and obscurity. Emila Medkova is significant in that she was the only female entry in this male-dominated show.

Solo exhibitions

*1960 Výstavka fotografií Emilie Medkové z let 59 a 60, ''Krajský vlastivědný ústav v budově muzea'', Hradec Králové *1962 ''Galerie Krzywe kolo'',

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

*1963 Photographs 1951-1963, Hluboká nad Vltavou Castle,

Hluboká nad Vltavou Hluboká nad Vltavou (; until 1885 ''Podhrad'', german: Frauenberg) is a town in České Budějovice District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,400 inhabitants. The town is known for the Hluboká Castle. Administra ...

*1963 Emila Medková. Photographs, ''Oblastní galerie'',

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

*1963 Emila Medková - photographs 1951-1963, Vlastivědné muzeum, Písek *1963 Emilia Medková. Abstractions?, Miami Museum of Modern Art,

Miami, USA Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

*1963 Výstava umělecké fotografie E. Medkové, ''Dům osvěty ve stálé výstavní síni v budově Městské knihovny'', Kralupy nad Vltavou *1964 Dům pánů z Kunštátu,

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

*1965 Emila Medková, Divadlo Jednotného závodního klubu ROH, Ústí nad Orlicí *1965 Emila Medková. Fotografie z let 1949-1964., Galerie mladých, Alšova síň, Prague *1966 Emila Medková. Photographs., Miami Museum of Modern Art, Miami, USA *1970 Mikuláš Medek. Emila Medková., Galerie am Klosterstern,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

*1978 Emila Medková, Minigalerie VÚVL (Výzkumný ústav veterinárních léčiv), Brno-Medlánky *1979 Dům pánů z Kunštátu, Brno *1980 Emila Medková. Photographs., Výstavní síň,

Česká Třebová Česká Třebová (; german: Böhmisch Trübau) is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument ...

*1984 Galerie Jindřicha Štreita,

Sovinec Sovinec (german: Eulenburg) is a castle in Jiříkov (Bruntál District), Jiříkov of Bruntál District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It is situated on a cone-shaped hill located in the Nízký Jeseník range. History Lor ...

*1985 Fotochema, Prague *1987 Emila Medková. Photographs., Obvodné kultúrne a spoločenské stredisko Bratislava II, Spoločenský dom Trnávka,

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

*1988 Galerie Jindřicha Štreita, Sovinec *1990 Emila Medková. Začátek a konec iluzí., Galerie V předsálí, KS Blansko *1995 Pražský dům fotografie, Prague *1997 Emila Medková: Surrealistische Fotografie., Tschechisches Zentrum,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany *1997 Emila Medková: Surrealistische Fotografie., LiteraturWerkstatt, Berlin, Germany *2000 Z pozůstalosti, Pražský dům fotografie, Prague *2000 Galerie Franze Kafky, Prague *2001 Ateliér Josefa Sudka, Prague *2001 Dům U kamenného zvonu, Prague *2003 Emila Medková, Dům fotografie, Český Krumlov *2004 Emila Medková - Surreale Sujets der tschechischen Fotografin, Museum Bad Arolsen - Schloss, Germany *2004 Stadtmuseum Hofheim am Taunus, Germany *2004 Galerie der Stadt Tuttlingen,

Tuttlingen Tuttlingen (Alemannic: ''Duttlinga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, ''Möhringen'' and ''Eßlingen'' are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen. Tuttlingen is located in Swabia eas ...

, Germany *2005 Emila Medková - fotografické dílo, Galerie pod radnicí, Ústí nad Orlicí

Selected bibliography

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References

External links