Josef Binko

ISBN: 80-7215-281-5|Published: 2006|Pages: 148
Binding: Softbound|Format: 160 x 180 mm|Graphic design: Pavel Lev, Studio Najbrt

Apart from being a co-owner of the tannery in the town of Krucemburk in the Bohemian-Moravian Uplands, Josef Binko (1879–1960) is an extraordinary figure in the history of photography in the Bohemian Lands. He is the only Czech photographer to be continuously represented (by his darkroom) in the permanent exhibition on the history of photographic technology at the National Technical Museum, Prague. He is the only amateur photographer with several thousand negatives in the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, which owns the most important collection of Czech photographs. Apart from František Drtikol he is the only Czech photographer with several hundred brome oil and gum bichromate prints preserved from the period before the First World War. The life of Binko, who was till now a largely forgotten figure in the history of Czech photography, is in many ways a reflection of the fate of his country. This volume is by Pavel Scheufler, a historian of photography with a particular interest in the years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918).