Jaromír Funke (1896–1945) is one of the pioneers of modern photography. In 1922 he embarked on a road to abstraction which culminated in conceiving his own “ism” – photogenism. He also reflected upon Cubism, created model examples of New Objectivity and Constructivism, and had an affinity with the Bauhaus. During the 1920s he was one of the first to adopt the irrational predilections of Poetism and Surrealism. After the mid-1930s he applied Breton’s idea of a chance encounter in developing his own “emotional photography“. Funke was a typical all-round well-educated intellectual of his time.
The exhibition will reveal the inner logic behind the creation
and the metamorphoses of Funke's work. As opposed to the past
presentations of Funke's oeuvre it will be set in the context of
European avant-garde photography and culture confirming Funke as
one of its pioneers.
Jaromír Funke (1896-1945) was at the cutting edge of modern
photography together with Jaroslav Rössler, Man Ray, László
Moholy-Nagy, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Alexander Rodchenko, Paul
Strand, Edward Weston and others. In 1922 Funke, just as those
above, set out on the road to abstraction which led him to his own
-ism, "photogenism". He also responded to Cubism and created model
works of New Objectivity and Constructivism standing closest to the
Bauhaus. During the 1920s he was also one of the first to accept
the irrational movements, Poetism and Surrealism, and based his
"emotional photography" from the mid-1930s on Breton's idea of a
miraculous encounter. He was a typical intellectual of his time
with an allround education, an avant-gardist who always had to be
at least one step ahead of his peers. Together with Rössler he was
one of the few photographers from Bohemia who was well oriented in
the international context of avantgarde photography and visual art.
Between the two world wars, in the newly established Czechoslovak
Republic, Funke influenced the photographic scene by his work and
extensive theoretical, critical, organizational, editorial and
pedagogical work. An amateur, and initially a zealous leader of
opposition against all authorities, he became by chance a teacher
of photography first at the so-called "Slovak Bauhaus" in
Bratislava (from 1931), and later at the State Graphic School in
Prague (from 1935), where Ladislav Sutnar was director. He thus had
a unique opportunity to pass on his convictions and knowledge, even
at a time when in neighbouring countries, especially Germany, this
was impossible.
Without Funke Czech photography would be different. Funke was a
pioneer of new photography and an outstanding proponent of the "new
vision", new visual art. He may have contributed to almost all the
disciplines to which photography extended its cultural message and
utilitarian functions. He died as an indirect victim of WWII when
he could not be operated on in time due to an air raid in
Prague.
Apart from the property of the Moravian Gallery in Brno the
exhibition will also take advantage of the collection of the Museum
of Decorative Arts in Prague. Additional loans will come from the
artist's estate and possibly from other public and private
collections.
The exhibition and catalogue have been kindly supported with grants from the Czech Ministry of Culture and the City of Brno.
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