The stage has been an integral part of Viktor Kronbauer’s life since his birth in 1949. He began observing the world through the lens of a camera in 1970. Seven years later, he started collaborating with the publicity department of the Czech Philharmonic, where, over the course of seven years, he photographed numerous events, including the renowned Prague Spring International Music Festival.
On the recommendation of conductor Václav Neumann, Kronbauer subsequently applied for a position as a photographer at the Theatre Institute, where he was appointed and remained associated with the institution for a significant part of his professional career. A formative influence on his artistic development was his encounter with photographer Jaroslav Krejčí, from whom he learned a great deal during more than two decades of close collaboration.
Over the course of his career, Kronbauer has documented more than 1,500 theatre productions in the Czech Republic and abroad, including in Slovakia, Russia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Austria. He has presented more than 130 solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic and internationally and has received numerous prestigious awards for his work.

His lifelong dedication to theatre photography was brought together in the 2017 monograph Viktor Kronbauer – Theatre Photography, which not only offers a comprehensive survey of his oeuvre but also serves as a unique visual chronicle of Czech theatre over the past four decades.