JOSEF SUDEK (1906 1976) From the Glass Labyrinth Cycle

Sale 2406 - Lot 145

Price Realized: $ 7,500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000

JOSEF SUDEK (1906-1976)
From the Glass Labyrinth Cycle. Oversized silver print, 11x8 1/2 inches (27.9x21.6 cm.), sheet size 15 1/2x11 3/4 inches (39.4x28.8 cm.), with Sudek's signature, in pencil, on recto. Circa 1968-72

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Additional Details

Sudek specialist Maia Sutnik, who corrected the title and date, provided the following information about this print: "This large and beautifully complex series composed of many mystical elements and hermetic meanings, was Sudek's response to the disheartening criticism he received about his exhibition held at the Czech Writers' House, in 1963.

is photographs were seen as overly refined and his subject matter failed to account for "the people," that is, the working man on the street, which was the Communist regime's prerequisite at the time. On the other hand, Sudek felt the critics lacked judgement and began the 'Labyrinth' series as his antidote to the common perception about art -- and specifically his art.

Taking a cue from his good painter friend Vladimir Fuka, who had used 'Labyrinths' in his titles, Sudek worked in his studio from 1968 to 1972 creating three cycles named Labyrinths: 1. 'Glass ' labyrinths; 2. 'Paper' labyrinths, and revisited earlier work naming them, 3. "Labyrinth + ," an appended descriptive. While he may have used an image from a 1940s negative in the latter cycle, however, this print is from 1968-1972 Glass cycle.