Born in 1934, Jan Svoboda emerged in Prague’s vibrant cultural atmosphere of the 1960s. Rather than treating photography as a straightforward tool for recording reality, he approached it as a medium for introspection. His images are stripped to the bare essentials —fragments of interiors, arrangements of everyday things, subtle shifts of light across a wall or surface—creating images that feel at once intimate and conceptual with a quiet intensity. His minimalist compositions question what a photograph truly is: a mirror of reality, or a poetic construction.

He was fascinated by how an image could carry emotion without narrative, how the smallest play of shadow or texture could suggest something infinite. For Svoboda, the act of photographing was not about capturing the world outside, but about expressing an inner state—solitary, poetic, and deeply personal—recognized in Europe as groundbreaking. Yet until now, his influence has rarely crossed the Atlantic.

Jaroslav Beneš, born in 1946 in Pilsen, began his career in theatre photography before moving into documentary work as an archivist-photographer. Encountering Svoboda’s work early on, in which he found a great inspiration, his work reflects a similar minimalist sensibility—careful attention to form, composition, and light—carrying forward the quiet. At the same time, where Svoboda sought absolute reduction, Beneš allows chance, and imperfection, to enter the frame, giving his photographs a sense of immediacy and lived experience.

Often working with large-format cameras, he focuses on urban spaces, architectural details, and overlooked corners of the city. Light, shadow, and texture shape mood and invite reflection. His images capture not just what a place looks like, but how it feels—the quiet rhythm of a staircase, the subtle weight of a wall, or the lingering presence of human activity. Beneš honors Svoboda’s contemplative approach while adding his own sensitivity to space and atmosphere, creating photographs that look precise, and yet feels deeply human.

Though separated by a decade, Svoboda and Beneš share more than a national identity. Their work reflects a conversation across time: Svoboda’s rigorous conceptualism echoed in Beneš’s sensitivity to form, and Beneš’s openness to chance adding warmth to Svoboda’s legacy. The exhibition highlights this dialogue, not as master and student, but as two voices speaking to one another across generations.

Both photographers belong to a broader tradition of Czech modernist photography, a movement that emerged in the early 20th century with figures such as Josef Sudek and František Drtikol, marked by its poetic minimalism, careful attention to light, and a blending of intimacy with abstraction, in which Svoboda and Beneš, each in his own way, extend this lineage.

Remarkably, Lenticular Poetry marks the first U.S. exhibition of both artists. For Svoboda, who passed away in 1990, this posthumous debut affirms his place in the international canon. For Beneš, it represents a new chapter: a chance to share his work directly with American audiences. In this sense, the exhibition not only celebrates Czech Modernist photography but also opens a cultural dialogue between Prague and Washington, between Czech photography and the American public...

The opening night reflected this spirit of exchange: speeches of thanks, humor, and reflection framed an exhibition that is both intimate and far-reaching. Guests departed with the sense that photography can cross borders not only geographically but also emotionally and philosophically.

Lenticular Poetry is on view at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center through December 7. For more details, please visit: https://www.american.edu/media/pr/202508134_six_exhibitions_open-at-au-museum-in-september.cfm       

Article written by Marie Verhoeven
September 17, 2025