Czech Photographer Miroslav Tichy passed away this past April 12, 2011, at the age of 85. He was born in Netcice, Moravia on November 20th, 1926.

After beginning his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, he began his career as a painter before becoming a photographer in the early 1970s. A very particular photography, made with cameras and enlargers that he crafted himself, and sanded lenses before coating them with toothpaste or other materials. His work certainly evolves around the “woman”, even though he defended himself on this in a recent short feature about his career. He spied on them and worked as a voyeur, poking out a hidden camera beneath his clothes. He haunted streets and swimming pools. He is considered as a “disturbed” man.

Having felt that his work was complete, he stoped taking pictures in 1990. Legend has it that during these years, Director Roman Buxbaum discovered his work. From that moment on, his work became rapidly recognized: a solo show opened in 2004 in Sevilla, a retrospective in Zurich’s Kunsthaus in 2005. On that same year he is awarded the Prix de la découverte in the Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles. In 2008 the Centre Pompidou gave him an exhibition. In 2010 it is the International Center of Photography- ICP’s turn to pay tribute to him showing 100 pictures and co-editing a book with Steidl publishing house.

Bernard Perrine
Correspondant de l’Institut de France
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Miroslav Tichy Quentin Bajac Centre Pompidou

Miroslav Tichy by Miroslav Tichy Éditions Steidl / ICP 328 pages
mars 2010 catalogue de l’exposition de l’ICP organisée par Brian Wallis
L’invention de Miroslav Tichy par Marc Lenot in “Études Photographiques” n°23 mai 2009.