Self-Portrait as Christ

Before becoming a leading figure in the Czech modernist movement with Art Deco–style images of the female nude, František Drtikol adopted the more painterly “Pictorial” approach to photography characteristic of the most advanced photographers at the turn of the century. It is no accident that this picture might easily be mistaken for a dark Symbolist painting or charcoal drawing. In both his choice of subject and his use of a pigment-based process that allowed for manipulation during development, Drtikol revealed his childhood dream of becoming a painter and his ambition to create photography that could stand as the equal of traditional fine arts.