Karel Cudlín (born 28 June 1960) is a Czech photographer.

Career

Cudlín was born in Prague and started taking photographs in his teens. Borrowing his father's

Exakta The Exakta (sometimes Exacta) was a camera produced by the ''Ihagee Kamerawerk'' in Dresden, Germany, founded as the Industrie und Handels-Gesellschaft mbH, in 1912. The inspiration and design of both the VP Exakta and the Kine Exakta are the w ...

and supported by his uncle, a photography enthusiast, Cudlín soon started photographing the

Romani people {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

Žižkov Žižkov ( or ''Zizkow'', between 1939 and 1945 ''Veitsberg'') is a cadastral district of Prague, Czech Republic. Most of Žižkov lies in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 3, except for very small parts which are in Pra ...

, the suburb where he lived. Cudlín attended a social work school that, combined with a short stint in a low-grade job, provided him with the proletarian credentials needed to join the Fotografia cooperative. The cooperative sent him to a ballroom in the Lucerna area where he overcame considerable technical difficulties in photographing young people at night. A third area that he explored was Communist Party rituals. After a year at Lidová škola umění, Cudlín was in 1983 admitted to FAMU, which was very free by

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

n standards of the time. He graduated in 1987, and soon found work at the weekly ''

Mladý svět ''Mladý svět'' ("young world") is a popular weekly magazine published in Czechoslovakia from 1959 until 1989, and later in the Czech Republic until 2005, when it was merged into the magazine ''Instinkt''. It contained photographs, editorials, ...

''. During the summer of 1989, Cudlín made a cycle of photographs depicting

East Germans East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

escaping from their country with the help of the

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

embassy in Prague. Following the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

and subsequent democratization of Czechoslovakia, he embarked on a series of relationships with other Czechoslovak media sources, among them the newspapers '' Prostor'' and ''

Lidové noviny ''Lidové noviny'' (''People's News'', or ''The People's Newspaper'', ) is a daily newspaper published in Prague, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily still in print, and a newspaper of record. It is a national news daily covering po ...

'' and the ČTA agency. After ČTA closed in 1996, Cudlín became a freelance photographer. Additionally, he has worked as one of the personal photographers of the former

Czech President The president of the Czech Republic, constitutionally defined as the President of the Republic (), is the head of state of the Czech Republic and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The presidency has largely bee ...

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

. Cudlín's new themes included refugees, Israel, the lingering Soviet forces within Czechoslovakia, Valdice prison, and, by accident,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

(a putsch had interrupted Cudlín and Vojta Dukát's plan to go to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

). He has continued with a small number of long-term projects (Ukrainian workers in Prague, hypermarkets), photographed in black and white.

Awards

Cudlín has won seven awards in the major photographic competition in the Czech Republic,

Czech Press Photo Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

Notes

Books of Cudlín's works

*''Photographie.'' Prague: Torst, 1994. *(With

Jindřich Marco Jindřich Marco (10 May 1921 – 20 December 2000) was a Czech photographer and numismatist. As a photographer, he is best known for documenting the state of several central European cities shortly after the Second World War, the hardships of th ...

.) ''Izrael (50).'' Prague: Argo, 1998. . *Silverio, Robert. ''Karel Cudlín.'' Prague: Torst, 2001. Text in Czech and English. *(With Pavla Jazairiová.) ''Izrael a Palestina, Palestina a Izrael.'' V Praze: Radioservis, 2001. . *(With Tomki Němec.) ''Havel - fotografie = Havel - photographs.''

Liberec Liberec (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 108,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse River, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preserved and is pr ...

: Knihy 555, 2002. . *(With Monika MacDonagh-Pajerová.) ''Portrét české společnosi na prahu Evropy = Portrait of Czech society in the threshold of Europe.'' Brno: Petrov, 2004. .

External links

Cudlín's site
(requires Flash)

detailed essay to accompany a 2004 exhibition at the

Jewish Museum in Prague The Jewish Museum in Prague () is a museum of Jewish heritage in the Czech Republic and one of the most visited museums in Prague. Its collection of Judaica is one of the largest in the world, about 40,000 objects, 100,000 books, and a copious a ...

Interview with Cudlín
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cudlin, Karel 1960 births Photographers from Prague Living people Portrait photographers Academy of Performing Arts in Prague alumni