Joseph Sudek: The Object & Isolation

Josef Sudek (1896-1976)

'Czech photographer Josef Sudek (1896-1976), known as the ‘Poet of Prague’, was drawn to desolate landscapes, simple, solitary objects and the quiet, unpopulated street scenes of Prague, a city to which he dedicated his whole life.' (Huxley-Parlour 2020) Sudek was originally a bookbinder but after fighting in the first world war and losing his right arm he studies photography.  He was expelled from the local camera club for arguing for a more progressive photography that moved away from a pictorialist style. He then set up his own group The Progressive Czech Photography Society in 1924.  Sudek was a shy and retiring person who love his city and became the office photographer of Prague.  people rarely appear in any of his work and between 1940 to 1954 he photographed The Windows of my Studio which were his best known work of still lives and objects within his studio.

I am very interested in the work of Sudek as he created beautiful, poignant still life images that really use light to make an ordinary object extraordinary.  

Josef Sudek, Glass with Flower, 1954

As can be seen from this simple rose stem in a glass the light streams directly through the bottom of the glass making the water in the glass visible and tangible with the bubbles gently exposed.  The flower stem at the top of the glass is then thrown slightly into the shadow but this contrast is a light grey tone and the flower remains clearly visible with the light just gently touching the edges of the flower and stem to emphasis ts shape and texture.  

Josef Sudek, Mé okno (My Window) , 1952

This image is one of my personal favourites, an apple or a peach sits centred on the plate with light falling behind it to emphasize its sumptuous shape.  The window the perfect diffused backdrop covered in condensation from the cold Prague outside and the warm studio inside.  Droplets of water run to make small rivulets down the pane and through these extra light from the outside peaks in.  The composition is created perfectly by the tree outside on the edge framing the window along the left-hand side.  Again it is the use of light and the shades of grey tones that really make this image work and stay with you.  A photograph that stays with you and that you can contemplate again and again without boredom is surely the mark of something great.  This composition and idea I would like to try with own objects inside.  I will be using my Olympus E3 and shooting in black and white for this as I then can really control finely the expose and settings.  I want to use just natural light to these have t taken at the right time of the day and I may have to experiment with timings and the amount of sunlight to ensure that I get the right effect.

Josef Sudek, Chair in Janacek's house, 1972

This window and chair Sudek photographed through time from 1948 onwards so there is a series of thee images that reflect age and time with same window and chair, objects, like people age and transform and I like this idea that the world through the window changes and moves and the chair ages but remains in place, a place to sit and watch the world moving, a chair that has been loved and kept and remains.  Age is strange sometimes you realise something happened 20 years ago and it can seem like yesterday and this melancholy and again beautifully composed image with the light, the trees, the net at the window is an example of capturing time, the moment, this exists here and now forever and in all photographs that sense of belonging in the world is so important. This should exist for eternity.

References

Huxley-Parlour (2020) Joesph Sudek [Online] Available from: https://huxleyparlour.com/artists/josef-sudek/  (Accessed 13/05/20)

28 Vignon Street (2020) Joseph Sudek [Online] Available from: https://www.28vignonstreet.com/fr/artistes/josef-sudek (Accessed 13/05/20)

ICP (2020) Joseph Sudek [Online] Available From: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/josef-sudek?all/all/all/all/0 (Accessed 13/05/20)

How Do I Stay Creative & Productive?

Yoko Ono (1993) Bastet

How did I generate my idea/s for this project? Tell the story….

I began by using an object which originally was a Matryoshka doll - I like the idea at the beginning of looking at identity and this led to the idea of looking at art therapy. Interestingly at the time, I thought that this opening up in a therapeutic way would be good for me, however as events have taken over and things have changed now I am more interested in the object itself and the idea of the object representation.

How did I begin to develop this idea? Did you draw sketches, take pictures, film clips, what experiments did you do?

I started to develop the idea by looking at research but also drawing some bad sketches and taking a few photos to explore. I often use my camera as a pencil - just checking out ideas with a few snaps and seeing where they lead. The photograph often you find something surprising or interesting you weren't expecting within the image and this is what happened with the set of objects they had old fashioned picture quality that made me want to tell a story with these objects

What research have you carried out and how has this assisted you with your ideas and helped you develop them?

I looked at Frida Kahlo, to begin with which is where the bad skec=tches came from - she kind of does these there is a slightly grotesque quality to the sketches to exemplify that inner pain and suffering. Then I looked at Tracey Emin and her art therapy project when she locked herself down in the gallery space for 14 days - I was really interested in that concentrated stream of consciousness type of work as something always emerges from this kind of intensive focus. I also looked at Eve and woman and the weight of creation - I think I felt life might be lying heavy on me at the time!

What is your method of working? Explain how you create focus and space for your creative work?

My method of working is always to start with snaps with the camera - just holding my camera makes me happy - if I am taking pictures I see this as a form of just thinking - it doesn’t necessarily mean I will take a lot of good pictures but I will find what I want in the pictures and it will give me ideas for more serious sets of images and things I could do with those images.  

I do find it hard to create focus and space for my own work when I am teaching and this is why I make the projects as I think it does keep me focussed on things that genuinely interest me in life and I get to explore and look at art and photography and film and writing and all these things give me ideas

What does it matter? Who cares?  What universal meaning is there in your work?

This is a very good question! This blog and the work I do on it I do for the students to show examples and to use a teaching tool by example and I have a teaching methodology that means that I don’t believe in asking students to do things that I have not tried out and completed myself.  

In terms of universal meaning I hope students relate to some of the work and also some of the work I do I think does have a wider meaning but as much off the work I do is conceptual i think it has perhaps a limited audience - I like to think that these are the elite! 

I always do think though that if my work gets out there and it means something to someone I have achieved something and I have shared something that just might have bought a moment of stillness and beauty to their day

Object Therapy

So a few development pictures of some of the 'objects' that live with me....

Here are the contacts..

Now let's have a closer look at the ones that may some future potential!

This one is a good case in point the mannequin is a drawing aid he sits in front of a bunch of 'magic' books ad some concerning De Sade - I advise you all to be concerned about De Sade!  This image has a feel I like to it - it looks like it could be found in an old book and this has set off some other ideas about text and these images in a small book...

This one sits behind me when I am working - a friend gave it to me years ago but I like to feel she is watching over me... her eyes are not hollow - she sees all! I like the Tantrum note at the side on the pinboard.  Again this looks like it could be in an old book just sitting there as an illustrative part of a story

My third favourite from this set a very angry looking Lenin from a Matryoshka doll - he is the tiniest one in the centre.  I like the shadow falling across him - he is probably annoyed I have put him to live near the vegan cookery books and a book on thyroid disease - he is most upset!

Definitely more to come....

Brief Hiatus

An apology for the brief hiatus on my blog.  I have had to take some time out due to a personal loss and it is strange I chose art therapy for this project as it should in theory help however I am certainly not ready to talk about it or explore it through art!

Therefore I am looking at other methodologies and as we started with an object this term I thought I would start with photographing the objects in my house as my first experiment - I have a slight fetishism (I mean this in the magical way - not the sexual one!) for the objects that live with me they are totems, touchstones, basically, I like them about, they keep me company and they remind me of good things, memories, people. I like their materiality, I basically just like it that they exist.

Also, I am a fan of the object that may possess some magical power, hence my earlier posts about the magic fertility figures.  These African totems come in pairs and are considered more magical in pairs - I really did blame my pregnancy on them as I bought them just before I was married and I used to clean them each week - rubbing them and carefully placing them back on the mantlepiece - I was pregnant within the first month of marriage!  Check out this if you don't believe me:

So let's begin again and start my object therapy!  Check out my first images in the next post...

Project Plan: Art Therapy

Check out my project plan for Art Therapy.  This was created on Piktochart.com the link to the poster is here: Art Therapy: Project Plan

Final Show: Moodboard Creation

The concept of a final show is always challenging as all the elements have to really work together consistently to ensure that the work displayed is showcased well.  This requires excellent planning and curation of all elements.  So to begin I have created a moodboard of the kind of colours, typography and framing that I might employ in my own (conceptual) show.

I actually was really quite pleased with this as I really like the greys and I think this work really well with the photographs and other works that I would like to use in the show.  The tagline 'She looked upon her creation and she saw that it was good' I really want to use as I think this will be a great selling point and will emphasise that this is a show by a woman and it will be GOOD!

The typography I want it to be clear and readable using san serif fonts very straight lines.  The wooden black frames should be clean and simple throughout and emphasis the images shown.

I am really looking forward to creating the logo and poster next week as I think this should really come together...

Project Sign Off: Beginning with Eve

I have decided and developed my ideas and now I am adding my project sign off here: Art Therapy Project

To begin I am adding some new work which is just using digital photography and Photoshop:

Again I am just playing with ideas about what I would like to express through this work - I like this idea of the weight of life, - the weight of creation refers to Eve as all women could descend from Eve if you believe this...

Eve Tempted, Manchester Art Gallery

(c.1877)

By John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829–1908)

Although Eve is portrayed as the one who tempts Adam to sin, Eve is 'cursed' by God with the following: I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing, with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you' Genesis 3:16

Here, in my own image, the weight of creation still bears down on womankind and still we bear that weight of the carrier, nurturer and often still considered the weaker sex.  I believe here this is where we are strongest as women do bear weight, a weight that if it was given to the man he may find himself crushed by it!