Viktor Kolář

Viktor Kolář is a Czech photographer renowned for his contribution to Czech documentary photography. Kolář's focus in his works lies primarily in capturing urban life in the Ostrava region.

Biography of Viktor Kolář

Born in 1941 in Ostrava (Czech Republic), Viktor Kolář was influenced by his father, a self-taught filmmaker and photographer who owned a photo studio and shop. This early exposure played a crucial role in shaping Viktor's interest in photography.  

In 1953, Viktor Kolář began to make his first photographs under the tutelage of his father. Between 1960 and 1964, he pursued studies at the Photographic Institute in Ostrava. Subsequently, he took on a teaching role at an elementary school. In the latter half of the 1960s, he decided to fully commit himself to photography.

In 1961, he had his first publication in the journal of czech photography. In 1964, Kolář showcased his works at his first solo exhibition.

Following the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact in October 1968, he chose to emigrate to Canada, where he spent five years. In 1973, he returned to Ostrava. Upon his return to the communist country, state authorities cast doubt on it, subjecting Kolář to police interrogations on multiple occasions. Due to his status as a former emigrant, deemed unreliable by the regime, he lost the opportunity to work as a photographer.

During the period of intense "normalization," he took on employment as a laborer at the Nová Huť Steelworks. Despite this, he clandestinely persisted in his photographic documentation of the Ostrava region. Between 1975 and 1984, he served as a stage technician at the Petr Bezruč Theatre.

Upon joining the Czech Artists' Fund, he left the theater and initiated his career as a freelance photographer.

In 1991, he was awarded the prize of the Mother Jones Foundation in San Francisco. Following the Velvet Revolution in 1994, he commenced teaching documentary photography at FAMU in Prague.