Jaroslav R飉sler ─ Czech Avant-garde Photographer

Jaroslav Rossler (1902-1990) was one of the Czech avant-garde photographers of thefirst half of the twentieth century whose work has only recently become known outside EasternEurope. Czech photography in the twenties and thirties produced radical modernist works thatincorporated principles of abstract art and constructivism; Jaroslav Rossler was one of the mostimportant and distinctive artists of the period. He became known for his fusing of different styles,bringing together elements of symbolism, pictorialism, expressionism, cubism, futurism,constructivism, new objectivity, and abstract art. His photographs often reduced images toelementary lines and shapes that seemed to form a new reality; he would photograph simple objectsagainst a stark background of black and white, or use long exposures to picture hazy cones andspheres of light. From 1927 to 1935 he lived and worked in Paris, producing work influenced byconstructivism and new objectivity. He used the photographic techniques and compositional approachesof the avant-garde, including photograms, large details, diagonal composition, photomontage, anddouble exposures, and experimented with color advertising photographs and still lifes produced withthe carbro print process. After his return to Prague, he was relatively inactive until the late1950s, when he reconnected with Czech artistic and photographic trends of that period, includinginformalism.This book documents each stage of Rossler's career with a generous selection of duotoneimages, some of which have never been published before. The photographs are accompanied by texts byVladimir Birgus, Jan Mlcoch, Robert Silverio, Karel Srp, and Matthew Witkovsky.

Vladimir Birgus is Professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and Head of the Institute of Creative Photography at Silesian University in Opava. He is the author of numerous books on Czech and European photography, including Photographer Franti?ek Drtikol, Czech Photography of the 1990s, and The Nude in Czech Photography.