Viktor Kolář Explained

Viktor Kolář (born 7 September 1941) is a Czech photographer. Kolář, along with Jindřich Štreit, is considered one of the most important exponents of Czech documentary photography. In his works, Kolář focuses mainly on depicting urban life in the Ostrava region.[1] [2] [3]

Biography

Kolář was born in 1941 in Ostrava. His father, a self-taught filmmaker and photographer, was the owner of a photo studio and photo shop, an important factor in leading young Viktor to photography.[4] [5]

In 1953, he began taking photographs, and soon familiarized himself with the works of renowned photographers, particularly Henri Cartier-Bresson. From 1960 to 1964, he studied at the Photographic Institute in Ostrava. After that, he taught at an elementary school. From the second half of the 1960s, he decided to devote himself fully to photography. At the same time, he met and befriended the photography theorist Anna Fárová and her husband, painter Libor Fára.[4] In 1964, Kolář presented his works at his first solo exhibition. In October 1968, after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, he emigrated to Canada,[6] where he worked as an assistant in the molybdenum mines and as a worker in the nickel smelters in Manitoba.[7] Later he managed to move into photography. From 1971 to 1973, he participated in documenting shopping malls in Montreal, which resulted in an exhibition in the Optica Gallery, Montreal. In Canada and the US, Kolář met photographers Michael Semak, William Ewing and Cornell Capa. In 1973, however, he returned to Czechoslovakia through Paris and London.[8] His return to the communist country was questioned by state authorities and Kolář was interrogated by police on several occasions.[7] As a former emigrant (and therefore considered unreliable by the regime), he gradually lost the possibility to work as a photographer. At the time of deep "normalization", he worked as a laborer in Nová Huť Steelworks (formerly named after Klement Gottwald). However, he covertly continued his photographic documentation of the Ostrava region. From 1975 to 1984, he worked as a stage technician at the Petr Bezruč Theatre. In 1985, he was allowed to devote himself to freelance photography. In 1991, he received the prize of the Mother Jones Foundation in San Francisco.[9] In 1994, after the Velvet Revolution, he began to teach documentary photography at FAMU in Prague, where he was appointed Associate Professor (in 2000). He also travelled and lectured through the USA.[9]

Selected publications

Collections

Kolář's work is held in the following collections:[10]

Solo exhibitions

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kolář, legendární fotograf Ostravy, vydává knihu. Jaroslav. Baďura. 2 September 2010. Mladá fronta DNES. iDnes. cs. 21 February 2011.
  2. Web site: Viktor Kolář: 40 let "lovu" v Ostravě. Hospodářské noviny. 19 May 2008 . iHNed.cz. cs. 21 February 2011.
  3. Web site: Velkolepé potýkání se fotografa Viktora Koláře s rodnou Ostravou. Chuchma. Josef. 3 October 2010. Mladá fronta DNES. iDnes. cs. 21 February 2011.
  4. [#Ostrava|Ostrava (2010)]
  5. Web site: Europe's dark center, Ostrava. Viviano. Frank. March–April 1994. Mother Jones. 21 February 2011.
  6. Web site: In the Face of History: European Photographers in the 20th Century. Barbican Art Gallery. 21 February 2011.
  7. Web site: Viktor Kolář. Moravian Gallery in Brno. 21 February 2011.
  8. Web site: Czech Documentary and Reportage Photography 1968 – 79. Birgus. Vadimír. Mlčoch, Jan. Stredoeurópsky dom fotografie. 21 February 2011.
  9. Web site: Three Generations of Czech Documentary Photography – Jan Lukas, Viktor Kolář, Evžen Sobek. Leica Gallery Prague. 21 February 2011.
  10. Web site: Viktor Kolář – Bibliography. Viktor Kolář – official website. 21 February 2011.
  11. Web site: Viktor Kolář. Photographs 25. February 2015 – 31. May 2015 . Sprengel Museum Hannover . 23 February 2015.

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