Vladimír Boudník (17 March 1924 – 5 December 1968) was a Czech

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

. He was a key figure in Czech post-war art and a representative of the "explosionism" movement. He is best known for his active and structural graphic art, but also created mostly photographic and monotype works that, until recently, remained unknown.

Biography

Boudník was born on 17 March 1924 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 ...

. During

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 ...

, he was sent to forced labor in Germany, an experience that resulted in a lifelong trauma. After the war, he attended art school, where he studied printmaking. He spent a brief period working in advertising before getting a job at an ironworks in

Kladno Kladno (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 70,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and has a rich industrial history. Administrative division Kladno consists of six municipal parts ...

, where he met

Bohumil Hrabal Bohumil Hrabal (; 28 March 1914 – 3 February 1997) was a Czech Republic, Czech writer, often named among the best Czech writers of the 20th century. Early life Hrabal was born in Židenice (suburb of Brno) on 28 March 1914, in what was then ...

. In 1952 Boudník, began working for ČKD Works in Prague. The factory environment served as an inspiration for his "active graphics" made of industrial material and waste. Boudník died on 5 December 1968 in Prague. He committed suicide while experimenting with

asphyxiation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are ...

Work

Boudník worked mostly in graphics, and developed a number of innovative printmaking techniques. He was also one of the first Czech artist to begin working with the general public, organizing "happenings" and interacting with psychiatric patients. His work had a large influence on many contemporary Czech artists, especially author

, with whom he shared many years of friendship. Boudník appears in several texts by Hrabal, most notably the novella ''The Gentle Barbarian''. Since 1995, the city of Prague has annually awarded the Vladimír Boudník Award (''Cena Vladimíra Boudníka'') to a living Czech printmaking artist. Notable recipients include

Jan Kubíček Jan Kubíček (30 December 1927 – 14 October 2013) was a Czech painter and printmaker, and one of the most radical Central European exponents of Constructivism (art), constructivist and concrete art, concrete art. He also spent more than a decade ...

. At least five volumes of collected works and correspondence of Vladimír Boudník have been published since the 1990s.

Literature

* ''Něžný Barbar'' (''The Gentle Barbarian''), Bohumil Hrabal, Prague: Petlice 1973 (underground publishing house); Exile edition: Index, Köln, 1981. The novel features Boudník. * Zdeněk Primus (ed.), Vít Havránek, Vladislav Merhaut, Martin Pilař, Jan Rous, Jiří Valoch: ''Vladimír Boudník mezi avantgardou a undergroudem'' /nowiki> ''Vladimír Boudník between the avant-garde and underground'' /nowiki>, 2004, . Monograph tracing Boudník's life and works

References

External links

Artist Vladimír Boudník
ARTLIST- database of contemporary Czech art

Biography in Czech
* Photo gallery of Boudník's paintings :

Portal of Prague, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Boudnik, Vladimir Czech artists Vysočany Circle 1924 births 1968 deaths 1968 suicides Artists from Prague Czech graphic designers Photographers from Prague Suicides by asphyxiation Artists who died by suicide Suicides in Czechoslovakia Czechoslovak World War II forced labourers