There are many of Tuma’s skills that connect his work with the best of classical black and white photography, but first and foremost it’s his use of light as the most important expression medium. A photograph is a painting “painted” by light and perfection in this style of “painting” was something Tuma always strived to achieve. The light, the shadows or the ways structures were lit always aroused Tuma’s imagination and thanks to his talent, he was able to transform the grey reality before him into something magical and poetic. He was one of the artists for whom photographing was an essential existential need; he was the type of walker that would never forget his Leica at home. His images always had to be shot in exactly the right light – sometimes that would mean only photographing things lighted by sun rays or the reflections of neighbouring structures. Besides the poetry and metaphors that are integral for his work, Tuma’s black and white photographs always share an intentional minimalism and a certain crypticism when it comes to communicating the work’s meaning.

Many of Tuma’s photos are only fragments of the subjects photographed; still lives depicting outdoors or indoors or their details. They work so well due to their extraordinary lighting and composition – both of these push the work far beyond a naturalistic description of reality and therefore give it a new meaning entirely. Other group of Tuma’s photographs are characteristic with their narration that only hints at the unfinished or incomplete stories they tell – as if they were the static versions of the new wave motion pictures that toyed with the idea of expressing that there is something left unsaid. Stanislav Tuma loved Mala Strana quarter and we could call him it’s court photographer; thanks to him the borough’s non-replicable atmosphere during the second half of the last century is captured. A big part of Tuma’s Mala Strana were his friends and acquaintances from the artistic and bohemian circles that he photographed with an ease and exact sense for their characteristic facial features. After Tuma’s premature departure, an unbelievably rich archive of photographs was left behind. This exhibition focuses mainly on the extraordinary still lives that are considered amongst his artistic legacy as the most valuable of his work.

Tuma never photographed on a big format. The film tape and light cameras offered him a freedom of movement and lent his work a certain sense of casualness and immediateness. Thanks to his Swedish passport, Tuma had the opportunity to travel and photograph all across Western Europe, England, USA and Africa during the times when our borders were closed shut for the vast majority of the Czech people. These travels were extremely important for shaping his world view; he returned with not only the experiences of the western world, but with a new perspective and a courage to freely express even taboo topics. Stanislav Tuma is a representative of the so called “flower generation” with all of it’s warmth, romanticism, lack of traditionalism and a strong relationship with even the most common of things. Despite this, the legacy of the Czech classical and avantgarde photography is very strongly rooted in his work. This merging of influences that are usually considered incompatible is why Stanislav Tuma’s work is both unmistakeably important and irreplaceable in Czech photography.

Eva Heyd, the curator 

Born in Prague and having graduated from Charles’ University, Eva Heyd began her career as a professional photographer and journalist in the seventies.

In 1985, she emigrated to the United States, where she lived for twenty years, working as a photographer for prestigious museums and galleries in New York City. In her own artwork, she concentrated on art projects experimenting with the use of photographic images. Her work was mainly presented in leading galleries of New York as well as other galleries in the United States and Europe. In 2005, she returned to the Czech Republic where she settled in Rožmitál pod Třemšínem.

Currently she works as a director of Czech National Trust, a nonprofit organization that aims to save cultural heritage, and manages several of this organization’s projects. She is also active as a journalist, photographer and an author. She teaches photography and curates art shows.

www.evaheyd.com

Stanislav Tuma was born in Cheb on 11th of July 1950. He was interested in photography ever since his childhood but following his family’s wishes, he enrolled in a hotel school, where he only lasted for two years. After leaving the school, he moved from the family home and started to make his living as a DJ. He found an apartment in a baroque villa at the foot of the Petrin hill in Prague. The house became a centre of meetings of his like-minded artistic friends and Mala Strana quarter became Tuma’s fate.

In 1969 Tuma begins photographing professionally and in the seventies he focuses mainly on the Czech music scene, theatre and architecture. In 1980 he moves to Sweden and later on to Amsterdam.

His work is exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Europe, for example in Amsterdam’s Canon Photo Gallery (1981), Copenhagen’s Kunstindustrimuseum (1983) and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1984) and in Oslo’s Henie-Onstad Kunstsentret (1984). He’s published in European photography magazines and his work is represented in important collections.

In 1982 Tuma was awarded the Cultural Prize by the Swedish Arts Council in Stockholm. His first photography book Womenis published in the Netherlands and includes Jaroslav Seifert’s poems.

He permanently returns to Prague in the spring of 1990. Mala Strana and Hradcany became the integral theme of his work. In this time, other photographic series are created as well: still-lives, nudes and portraits.

Tuma spends a number of years organizing his own as well as group exhibitions of photographers and artists both in the Czech republic and abroad.

His first large retrospective exhibition in the Czech republic was held at the Manes exhibition hall in the spring of 1994. His second book, Suburbium Pragense, is awarded with the title of Best photographical publication of 1997. His book Prager Motive in Fotos und Poesiewas named Best Photographic Book with Text of 2004.

The last important exhibitions of Tuma’s work took place in 2000 as a part of the Prague 2000 – European Capital of Cultureproject at Staromestska city hall and in 2006 in the Prague Fragments exhibitionheld at the City of Prague Museum.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech republic introduced Tuma’s works at the Czech centers throughout Europe, namely in Stockholm, Berlin, Budapest, Moscow, Warsaw and Sofia.

Stanislav Tuma passed away on 14th of September 2005 in Prague.

1977    AFRICA – PLAN DESIGN STUDIO, Copenhagen DK

1978    AFRIKA, RUBÍN THEATRE, Prague CZ

1980    MALOSTRANŠTÍ – ATELIER TŮMA, Prague CZ

1981    FOTOGRAFIE Z MALÉ STRANY – V NERUDOVCE THEATRE, Prague CZ

PRAGUE PHOTOGRAPHS – CANON PHOTO GALLERY, Amsterdam NL

1982    PORTRÉTY, DETAILY – VE VĚŽI GALLERY, Mělník CZ

1983    PRAG FOTOGRAFIER – KUNSTINDUSTRIMUSEUM, Copenhagen DK

MINEN FRÅN PRAG – PENTAX GALLERY, Stockholm S

FOTOGRAFIEN AUS PRAG – GALERIE 70, Berlin D

MUISTOJA PRAHASTA – VALOKUVAMUSEON STUDIO, Helsinki SF

DIVADELNÍ FOTOGRAFIE – RUBÍN THEATRE, Prague CZ

1984    FRIENDS – NY CARLSBERG GLYPTOTEK, Copenhagen DK

FOTOGRAFIER – HENIE-ONSTAD KUNSTSENTRET, Oslo N

MALÁ STRANA – GALERIE VAN DER HAVE, Amsterdam NL

FOTOOS – STUDIO VISA, Alkmaar NL

FOTOGRAFIE 1980 – 85 ZÁTIŠÍ – DŮM UMĚNÍ, FUNKEHO KABINET, Brno CZ

FRIENDS – GALERIE 70, Berlin D

FOTOUTSTILLING – PREUS FOTOMUSEUM, Horten N

1987    WOMEN – FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHY GALERIE, Amsterdam NL

STILL-LIFES – PORTFOLIO GALLERY, London GB

1988    WARTEN AUF LICHT – ATELIER HERBERT DÖRING, Köln D

1990    FAREWELL, FAREWELL – CANON IMAGE CENTRE, Amsterdam NL

STANISLAV TŮMA –PENNINGS GALLERY, Eindhoven NL

1991    MALOSTRANSKÁ ZÁTIŠÍ – GRADUS GALLERY, Prague CZ

1994    FOTOGRAFIE – MÁNES, Prague CZ

1996    PRAŽSKÉ PODHRADÍ/SUBURBIUM PRAGENSE  – OBECNÍ BESEDA GALLERY, Prague CZ

SUBURBIUM PRAGENSE – ČESKÉ CENTRUM, Moskva SU

SUBURBIUM PRAGENSE – TA FANTASTIKA THEATRE, Prague CZ

SUBURBIUM PRAGENSE – U HASIČŮ THEATRE, Prague CZ

1997    SUBURBIUM PRAGENSE – KAMZÍK GALLERY, Prague CZ

1998    FOR THE END YET AGAIN – STAROMĚSTSKÁ CITY HALL, Prague CZ

MALOSTRANSKÁ ZÁTIŠÍ – PEN KLUB, Prague CZ

2000    FOTOGRAFIE 1970-2000-STAROMĚSTSKÁ CITY HALL, Prague CZ

FOTOGRAFIE 1970-2000 – KULTURNÍ DŮM, Dobříš CZ

FOTOGRAFIE 1970-2000 – CITY GALLERY, Trutnov CZ

2001    FOTOGRAFIE 1970-2001 – FR. DRTIKOL GALLERY – Zámeček, Příbram CZ

2002    SUBURBIUM PRAGENSE – Česká spořitelna’s SMALL GALLERY – Kladno CZ

PRÁGAI VÁRALJA – A CSEH CENTRUM, Budapest, H

2003    PRAŽSKÉ PODHRADÍ – MILLENNIUM GALLERY, Prague CZ

2004    ZLØTA PRAGA – CZESKIE CENTRUM, Warszawa PL

PRAŽSKÉ PODHRADÍ – PALFFYHO PALÁC – ČESKÉ CENTRUM, Bratislava SK

AKTY – GALERIE PERON, Prague CZ

LIDSKÁ KRAJINA – BESEDA GALLERY (with Janem Šafránkem), Prague CZ

2005    SUBURBIUM PRAGENSE – TJECKISKA CENTRET, Stockholm SWE

PRAGER MOTIVE, CZECH CENTRE Berlin D

PRAGER MOTIVE, Rehau, D

LIDSKÁ KRAJINA – MILLENNIUM GALLERY, Prague CZ

KOMERČNÍ BANKA, Prague CZ

2006    PRAŽSKÉ FRAGMENTY- MUZEUM OF PRAGUE CITY, Prague CZ

2007    FRAGMENTY TICHA – NOSTRESS GALLERY, Prague CZ

ARS PRAGENSIS – BESEDA GALLERY, Prague CZ

NÁRODNÍ VÝSTAVA ČR/THE CZECH NATIONAL EXHIBITION-Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2010    VE STÍNU/IN THE SHADE, STAROMĚSTSKÁ CITY HALL, Prague CZ

2011    PRAISE OF SHADOWS/CHVÁLA STÍNŮ, Czech Centre Tokyo, Japonsko, J 

ČÍ JE TO MĚSTO, NA ZÁBRADLÍ THEATRE, Prague CZ

2012    ARCHITECTURA POETICA, FOTOGALÉRIA NOVA, Košice, SK

ZÁTIŠIA, Caraffova väznica GALLERY, Prešov, SK

2015    JINÝ POHLED, Art in Box, Prague CZ

AUF DEN STEIN GEFÜHLT,  Galerie auf der Pawlatsche, Wien, A

1980    KONGELIGE BIBLIOTEK, Copenhagen DK

1981    BIBLIOTHÉQUE NATIONALE, Paris F

1982    STEDELIJK MUSEUM, Amsterdam NL

1983    MORAVSKÁ GALERIE, Brno CZ

SUOMEN VALOKUVATAITEEN MUSEO, Helsinki FIN

1984    MUSEUM FOR FOTOGRAFISK KUNST, Odense DK

HENIE-ONSTAD KUNSTSENTRET, Oslo N

1985    RIJKSMUSEUM AMSTERDAM BERT HARTKAMP COLLECTION, Amsterdam NL

THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS – MANFRED HEITING COLLECTION, Houston USA

1986    PREUS FOTOMUSEUM, Horten N

1988    IBN KUNSTSAMLUNG DEUTSCHLAND D

1990    MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, Yokohama J

2002    COMUNITA COMPRENSORIALE OLTRADIGE, Bolzano I

MAGYAR FOTOGRÁFIAI MÚZEUM, Kecskemét H

NARODNI MUZEUM FOTOGRAFIE/NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY, Jindřichův Hradec CZ

2003    MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

2008    UMĚLECKOPRŮMYSLOVÉ MUZEUM/MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS IN PRAGUE/ Prague CZ

2010    GALERIE HLAVNÍHO MĚSTA PRAHY /CITY GALLERY PRAGUE, Prague CZ

1982  KULTURNÍ CENA STÁTNÍ KULTURNÍ RADY ŠVÉDSKA – Stockholm SWE

1983   TVURCI STIPENDIUM UNIE SVEDSKÝCH UMELCU – Stockholm SWE

1997  FOTOGRAFICKÁ PUBLIKACE ROKU 1997 – Prague CZ