Bohumil Šťastný (15 June 1905, in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

– 15 June 1991, in Prague) was a Czech photojournalist, a founder of Czech photojournalism. He concentrated mainly on photographic essays, but he created also

still-life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

s, photographs of architecture and advertising photographs. Since the 1930s he was one of the pioneers of the technique of the

color photography Color photography (also spelled as colour photography in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is photography that uses media capable of capturing and reproducing colors. By contrast, black-and-white or gray-monochrome ...

. He used also some elements of the avant-garde methods in his works.

Biography

Šťastný studied at the ''Střední průmyslová škola grafická'' in Prague, and after he finished his studies, he worked at the

Barrandov Studios Barrandov Studios is a set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe. Barrandov has made several major Hollywood productions, including ''Mission: Impossible (film), ...

. Since 1926 he worked as a photographer for the journal ''

Pestrý týden ''Pestrý týden'' was a Czech language, Czech illustrated weekly magazine published from 2 November 1926 to 28 April 1945, during the First Czechoslovak Republic, First and Second Czechoslovak Republics and during the Protectorate of Bohemia and ...

''. In the editorial team of ''Pestrý týden'' he collaborated with

Milena Jesenská Milena Jesenská (; 10 August 1896 – 17 May 1944) was a Czech Republic, Czech journalist, writer, editor and translator. She is noted for her correspondence with the author Franz Kafka and was one of the first to translate his work from the ...

Adolf Hoffmeister Adolf Hoffmeister (15 August 1902 – 24 July 1973) was a Czechoslovak writer, publicist, playwright, painter, draughtsman, scenographer, cartoonist, translator, diplomat, lawyer, university professor and traveller. During the war, he served as ed ...

, Bohumil Markalous and others. Šťastný simultaneously documented Prague culture life, exhibitions etc. Since 1928 he devoted himself to medical photography. During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Šťastný photographed locations of German weapons V-1 and helped to inform Czechoslovak exile government in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He also helped with documentation of the

Prague uprising The Prague uprising () was a partially successful attempt by the Czech resistance movement to liberate the city of Prague from German occupation in May 1945, during the end of World War II. The preceding six years of occupation had fuelled an ...

, his photographs of that event were published in 1946 in the book ''The New Vision'' by

László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by Constructivism (art), con ...

. ''Pestrý týden'' quit all activities in May 1945. Bohumil Šťastný was a member of the ''Czech Photographic Society'' and from 1932 to 1948 he was a chairman of that institution. He died in Prague on 15 July 1991.

External links

Bohumil Šťastný at Pragueout.cz

1905 births 1991 deaths Photographers from Prague Czech photographers {{CzechRepublic-artist-stub