Vladimír Boudník

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Vladimír Boudník (March 17, 1924 in Prague - December 5, 1968 in Prague) was a key personality in Czech post-war art, manifester of an "explosionism" movement. He is best known for his active and structural graphic art, but also created mostly unknown, until recently, photographic and monotype works.

1 Biography
2 Boudník as an artist
3 Literature
4 External links

[edit] Biography

During World War II Boudník was sent to forced labor in Germany and this experience resulted in lifelong trauma. After the war he studied graphics in an art school. For a short time he worked in advertisement, then picked a job in ironworks in Kladno (here he met Bohumil Hrabal). Since 1952 Boudník stayed as a worker in ČKD Works, Prague. Environment of the factory served as an inspiration for "active graphics" made of industrial material and waste. In 1968 Boudník committed suicide when experimenting with asphyxiation.

[edit] Boudník as an artist

Boudník worked mostly in graphics, and developed a number of innovative printmaking techniques. He was also one on 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 Bohumil Hrabal, with whom he shared many years of friendship. Boudník appears in several novels by Hrabal.

Since 1995, the city of Prague has annually awarded the Vladimír Boudník Award (Cena Vladimíra Boudníka) to a living Czech printmaking artist.

At least five volumes of collected works and correspondence of Vladimír Boudník were published, for the first time, during the 1990s.

[edit] Literature

Něžný Barbar (meaning Gentle Barabarian), Bohumil Hrabal, Prague: Petlice 1973 (Anti-communist secret publishing house); Exile edition: Index, Koeln, 1981. The novel features Boudník.

Zdeněk Primus (ed.), Vít Havránek, Vladislav Merhaut, Martin Pilař, Jan Rous, Jiří Valoch: Vladimír Boudník mezi avantgardou a undergroudem [ Vladimír Boudník between avant-garde and underground ], 2004, ISBN 80-86010-77-5. Monography tracing Boudník's life and works. [1]