Jan Saudek

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Jan Saudek (b. 13 May 1935, in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech art photographer.

Many of his family died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. Jan and his brother Karel were held in a children's concentration camp near the Polish border. He survived the war and worked for a printer starting in 1950. After completing his military service, he was inspired in 1963 by Steichen's Family of Man to try to become a serious art photographer. In 1969 he traveled to the United States and was encouraged in his work by curator Hugh Edwards. From the late 1970s his international fame began to grow, and the first book on his work appeared in 1983. Following this, in 1984 the Communist authorities allowed him to cease working in a factory, and gave him permission to apply for a permit to work as an artist. In 1987 the archives of his negatives were seized, but later returned. He became recognised in the West as the leading Czech photographer, and developed a following among photographers in his own country.

His work is noted for its hand-tinted portrayal of painterly dream worlds, often inhabited by nude or semi-nude figures surrounded by bare plaster walls or painted backdrops. In this they echo the studio and tableaux work of nineteenth century erotic photographers and the work of Bernard Faucon. Another photographer which can be noted for a similar aproach to composition and theme is Joel-Peter Witkin. His early art photography is noted for its evocation of childhood. His work was the subject of attempts at censorship in the West during the 1990s.

Saudek currently lives and works in Prague.