The photographer Jan Malý has died

Prague - Photographer Jan Malý (* April 16, 1954) passed away at the age of 62 on Wednesday. The documentary filmmaker was also known as one of the authors of the extensive and long-term project Czech Person. CTK was informed by curator Pavel Vančát, who prepared an exhibition for Malý three years ago at the Leica Gallery in Prague.

The exhibition also recalled the mentioned series, whose authors, alongside Malý, included Jiří Poláček and Ivan Lutterer since 1982. The resulting archive, which is still being supplemented, represents a sociologically and ethnographically invaluable study of Czechs and their changing identities. Among Malý's most striking series are records of the environment of the Prague gaming establishment U Nováků and the Jazz Club Reduta from the mid-1970s. According to Vančát, these images rank among the most vivid representations of that era and combine a healthy social reflection, the insight of a trained eye, and the courage to take risks.

Jan Malý belonged to the first generation of graduates from the photography department at Prague's FAMU (1973 to 1978). According to Vančát, although he was less prominent, his photographs are all the more sensitive, humble, and grounded. His series are built on understanding and insight, interwoven with amused irony and, at times, gentle melancholy.

Since the 1980s, Malý, at the urging of historians Rostislav Švácha and Petr Wittlich, focused on documenting the then-overlooked pre-war architecture. His photographs of Art Nouveau, Cubist, and Functionalist architecture against the backdrop of normalizing grayness possess a subtle irony in addition to professional skill. Architectural photography then became a lifelong interest for Malý.