Jan Saudek is currently the most renowned Czech photographer.  

Adored as well as vilified, celebrated as well as despised, worshiped as well as cursed. He holds a unique place in the development of Czech as well as world photography. Because he is distinctive and original, his work is not part of any genre or movement. He cannot be compared to anyone and there is no way to classify him. And even if we tried to do so, ultimately he would be all alone in such a “pigeon hole”. His controversial work daringly plunges into human emotions, drives, passions, consciousness as well as the subconscious, has the integrity of great artists, including style, view point, and expression. At no time has he diverted from his path. Jan Saudek always remained perfectly ahead of his time. He was staging long before the wave of staged photography. He was manipulating images long before manipulation became fashionable. He was taking pictures of himself long before the protagonists of a new existentialist wave around the world started to do so. He dealt with observing the passage of time long before others incorporated it into their work. In addition, he never conformed to anything, that which was ‘in’ or to anything that was required. He has always stubbornly stood his ground even if it meant severe suffering, especially during the totalitarian social system. He never even succumbed to a commission - in spite of the fact that due to his wartime experience as an enduring Jewish child - material assets have served him as one of the measures of his work's value. It is not surprising his uniqueness as well as success give rise to imagined or real ill feelings of other photographers who are not so strongly inspired. And it is rather only Saudek's personal problem that this disturbs him so deeply.