Opening: Jan Svoboda & Jaroslav Beneš / Lenticular Poetry

September 06, 2025, 6:00 PM

The American University Museum will open the exhibition JAN SVOBODA & JAROSLAV BENEŠ / LENTICULAR POETRY, with photographer Jaroslav Beneš and curator Pavel Vančát, on September 6, 2025, from 6-9 pm.  Join us for the U.S. debut of two important photographers who extend the rich tradition of Czech Modernist photography.     

Jan Svoboda (1934–1990) is considered one of the most innovative Czech photographers of the 1960s, bridging the fields of photography and fine art in an original mix of symbolism and conceptualism. For Jaroslav Beneš (b. 1946), Jan Svoboda was a major inspiration and one of the first to recognize the qualities of his minimalist light compositions. Their mutual dialogue is thus a meditation on light and minimal forms, but also a commentary about the formats and limits of photography. Both artists, renowned in European photographic circles, are being shown for the first time in the United States.     

EVENT DETAILS: 
Date/Time: September 6, 2025, from 6-9 pm 
            
Venue: American University Museum          
Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016   

The exhibition will be on view from September 6 through December 7, 2025     

Co-organized by: Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, DC / Czech Ministry of Culture / American Friends of the Czech Republic / Czech Centre New York / SVIT Gallery, Prague / Jan Svoboda’s Estate / American University Museum