Josef Sudek (1896-1976)

SPRING LABYRINTH

1968
Vintage gelatin silver contact print on semi-matte paper. 21.8x27 cm (26.2x29.5 cm). Recto, along the lower edge, title of the work and a dedication to V. Kostelecký for Christmas 1968, with the artist`s signature. Verso marked with the collection stamp "VK" in a circle, dated in red ballpoint pen, with the artist`s handwriting in pencil, and the title of the work and date in another hand. Provenance: Josef Sudek - Václav Kostelecký - auction Binoche et Giquello, Photographies de Josef Sudek, 18 October 2018, Paris, lot 84 - private collection. Cf.: Collection of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, inv. no. MG 8514. Václav Kostelecký (1913-1982) was a respected Czech economist and diplomat, and for many years a senior official of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva, where he lived in permanent exile after 1948. He is remembered in the history of Czech culture as a lifelong friend, patron and supporter of the photographer Josef Sudek, sending him scarce gramophone records and photographic materials across the Iron Curtain. From Sudek`s gifts he assembled a unique collection of photographs in Geneva, which he helped bring to worldwide renown after the artist`s death.