WEEKLY TRANSMISSION Nﾂｰ6
THURSDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2016
PHOTOGRAPHERS BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN :
Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA
PWT-6 2016 CONTENTS : The Iron Curtain served to keep people in and information out Vﾃ｡clav Chochola A Selection of Vintage Prints
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The e-bulletin presents articles as well as a selection of books, albums, photographs and ancient documents as they have been handed down to the actual owners by their creators and by amateurs from past generations. The physical descriptions, attributions, origins, and printing dates of the books and photographs have been carefully ascertained by collations and through close analysis of comparable works. The books and photographs consigned from all around the world are presented in chronological order. It is the privilege of ancient and authentic things to be presented in this fashion, mirroring the flow of ideas and creations. Prices in euros, Paypal is accepted.
N°6 : Våclav Chochola
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IRON CURTAIN SPEECH (5 MARCH 1946) The Iron Curtain was the name of the physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War. The term's use as a metaphor for strict separation can be traced to the early 19th century. It was originally a reference to fireproof curtains in theaters. Although its popularity as a Cold War symbol is attributed to its use in a speech Winston Churchill gave in March 1946 in Fulton, Missouri.
Various usages of the term "iron curtain" (Russian: Железный занавес Zheleznyj zanaves; German: Eiserner Vorhang; Czech: Železná opona; Slovak: Železná opona; Hungarian: Vasfüggöny; Romanian: Cortina de fier, Italian: Cortina di ferro, Serbian: Гвоздена завеса Gvozdena zavesa, Estonian: Raudne eesriie, Bulgarian: Желязна завеса (Zhelyazna zavesä) pre-date Churchill's use of the phrase. The first recorded application of the term to Communist Russia, again in the sense of the end of an era, comes in Vasily Rozanov's 1918 polemic The Apocalypse of Our Times, and it is possible that Churchill read it there following the publication of the book's English translation in 1920. The passage runs: “With clanging, creaking, and squeaking, an iron curtain is lowering over Russian History. — The performance is over." The audience got up. — Time to put on your fur coats and go home." We looked around, but the fur coats and homes were missing”. A May 1943 article in Signal, a Nazi illustrated propaganda periodical published in many languages, bore the title "Behind the Iron Curtain". It discussed "the iron curtain that more than ever before separates the world from the Soviet Union". At the Potsdam Conference, Churchill complained to Stalin about an "iron fence" coming down upon the British Mission in Bucharest. Winston Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" address of 5 March 1946, at Westminster College, used the term "iron curtain" in the context of Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe: — From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "Iron Curtain" has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.
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VACLAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005) 1923 Born on 30th January in Libeň in Prague.
1939 An active sportsman and starts taking photographs of athletic competitions with a 6x9 cm Voigtlander camera. 1940 Buys a Zeis Ikon 6x6cm camera, prints his photographs in The Amateur Photography Club. Abandons his studies at Grammar School and starts a photographic apprenticeship in O. Erbana's studio in Letné in Prague. Gets to know and starts to work with the photographers Karl Ludwig and Zdeněk Tmej.
1943 First studio in the centre of Prague at 20 Soukenická Street. External photographer at the National Theatre, Vinohrady Theatre, Uranie, Meantime and Intimate Theatre Větrník and other theatres outside Prague as well. Member of the Mánes Club of the Friends of the Arts.
1945 Document the Prague Uprising and the end of the war. Continues to photograph post-war theatrical premieres, the renewed V + W Theatrical Scenes. 1946-48 Photographs the first years of the Prague Spring, just about every sporting discipline - from athletics, cars, cycling and motorcycling competitions, the traditional annual walking competition from Prague- Poděbrady, fencing, footbal....
1949 Accepted as a member of the Association of Czechoslovakian Graphic and Visual Artists, K.Ludwig, J.Sudek, J.Lukas, K.Plicka, J.Prošek, J.Brok, J.Ehm,T.Honty, J.Jeníček Z.Tmej. Gets to know the painter František Tichý.
1951-52 Collaboration with Zdeněk Tmej, book editing and magazines, suburbian photography.
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1953 Marriage, birth of his daughter Blanka, returns to Libeň with his family.
1957 Passes the editorial screening in the Association of Graphic and Visual Artists, Jindřich Chalupecký champions his photography. Suffering from total stress is hospitalized in a psychiatric wing. 1961 Three-month stay in North Vietnam, where he was sent by the SČVU together with the photographer Dagmar Hochova. 1968-69 Repeated stays in Paris enrich his collection of portraits of personalities: Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Brassai, Max Ernst... 1970 January: Arrested after photographing Jan Palach's grave and held on remand for a month in Ruzyň prison. Given a suspended sentence of five years. His photographic equipment is stolen by a Prague taxi driver. 1982 Retrospective exhibition on his 60th birthday by Jana Reichová and opened by Bohumil Hrabal. 1989 First exhibition in America. 1990- 93 In Paris again after a break of more than twenty years and as a grant-holder from the Charter 77 Foundation at La Napoule Chateaux in the South of France. 2003 80th birthday Exhibition in the ClamGallass palace in Prague.
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). 415, Prag, Strahov, 1943. Vintage silver print on matte paper, 180x120 mm, signed in pencil, recto (#48). 830 euros
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). Soccer Prague-Paris, 1947. Vintage silver print, 240x300 mm, stamped, signed and titled in pencel with date 1946 (#48). 600 euros
Churchill's geographical description of the Iron Curtain was ambiguous as to which side of the Iron Curtain the Soviet occupation zones of Germany and Austria were on. Much of the Western public still regarded the Soviet Union as a close ally in the context of the recent defeat of Nazi Germany and of Japan. Although not well received at the time, the phrase iron curtain gained popularity as a shorthand reference to the division of Europe as the Cold War strengthened.
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). Emil Zﾃ｡topek, Prag, Strahov, 1949. Vintage silver print, 180x130 mm, signed and titled in pencil, verso (#48). 400 euros
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). Eva Bosﾃ｡kovﾃ｡, Prag, 1954. Vintage silver print, 235x180 mm, stamped, signed in pencil, verso (#48). 300 euros
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). Weberova (Iceskating), Ostrava, c. 1954. Vintage silver print, 180x130 mm, signed, stamped, recto (#48). 250 euros
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KARL LUDWIG (1919-1977). St Charles Bridge, Prag, 1947. Vintage silver print, 180x240 mm, stamped, annotations by Chochola (#48). 400 euros
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). Campagne tchﾃｨque, 1960. Vintage silver print, 180x240 mm, signed and captioned in pencil, verso (#48). 200 euros The Iron Curtain served to keep people in and information out, and people throughout the West eventually came to accept and use the metaphor
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). Aux Deux Magots, Saint Germain des Prﾃｩs, Paris, 1968. Vintage silver print, 240x160 mm, signed, stamped (#48). 300 euros
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). Uklid (Waste), Hotel de Tournon, Paris, 1968. Vintage silver print, 180x240 mm, stamped, (#48). 830 euros
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BLANKA CHOCHOLOVA (born 1953). Stil, Prag, 1978. Vintage silver print, 210x145 mm, stamped, (#48). Blanka is Václav’s daughter. 300 euros
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Vﾃ，LAV CHOCHOLA (1923-2005). Nigh Scenery, Prag, 1950. Vintage silver print, 180x240 mm, signed and titled in pencil, verso (#48). 200 euros
Number Six, Second Season, of the Weekly Transmission has been uploaded on Thursday, 11th February 2016 at 15:15 (Paris time). Upcoming uploads and transmissions on Thursdays : Thursday 18th February, Thursday 25th February, 15:15 (Paris time). serge@plantureux.fr Phone (10 am-5 pm) : (+33) 6.50.85.60.74