The Most Famous
PHOTOGRAPHERS from Czechia
This page contains a list of the greatest Czech Photographers. The pantheon dataset contains 105 Photographers, 4 of which were born in Czechia. This makes Czechia the birth place of the 5th most number of Photographers behind France and United Kingdom.
Top 4
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Czech Photographers of all time. This list of famous Czech Photographers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Josef Koudelka (1938 - )
With an HPI of 58.42, Josef Koudelka is the most famous Czech Photographer. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages on wikipedia.
Josef Koudelka (born 10 January 1938) is a Czech-French photographer. He is a member of Magnum Photos and has won awards such as the Prix Nadar (1978), a Grand Prix National de la Photographie (1989), a Grand Prix Henri Cartier-Bresson (1991), and the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography (1992). Exhibitions of his work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography, New York; the Hayward Gallery, London; the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
2. Jan Saudek (1935 - )
With an HPI of 56.28, Jan Saudek is the 2nd most famous Czech Photographer. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935) is an art photographer and painter. Jan Saudek's art work represents a unique technique combining photography and painting. In his country of origin, Czechoslovakia, Jan was considered a disturbed artist and oppressed by authorities. His art gained more prominence during the 1990s, thanks to his collaboration with the luxury art book publisher Taschen. During the 2000s, Saudek lost all his photo negatives in matrimonial dispute and his pictures are now displayed on internet for free. Jan claims they were stolen from him. Jan is the author of many “mise en scene” that were re-taken and copied by other artists. The cliché of a naked man holding a naked new born baby with tenderness became a picture that was reproduced so many times that the composition became as commonplace as posing for a graduation picture. During his life in communist Czechoslovakia, Jan was labeled by the totalitarian regime as a pornographer. He lived in poverty using the only room in his basement as his studio. A disintegrating wall and a window giving a glimpse into the backyard became the witnesses of his fantasies and collaborations with models of all different sizes and origins.
3. Josef Sudek (1896 - 1976)
With an HPI of 54.11, Josef Sudek is the 3rd most famous Czech Photographer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Josef Sudek (17 March 1896 – 15 September 1976) was a Czech photographer, best known for his photographs of Prague.
4. František Drtikol (1883 - 1961)
With an HPI of 47.45, František Drtikol is the 4th most famous Czech Photographer. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
František Drtikol (3 March 1883 – 13 January 1961) was a Czech photographer known for his nudes and portraits.
Pantheon has 4 people classified as photographers born between 1883 and 1938. Of these 4, 2 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living photographers include Josef Koudelka and Jan Saudek. The most famous deceased photographers include Josef Sudek and František Drtikol. As of April 2022, 1 new photographers have been added to Pantheon including Josef Sudek.
