František Drtikol (1883–1961) is one of the most important Czech photographers of the 20th century and one of the most outstanding spiritual personalities of his time. His work underwent a significant development from late Art Nouveau through Art Deco to modernist abstraction. The highlights of his work from the 1920s earned him international recognition.
Life and career
He was born on 3 March 1883 in Příbram, the youngest of three children in a merchant's family. After studying at a real grammar school, he trained as a photographer in the studio of Antonín Mattas in Příbram. In 1901-1903 he studied at the prestigious Institute for Teaching and Research in Photography in Munich, where he was strongly influenced by the late Art Nouveau style.
In 1912, he opened his own studio (together with Augustin Škarda) in Prague at the corner of Vodičkova and Jungmannova Street (No. 730). The studio quickly became one of the centres of Prague's artistic and social life. Drtikol portrayed here the most important personalities of the First Republic and world culture - among others T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Leoš Janáček, Alfons Mucha, Emma Destinnova, Alois Jirásek, Josef Suk, Bohuslav Martinů and Rabíndranát Thákur.
Artistic contribution
Drtikol became the most famous Czech photographer of his time with a strong international reputation. He won the Grand Prix at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Art in Paris in 1925. His work is distinguished by his mastery of light, geometric composition, dynamics and the gradual transition from lyrical pictorialism to modernist expression influenced by cubism, futurism and the art deco style.
Photographic techniques and development
In the early period, Drtikol made extensive use of noble prints (bromoil, gum printing, platinotype, oil printing) and artistically intervened in negatives and positives with retouching and painterly alterations.
After 1921 he switched to a more modern approach: he worked with direct studio lighting, sharp contrasts and geometric props (circles, waves, prisms, ropes). In his final phase (late 1920s - 1935) he experimented with photopurism - abstracted compositions of wooden and paper figures, in which he no longer used live models for the most part.
His most famous works
The Wave (1925-1927) - an iconic composition of a naked body in the shape of a wave
The Dark Wave (1926) - a dramatic variation with strong shadows and deep contrast
Nude with Ring (1927-1928) - a fusion of the human body with pure geometry
Salomé (1923), Step, Supplication (1926) and Mother Earth (1931) - dynamic and symbolic studies of the nude
Buddhist motifs and the late period
Throughout his life Drtikol was intensely interested in various spiritual teachings. He practiced yogic exercises based on Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana and Vajrayana). From the late 1920s onwards, Buddhism became central to his life and work.
In his photographs, the spiritual dimension manifests itself indirectly: the desire to capture the transience of the body and forms, the ephemeral quality of existence, and light as a metaphor for knowledge and enlightenment. The compositions of figures in the Photopurism period symbolically express Buddhist themes such as emptiness (śūnyatā) and the mutability of consciousness.
He sold his studio in 1935, abandoned photography almost entirely, and devoted himself to painting, meditation, and spiritual practice. He moved to a rented villa in Spořilov, where he lived in seclusion as the "Buddha of Spořilov". He became one of the first Czechs to actively practice and teach Tibetan Buddhism. A circle of disciples formed around him, whose lineage continues to this day.
He translated a number of key Buddhist texts into English (often being the first or among the first):
Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thödol)
Yoga of the Great Symbol
The Middle Doctrine of Nagarjuna
The Diamond Sutra and other texts
His own teachings were direct, practical and idiosyncratic - combining strict Buddhist doctrine with an emphasis on the removal of illusion, meditation and full presence in the moment.
František Drtikol died on 13 January 1961 in Prague.
His legacy is best summed up in a quote from his will:
"See that my physical form is forgotten as soon as possible. But do not forget what I have taught you. Let the words I have spoken come alive in you. Otherwise, do not look for me anywhere. I am everywhere. In you, too, in the teaching."