Photo exhibition at Národní: Créme de la Créme – Neapolitan snapshots by Pavel Scheufler

The renowned Créme de la Créme, a unique confectionery shop located at Národní třída 23 in Prague, invites us to a literally sweet exhibition. The first floor of the ice cream parlour regularly hosts art exhibitions, and today, from 5 December 2025 to 18 February 2026, we can see the work of the renowned Czech painter and sculptor Jiří Kovář. Ice Cream Salon, regularly hosts art exhibitions, and today, from 5 December 2025 to 18 February 2026, we can delight not only our stomachs but also our eyes with two dozen beautiful colour photographs of Italian settings by the renowned Czech art historian and photographer Pavel Scheufler.

As is well known, the artist is, in the words of writer Adolf Branald, a master of the black box, a photography historian and the author of a long series of books and exhibitions. He also teaches photography courses at FotoŠkoda and is a long-standing editor of the popular monthly magazine FotoVideo. In 2024, Pavel Scheufler received the Czech Photography Personality Award from the Association of Professional Photographers for his long-term contribution to photography. He has had nearly two hundred solo exhibitions, including, most recently, a presentation in Slovenia and another on the occasion of the Month of Photography in Bratislava. The three most recent domestic presentations are crowned by the exhibition presented in these lines. Motorists of Naples.

Street theatre and charming chaos

Madonna mia... cries of admiration escape our lips at Créme de la Créme as we gaze upon the crowded streets of Naples, richly decorated with sgraffito, where scooters in all possible and impossible situations are the central motif. A real street theatre, as Pavel Scheufler emphasises with his Sony in hand, who often risked being run over during his photographic hunt in Naples.

Together with admirers of the local confectionery's delicacies, we carefully examine one photograph after another. They are bursting with colour and the characteristic Italian madness of the city's day and night life – in short, there is plenty to see. Pavel Scheufler travelled to Naples to take his photographs in the first half of this year and, like most tourists, he was thrilled by Italy's third largest city, even though Naples welcomed him in its own way and, like many others, he was robbed. However, he did not die, as the old saying about this city under Vesuvius goes. On the contrary, he brought back a wealth of material for a photo exhibition in Prague at the end of the year. During the exhibition's opening, Pavel Scheufler told us about the theme of the exhibition:

„Although I don't drive, I am interested in cars and motorcycles from a technological and aesthetic point of view, and I follow them closely. In Italy, I am fascinated by the world of motorcycles. How naturally, gracefully and skilfully they weave through the crowd, and the fact that they even ride on the pavement doesn't upset anyone, no one gets angry...For me, Italians on motorbikes somehow synthesise the spirit of Italy. For a street photographer, Naples is paradise...“

This time, the exhibition catalogue was replaced by the December issue of the specialised monthly magazine FototVideo, featuring an editorial interview about Scheufler's exhibition. It remains to be said that the discerning viewer missed two or three large-format central photographs that would have lit up the walls of the confectionery shop, transformed into an exhibition hall, so to speak, but that would be up to curator Lucie Horucková to consider, who nevertheless did an excellent job.

Curriculum vitae

As Wikipedia points out, Pavel Scheufler (born 25 September 1950 in Prague) is a Czech photography historian and publicist. He focuses primarily on photography in the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. From 1990 to 2016, he lectured on the history of photography at FAMU. From 1992 to 2002, he was a member of the Czech Radio Council, and he is also a long-time contributor to FotoVideo magazine. He is also a successful photographer himself. In addition to lecturing, he has long been active as a curator of photography exhibitions.

 In the early 1990s, Scheufler published his series on period photography in the unique magazines Antique and ArtAntik.

As a historian, he made a significant contribution to mapping the earliest history of photography in our country. He played an important role in popularising Czech photography and its pioneers, such as Eckert, Fridrich, Krátký and Langhans. He is the author of several dozen books, nine of which are monographs on photographers. To this day, his publication Fotografické album Čech 1839 – 1914 (Photographic Album of Bohemia 1839–1914) is sought after by collectors.

Pavel Scheufler founded the Electronic Museum of Photography and participates in a number of projects related to the preservation of our photographic heritage. He is also the owner of the largest Czech collection of photographs from the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, comprising thousands of items. Among his most recent publications is Krkonoše za císaře pána (The Krkonoše Mountains under the Emperor). The book is compiled from historical photographs from the time when the Krkonoše Mountains were first conquered by skiers, tourists, holidaymakers and photographers, with commentary by the editor.

Ivan Cerny