Photographer Karel Čapek (1890–1938) exhibition in Los Angeles 25. 6. 2025 – 25. 8. 2025
Curator: Helena Musilová
The exhibition Photographer Karel Čapek showcases a lesser-known but exceptionally remarkable part of this important Czech author’s work – his photography. Karel Čapek, best known as a writer, playwright and journalist, was also a passionate photographer. He approached photography with the same curiosity and attention to detail that characterise his literary work.
The exhibition offers an overview of Čapek’s photographic work spanning a variety of themes – from poetic still lifes and candid portraits to snapshots from his travels, studies of nature and animals, and glimpses of everyday life in his home in Vinohrady. There are also photographs of his close friends, including T. G. Masaryk and his brother Josef. Special attention is also paid to photographs of his dog Dášeňka, which Čapek took during her puppy years. These photographs later formed the basis of the now-famous book Dášeňka čili Život štěněte (Dashenka or, The Life of a Puppy). Čapek’s photographs are not technically perfect, but it is their unpretentiousness and authenticity that give them a special charm. In many ways, they echo his writing – down-to-earth, empathetic and human. The exhibition presents Karel Čapek as an observer of the world who sought beauty in the everyday, capturing it with unobtrusive charm and perceptiveness. The photographs are not only a visual complement to his literary work, but also a unique record of the era in which he lived.
The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles and the Society of Arts and Sciences. The grand opening will take place on 24 June at 7 pm.
