UNTITLED by Kriz, Vilem - 1977: FROM SERIES, SÉANCE, BERKELEY, 1977.

[Berkeley, California]: Vilem Kriz, 1977. Original gelatin silver photograph, 7 5/8 x 9 5/8 inches. Signed and dated "Kriz 77" by the photographer in ink on the photograph, with his stamp and copyright date on the blank reverse. Fine. Vilem Kriz (1921 - 1994) was born in Prague where he studied photography from 1940 - 1946, at the State Graphic School under Frantisëk Drtikol, Jaromír Funke and Josef Ehm. In 1946, after the war in Europe ended, he moved briefly to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for Czech newspapers and as a freelance photographer. He befriended Jean Cocteau and the Surrealist group of artists. In 1952, he emigrated to Berkeley, California, then in 1958, to Montreal, and from 1960 - 1964, he worked in the photographic department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In 1964, he returned to Berkeley, where he remained until his death in 1994. He taught photography variously at Mills College, Holy Names College, the University of California, Berkeley, and the California College of Arts and Crafts.

This original photograph is from Kriz's "Séance" series - found objects that form a spirit-filled surrealist narrative.