picture shot. For Drtikol this technique served to
underscore the decorative quality of the picture, par-
ticularly in his nudes; Funke used it in order to create
abstract forms.
Along with Funke’s fine arts efforts, he produced a
large number of commercial works, including ar-
chitecture, advertising, landscape photography, and
portraiture. At the end of the 1920s Funke was con-
sidered one of the most progressive photographers in
Czechoslovakia, whose works received attention
everywhere and whose critical contributions in differ-
ent magazines were often discussed. Now, as before,
most of his texts could be read as explanations or
additions to his photographic intentions. Thus
Funke extended for example his theses over the
‘‘photoingenuity’’ by terms of the integration and
visualisation of the emotions, which he formulated
(1929) on the occasion of the second member exhibi-
tion of theCzech Photographic Society(Cˇeska ́foto-
graficka ́ spolecˇnost) in Prague 1929: ‘‘For us the
photographic purism [that is, ‘‘photoingenuity’’] is
fundamental, to which two substantial components
belong: Feeling and arrangement.’’
He shared these opinions with another well
known Czech photographer, Josef Sudek, who also
lived in Kolı ́n and who was of the same age. The
two took up the industrialization of the city—so
that it is difficult sometimes to differentiate bet-
ween the two. It was Sudek, who convinced Funke
to participate further in international exhibitions
although both were excluded from all Czech photo-
graphic circles either because of their criticism of
the pictorialism, which was still in vogue. During
their excursions they were joined by the pho-
tographer Eugen Wisˇkovsky ́, who—contrary to
Funke—was always interested in practical applica-
tions reflected theoretically upon the point of view
of the ‘‘Gestalt’’—psychology over the medium.
Wisˇkovsky ́ propagated the Neue Sachlichkeit
(New Objectivity) in the Czech Republic, particu-
larly after the legendaryFilm und Fotoexhibition of
1929 in Stuttgart. The cooperation at the magazine
published by Karel Teige ‘‘ReD’’ (Revue Deveˇtsilu)
in 1929 began after his acquaintance with Anna
Kellerova ́, later his wife. She was active in the
communist movement and her father was one of
the initial members of the Czech communist party.
She probably arranged the contact with the poet
Frantisˇek Halas, who drew Teige’s attention to
Funke. In ‘‘Red III,’’ No. 1 some photographs of
Funke appeared. He was also invited to supply his
photographs for the magazine ‘‘Index,’’ published
in Moravian Brno. At the end of 1929 he contrib-
uted slides that reproduced abstract photographs
to a new form of scenery in the Brno City Theatre.
At the beginning of the 1930s, the exhibition
‘‘Nova ́fotographie’’ (New photography) presented
the Czech avant-garde photography in its breadth
for the first time. Funke took part both organiza-
tionally and with his own work. In the summer of
that same year he was in Brno, where he was to
cooperate in an advertising film, but without suc-
cess. Instead he took photographs of newer build-
ings of Czech avant-garde architects, among them
from Bohuslav Fuchs. These works, which
appeared in Fuchs’ self-edition, have been lost.
Funke’s interest in socially engaged photography
continued to grow while he at the same time turned
down an offer to teach at the Bauhaus in Dessau with
Walter Peterhans because Peterhans’s aesthetic con-
tradicted his own. Instead he accepted the offer to
teach at the Slowakian ‘‘Ucˇnˇovske ́Sˇkole Fotogra-
ficke ́’’ (Slowakian Apprentice School on Photogra-
phy, 1931–1934) and at theSˇkole umeˇlecky ́ch rˇemesel
(School of Applied Arts, starting from school year
1931–1932 to 1934). A stay in Bratislava, which com-
pared with Prague was a city pregnant with social
differences, and his journeys through Slovakia and
finally through that part of the Ukraine (Subcar-
pathian Ruthenia), which belonged to the Czechoslo-
vakian Republic, shocked Funke in such a way that
he reported photographically the poverty (cycle
Sˇpatne ́bydlenı ́, Bad living, 1930–1931).
In the 1930s Funke created some of his most
well-known works, including the series Cˇas trva ́
(Time Persists). He also published the foliosNova ́
architektura(New Architecture, 1931),Fotografie
vidı ́povrch(Photography Sees the Surface, 1935),
and he was particularly busy with teaching. He
sketched (1933) guidelines for photography
instruction at higher commercial schools, which
were immediately applied at the ‘‘Sta ́tnı ́graficka ́
kola’’ (State School of Graphic Arts) in Prague. At
the end of 1934 Funke asked for a transfer from
Bratislava to Prague, and on February 1, 1935 his
request was approved.
His articles, lectures, and photographs witness the
variety of his interests, making Funke one of the
most demanded personalities of cultural life in Pra-
gue. In 1936, he became a member of the most
important group of artists in Czechoslovakia at
that time—Ma ́nes. He prepared numerous publica-
tions (or worked on them), in which his photographs
(and those of his colleagues) were featured. He also
took part in organizing—and contributing to—the
new photo sectionMa ́nes(February–April). Because
teaching at theSta ́tnı ́graficka ́Sˇkolain Prague took
up five to eight hours daily, Funke’s public engage-
ments were reduced considerably in order to have
the time for other work.FUNKE, JAROMI ́R