Beschreibung:

František Drtikol (Czech, 1883-1961) Nude with Ropes, c. 1930. Copyright credit blindstamp on the recto l.r., inscribed "95:17" in pencil on the verso l.r. Gelatin silver print, image/sheet size 11 1/4 x 8 7/8 in. (28.5 x 22.5 cm), matted, unframed. Condition: Subtle handling creases u.l., one with a 5/8 inch break in the emulsion through the subject's right hand that has been spot toned, minor handling crimp c.l., three of four corners gently worn, minor surface abrasions. Provenance: A private California collection. N.B. After studying at the Lehr-und Versuchsanstalt für Photographie in Munich, Czech photographer František Drtikol opened a portrait studio in 1910 in Prague. His clientele included many notable personalities ranging from political figures to famous actors and musicians. While portraiture was the means by which he supported himself, Drtikol made his name as an artist through his nude studies which combine elements of modern dance and eroticism in expressive and sometimes peculiar ways. Drtikol experimented with dramatic lighting techniques informed by silent films and Art Deco-inspired settings to create a signature look that "shuttled between coquettish scenes with a strong narrative dimension and stagings in which the nude form (almost always female, and ever leaner in physique) complements or contrasts with an increasingly dominant play of geometrically shaped props and the shadows they cast" [Matthew S. Witkovsky, "The Drtikol Style," in Annette and Rudolph Kicken, eds., Drtikol: Photographs/Photographie (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2012), 6].