PRAGUE - The capital city of the Czech Republic, Prague, has a unique characteristic: a significant number of erotic sculptures and statues on architecturally important buildings, especially in the center of Prague. These sculptures and statues are part of the architecture from various historical periods, primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries. This project was brought to me by the late PhDr. Jan Nepomuk Assmann, who worked on it for a long time and gradually completed it. J. N. Assmann worked for approximately 30 years as a curator and research associate at the Gallery of the City of Prague.
He contacted me after a joint project, where he saw my photographic work, and since then we have been collaborating. We also agreed to develop an interesting project that we called "Erotic Prague." Unfortunately, Dr. J. N. Assmann suddenly passed away shortly thereafter, and the project remained in its early stages of development. By that time, we had created his vision and a basic framework. I decided to present this project on this occasion, due to its very interesting concept and relevance. The project will primarily be an artistic-photographic one, but it will also produce essential expert information not only about the sculptures and their authors, but also many other details that can be used for outputs related to this project.
The topics mentioned above will be addressed from the perspective of classic black and white fine art photography. The images created, or rather, series of individual architectural buildings that include these statues and sculptures, will include not only basic shots (overall view, half-view, and detail of the statue itself), but also many other shots related to the building. Furthermore, based on consultations with experts and historians from the Gallery of the City of Prague, extensive documentation related to the objects will be prepared, including information about the project author, the sculpture author, location, historical facts, and many other details.
This documentation will be used for presentation and will become part of the submitted work within this grant project, intended for the provider for all presentation purposes, such as exhibitions and publications. The documentation will be collected, processed, and managed by the co-author of the project, PhDr. Richard Knot. Finally, I would like to dedicate this project to the aforementioned deceased spiritual father of the project, PhDr. Jan Nepomuk Assmann. I am also convinced that the photographs created at this time and in this place will have significant informative value for future generations, both from the point of view of the artistic techniques used. A major Prague publishing house has expressed interest in the project.
Jan Vojtěch, Editor-in-Chief of General News