NEW YORK, NY.- artnet Auctions announce an offering of approximately 75 Czech photographs. This selection of works will illustrate the rich photographic tradition of the Czech Republic with estimates ranging from USD 1500–2500 to USD 60,000–80,000. This small survey traces the multi-faceted range of trends in Czech photography during the first half of the twentieth century. The diverse selection features pictorialism inspired by Art Nouveau, the avant-garde development of photomontage, and the poetic modernism of a more insular political period.

The auction features photographs by artists such as Josef Sudek, Frantisek Drtikol, Jaromir Funke, and Eugen Wiskovsky among numerous others. The auction highlights a rare Sudek vintage pigment print depicting foamy beer glasses, which showcases Sudek’s use of a rich tonal range and pays homage to Dutch master still lifes. Sudek is noted to have said: “I believe that photography loves banal objects, and I love the life of objects.”

Also included will be atmospheric views from Sudek’s atelier window, his melancholy Prague landscapes devoid of people, surreal still lifes, and very rare early prints on an album page of his “Little Pictures from my Amateur Years.” Other highlights include the portfolios of pigment prints by Drtikol, modernist images by Wiskovsky, and the avant-garde montages of Jaroslav Rossler.

The lots are currently live for bidding on artnet Auctions and close on May 19, 2011.

Visit the sale on artnet Auctions: http://www.artnet.com/auctions/czech-photographs-sale.