Since its inception 18 years ago, PPF Art has worked hard to promote its collections, support artists and cultivate the Czech arts scene. It adheres to the highest standards in curating art, building relationships with artists and art professionals, and maintaining the artworks on display. Over the years, PPF Art has collected 2,587 photographs by 295 artists to create one of the largest collections of Czech and Slovak photography. PPF Art also curates a sizeable collection of 340 paintings and sculptures by 138 artists. Forty-six of these artworks are currently on long-term loan to galleries.
PPF Art’s acquisitions in 2023 included paintings by the well-known contemporary Czech artist Ivana Lomová, whose Mia Camera exhibition at the Václav Špála Gallery received excellent reviews (“an exhibition that will go down in history,” raved the newspaper Lidové noviny).
It also purchased 19 photographs by the contemporary photographer Ondřej Přibyl (1978), an experimental artist who uncovers and explores ordinarily invisible and unseen aspects of the real world.
Last year, PPF Art acquired a historical treasure of late 19th century and early 20th century photographs. Works by Rudolf Bruner-Dvořák, Jindřich Eckert, František Fridrich and other photographers were also collected in the fi rst instalment of a larger acquisition plan designed not only to map a vanished world captured in vintage photographs but also to express high artistic value.
A public exhibition of photographs by Běla Kolařová and Ladislav Sitenský from the PPF Art collections, staged at the Brussels headquarters of the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU during the Czech EU Presidency, was extended into 2023.
The Josef Sudek Studio, a Prague gallery run by PPF Art, underwent a major refurbishment in 2023 that included the renovation of a passageway connecting this old building in the historical centre of Prague. In 2000, PPF Group built a replica of Josef Sudek’s original photography studio, which had been destroyed by fire in 1985. The latest renovation, funded by the PPF Foundation and completed in December 2023, has given the Josef Sudek Studio the new and dignified entrance it undeniably deserves.
