Frantisek Drtikol Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

František Drtikol (Příbram, 3 March 1883 – Prague, 13 January 1961) was a Czech photographer of international importance. After taking courses at the Lehr und Versuchsanstalt fur Photographie in Munich, he opened his studio in Prague in 1907 and specialized in portraits of personalities of the time. Read the full biography

František Drtikol (Příbram, 3 March 1883 – Prague, 13 January 1961) was a Czech photographer of international importance. After taking courses at the Lehr und Versuchsanstalt fur Photographie in Munich, he opened his studio in Prague in 1907 and specialized in portraits of personalities of the time. His most important production is linked to the study of the nude. In his images, the pictorialist and symbolist style gives way to more modern compositions that find analogies with the works of the avant-garde of the time, in particular with those of cubism. It creates new dynamic relationships between the female body and emblematic wooden geometric elements that suggest the sense of movement typical of futurism. Between 1930 and 1935 he only photographed statuettes. When he closed his studio in 1935 he dedicated himself to painting, meditation and oriental philosophy. He published: Le nus de Drtikol (1929) and Zena ve svetle (1938).