Lucie Černá, Michal Novotný (eds.) – Libuše Jarcovjáková
#1 min Josef Moucha
30. 11. 2025
Lucie Černá, Michal Novotný (eds.), Libuše Jarcovjáková, National Gallery Prague, 2025
When the external curator kicked off the retrospective of internationally acclaimed photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková (b. 1952) at the National Gallery Prague, it seemed that the gallery’s deployment of photography was more about the opportunity for the host institution to attract audiences than about diversifying its own acquisition strategy. All the more remarkable is the publication of this year’s monograph, the editing of which was handled, alongside the curator, by the organiser’s director for the Collection of Art after 1945. It remains only a matter of time until the National Gallery starts treating traditional photography as part of its research mission. The country’s foremost museum of visual art simply cannot remain indefinitely mired in the curatorial inertia of a mindset shaped in the decade in which Libuše Jarcovjáková was born…
Text: Josef Moucha
Josef Moucha
#1 min Josef Moucha
Jan Douša – Bob Krčil (1952–1992). Žít, jako by šlo o život (Live Like Your Life’s On the Line)
#1 min Josef Moucha
Eugenia Maximova – Silent River
#4 min Josef Moucha
Flashes of old memories
“Bohdan Holomíček, an artist of life: continuous action, outputs while you wait.” This was the conclusion of my recommendation, written six years ago, to the Association of Professional Photographers of the Czech Republic, which then indeed proceeded to decorate Holomíček with the title of Personality of Czech Photography for his long-standing contribution to the field.
#4 min Josef Moucha, Libuše Jarcovjáková
Notes From Libuše Jarcovjáková
The Czech Design Academy has inducted Libuše Jarcovjáková (b. 1952) into its Hall of Fame for her lasting cultural impact just as cinemas are screening the photographer’s memoirs I’m Not Everything I Want to Be and the National Gallery Prague is celebrating the success of her retrospective.
#9 min Josef Moucha
On Authorship
I don’t need a theme… I am a theme! – that, in short, is the shift that is making its way across social media (and not exclusively, either) where quantity manifests as a practically riveting movement. Never before has the field of photography existed with any semblance of the massiveness of contemporary practice – power and incisiveness contained in a message of non-negligible quality, however, remains just as rare as ever.
#1 min Josef Moucha
Mariusz Forecki – Kurz / Ewolucja imperium 1988-2022 (Dust / The Evolution of the Empire)
#1 min Josef Moucha
Josef Šnobl – Praga Obscura
#1 min Josef Moucha