PRAGUE GUIDE

Probably the three Czech artists best known abroad are painter Alfons Mucha and photographers Josef Sudek and Josef Koudelka. Alfons Mucha was one of the founding fathers of art nouveau, and is well represented at the Mucha Museum. Mucha's works frequently featured beautiful, robust young women in flowing, vaguely Neoclassical-looking robes, often surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed halos behind the women's heads. In contrast with contemporary poster makers he used pale pastel colours. Neo-romantic Sudek (1896-1976) is sometimes called 'the poet of Prague' for his nightscapes of the city. Today, his studio shows other photographers, but one or two of his silver gelatin prints are displayed at the Museum of Decorative Arts which is definitely worth a visit. Koudelka became world-famous for his photos of Roma, of Soviet tanks crushing the Prague Spring in 1968, and of landscapes. He lives in France and there's criminally little on him in Prague, apart from special exhibitions. However, there is the chance to learn about other Czech artists, particularly at the Kampa Museum and Veletržní Palace.