The "Composition" series is an iconic body of work, which brought international acclaim to the artist and established him as a lead figure of the Czech avant-garde movement. As did his dear colleague and contemporary Jaroslav Rössler, Funké started out as a “Pictorialist” and, coincidentally, these two artists took a radical turn in their creative processes during the same year – 1923. First, they produced so-called “compositions” characterized by their seeming inspiration by Cubist still life works, then gradually, around 1924, their works morphed into abstraction – our print being one of the most successful examples of this. Only two other such examples, conserved today at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, can rival our extraordinary photograph in terms of modernity and purity. Moreover, our print remains the largest one we know of today from the entire series.

This particular composition was printed only twice; the smaller version is conserved in the artist’s family collection.

This print is sold with a certificated from Mr. Vladimir Birgus, dated September 2015.

Provenance

Artist’s family

Exhibitions

Similar images are conserved at The J. Paul Getty Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, the Denver Art Museum, and The Museum of Modern Art.

Literature

This print appears in:

Dufek, Antonin, Jaromir Funké, Edition Kant, 2013, p.100

Birgus, Vladimir, Czech-Photographic avant-garde, Edition Kant, 1999, p.92

Dufek, Antonin, and Pastor, Suzanne, Jaromir Funke – fotographie 1919-1943, Prague, 1995