Ladislav Sutnar; Jaromir Funke - Photography Sees the Surface - 2004

Photography Sees the Surface (Fotografie vidí povrch) is a landmark 1935 instructional book created by avant-garde designer Ladislav Sutnar and pioneering modernist photographer Jaromír Funke. Published by the progressively minded State School of Graphic Arts in Prague, the book serves as a vital artifact of Czech functionalism, New Objectivity, and modernist pedagogy.

The original 1935 volume was designed as a pedagogical and promotional booklet for the State Graphic School in Prague, where both Sutnar and Funke taught. The work serves as an exploration of photography's unique capability to isolate form, capture complex real-world textures, and frame the material world with sterile, minimalist precision. Rooted deeply in the movements of New Objectivity and functionalist design, it treats photography as a modern educational tool that extends across scholarship, culture, and science.

The volume explores how the camera lens acts as a unique tool capable of analyzing and interpreting the physical world. The book focuses heavily on photography's capacity to document real-world surface textures (such as glass, metal, fabric, and ceramic) with a clarity that the human eye might overlook.

It simultaneously highlights the material reality of the photographic print itself, framing photography not as a transparent window, but as its own distinct medium.

Driven by pedagogical considerations under Sutnar's direction, the book contains 14 full-page photographs created by Funke, Josef Ehm, and their students. These images are paired with explanatory notes to demonstrate how photography could be utilized across education, scholarship, and design culture.

The book is highly regarded for fusing two major creative minds of interwar Czechoslovakia:
• Ladislav Sutnar: As the director of the school, Sutnar designed the book using modern layout principles. His signature style—utilizing dynamic typography, asymmetry, and functional presentation—made the educational content highly engaging.
• Jaromír Funke: As a leading teacher and avant-garde photographer, Funke provided the conceptual and visual foundation. His work favored sharp lines, precise lighting, and deep exploration of object geometry, heavily influenced by Constructivism and Surrealism.

The publication captures a golden age of Czech avant-garde art before the onset of World War II. Contemporary editions, such as those featuring historical analysis by scholars Matthew Witkovsky and Jindřich Toman, preserve the book's legacy as a prime blueprint of how modernist design and New Objectivity transformed commercial and artistic media.


Copy in near fine condition.