
Frances Benjamin Johnston cats

images that haunt us




Czech Avant-Garde at Gitterman Gallery ~ Nov 14 – Dec 22, 2023
Gitterman Gallery presents a selection of avant-garde Czech photography with a focus on rare vintage works by two seminal figures, František Drtikol and Josef Sudek. Each created exquisite prints that added dimension to their innovative visions.
Josef Sudek (1896-1976), after having lost his right arm in combat during World War I, devoted his life to photography. Working with a large format camera, he stayed close to home. He primarily worked in his studio in Prague, photographing intricately constructed still lifes and atmospheric views through his studio window, as well as portraits, landscapes and his city. Though Sudek chose seemingly conventional subjects, his delicate prints convey the poetic magic of the photographic medium.







Some stamped on the reverse and / or on the recto with the photographer’s signature of S. Enkelmann (partially on Agfa Brovira photo paper) and Foto-Schreyer Berlin. (JVV)





The images above are part of the exhibition: «Dansen har mycket gemensamt med arkitektur» / «Dance has a lot in common with architecture» (2013)
Arkitektur- och designcentrum / Center for Architecture and Design (Ark Des)


Both images above this line are uncredited in source: Dansmuseet (view post in this blog : Birgit Åkesson training), but we reckon that them could belong to the same photo-session with Sune Sundahl






All the images in this post are from the exhibition: «Dansen har mycket gemensamt med arkitektur» (2013). Some of the images are dated 1939-1947 but most of them undated.
«Dance has a lot in common with architecture» (2013)
Movement, rhythm, space and body in dance have much in common with architecture. Spatiality can only be experienced with the body, in movement. There are several good reasons to pay attention to the connections between the room shape and people’s movements in the rooms. Whether dancing or walking around a building, there is both flow and embodiment. Perhaps it was precisely these common denominators that made Birgit Åkesson choose the architectural photographer Sune Sundahl to document her early choreographies?
Photographing movement is a big challenge, a movement in a frozen moment can easily turn into a rigid pose without context or dynamism. In Sundahl’s collection there are, among other things, pictures from Birgit Åkesson’s own performance Blue Evening from 1946. The title was probably taken from the blue-painted Konserthuset in Stockholm, designed by Ivar Tengbom 1924-26. Here, Birgit Åkesson experimented with movements without music, which was unique for the time. She also studied during her lifetime the dances of other cultures, including dances African dances from the south of the Sahara and the Butoh dance from Japan.
The dancer, choreographer and dance researcher Birgit Åkesson (1908-2001) taught the viewer to listen to the sound of movement in the silence. It was about holding a dialogue, where the rhythm carried the form that left invisible traces in the air. Birgit Åkesson started her dance career in the 1920s and 30s when she studied with the German-born choreographer Mary Wigman. It was from her that the Swedish dancer found the expressionist language, the free dance. Birgit Åkesson was one of the leading avant-garde artists in free dance.
Lenita Gärde, Center for Architecture and Design (quoted from ArkDes)
















All the images in this post are from the exhibition: «Dansen har mycket gemensamt med arkitektur» (2013). Some of the images are dated 1939-1947 and most of them undated.
«Dance has a lot in common with architecture» (2013)
Movement, rhythm, space and body in dance have much in common with architecture. Spatiality can only be experienced with the body, in movement. There are several good reasons to pay attention to the connections between the room shape and people’s movements in the rooms. Whether dancing or walking around a building, there is both flow and embodiment. Perhaps it was precisely these common denominators that made Birgit Åkesson choose the architectural photographer Sune Sundahl to document her early choreographies?
Photographing movement is a big challenge, a movement in a frozen moment can easily turn into a rigid pose without context or dynamism. In Sundahl’s collection there are, among other things, pictures from Birgit Åkesson’s own performance Blue Evening from 1946. The title was probably taken from the blue-painted Konserthuset in Stockholm, designed by Ivar Tengbom 1924-26. Here, Birgit Åkesson experimented with movements without music, which was unique for the time. She also studied during her lifetime the dances of other cultures, including dances south of the Sahara in Africa and the Butoh dance from Japan.
The dancer, choreographer and dance researcher Birgit Åkesson (1908-2001) taught the viewer to listen to the sound of movement in the silence. It was about holding a dialogue, where the rhythm carried the form that left invisible traces in the air. Birgit Åkesson started her dance career in the 1920s and 30s when she studied with the German-born choreographer Mary Wigman. It was from her that the Swedish dancer found the expressionist language, the free dance. Birgit Åkesson was one of the leading avant-garde artists in free dance.
Lenita Gärde, Center for Architecture and Design (quoted from ArkDes)
























All the images in this post are from the exhibition: «Dansen har mycket gemensamt med arkitektur» (2013). Some of the images are dated 1939-1947 and most of them undated.
«Dance has a lot in common with architecture» (2013)
Movement, rhythm, space and body in dance have much in common with architecture. Spatiality can only be experienced with the body, in movement. There are several good reasons to pay attention to the connections between the room shape and people’s movements in the rooms. Whether dancing or walking around a building, there is both flow and embodiment. Perhaps it was precisely these common denominators that made Birgit Åkesson choose the architectural photographer Sune Sundahl to document her early choreographies?
Photographing movement is a big challenge, a movement in a frozen moment can easily turn into a rigid pose without context or dynamism. In Sundahl’s collection there are, among other things, pictures from Birgit Åkesson’s own performance Blue Evening from 1946. The title was probably taken from the blue-painted Konserthuset in Stockholm, designed by Ivar Tengbom 1924-26. Here, Birgit Åkesson experimented with movements without music, which was unique for the time. She also studied during her lifetime the dances of other cultures, including dances south of the Sahara in Africa and the Butoh dance from Japan.
The dancer, choreographer and dance researcher Birgit Åkesson (1908-2001) taught the viewer to listen to the sound of movement in the silence. It was about holding a dialogue, where the rhythm carried the form that left invisible traces in the air. Birgit Åkesson started her dance career in the 1920s and 30s when she studied with the German-born choreographer Mary Wigman. It was from her that the Swedish dancer found the expressionist language, the free dance. Birgit Åkesson was one of the leading avant-garde artists in free dance.
Lenita Gärde, Center for Architecture and Design (quoted from ArkDes)