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Jan Parik was born in Wrocław. After the war he lived in Czechoslovakia and studied at Prague Film Academy (FAMU). His first success as a photographer came with the publication of his work in editions of poetry by Josef Kainar and Miroslav Holub, and exhibitions in Prague, Brno and Bratislava. In 1965 he escaped from Czechoslovakia. He lived in West Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, photographing for international magazines and later for advertising agencies and industry. In 1983 he went to New York, where he spent three years. There he sought a new photographic idiom to depict the scale of the city, and developed techniques of photo-assemblage.
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A major step towards international recognition came in 1980 with his exhibition KAFKA’S PRAGUE at the Beth Hatefutsoth Museum in Tel Aviv. Following its success in New York, KAFKA’S PRAGUE ‘travelled’ to other American countries, as well as Europe, Africa and Australia. In 1984 he designed a completely new show JAN PARIK: PRAGUE DE KAFKA for the LE SIECLE DE KAFKA, exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. His books KAFKA, EIN LEBEN IN PRAG, [KAFKA – A LIFE IN PRAGUE] SINAI, WEGE INS VERHEISSENE LAND [SINAI, PATHS TO THE PROMISED LAND] and DER RABE – THE RAVEN are regarded as landmarks in art photography. Today Jan Parik again lives and works
in Prague. SINAI peninsula has been in focus of history for some
millenniums. It is a connection and border between Asia and Africa. Since my
first trip (1969) to this beautiful and stately landscape (desert), my
thoughts dedicated to this gorgeous land have never left me. I started
studying SINAI history, Books of Moses and Exodus theological files.
Aba Ebban writes in introduction of my book about SINAI desert: “The Bible
follows man on his every step, and SINAI peninsula was the place where the
main topic of biblical events were enacted”. Gradually, I can understand the genius of Moses to lead
“Children of Israel” through this desert – fourty years of wandering before
the old “rotten” generation, born in captivity and “spoiled” by a
comfortable life and bellyful of meat in Egypt, died, and before the new
generation, born in the desert and untouched by Egyptian captivity and
slavery, grew up. With this generation, Josua was then able to conquer the
Promised Land “which abounds with milk and honey.”Surrounded with granite
mountains, amongst the Nomads gardens, holes with water, palm oasis, fruit
trees with pomegranates and wild peaches in the South, and unending sand
wilding of the desert and incredible yellow and black moon landscapes in the
North...in the middle of this desert that is “grand and merciless,” Moses
declared God´s ten commandments after he had come back from Horeb mountain. An attempt to picture escape of “Children of Israel” to
Egypt was subject to other laws than the ones which were determinating my
earlier work concerning Franz Kafka and Prague. I cannot find the exact
texts, diaries. On the contrary, those who wrote first Thora (Book of Moses)
scroll texts were pressurized to omit details of the Epiphany place (Horeb-Sinai
mountain) and some other significant places. In the third and fourth commandment, as in Talmud, is
strictly forbidden to worship paintings or various depictions... Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not
make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that
is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,or that is in the water
under the earth; thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I
the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me;….. ( THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, Philadelphia, THE JEWISH
PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA, new translation 1957 ) Even back then, the priesthood was afraid of pilgrimage
to the so-called Saint places (Horeb-Sinai mountain) and of idolatry. After many encounters with archeologists, inspections and
interviews with the experts of Thora (Book of Moses) and meetings with
theologists specialized in Thora research, I stuck to my original decision
to use the so-called classical journey of EXODUS (escape of “Children of
Israel” from Egypt and their fourty-year-wandering through the desert)
according to the Oxford biblical atlas. So far, there have not been known
any new research results that would make us revise our old knowledge
of Exodus. I did not find the traces of them wandering through the desert in
SINAI, and I did not expect to find them. Avner Goren, who is an author of
the archeologic epilogue to my book SINAI and one of the leading personas of
Israeli archeology, told me: “Children of Israel were a nomadic desert
community, and such community does not leave traces”. I was told this at
St Katherina-Plateau which is near Jebel Safsafa and Jebel Musa roots. Jebel
Musa is said to be identical to the biblic mountain SINAI. Lots of SINAI regions, which I travelled through in the
seventies with my camera thanks to a special permission of Israeli army, are
inaccessible these days. After returning SINAI to Egypt according to the
peace treaty between Israel and Egypt (1979-82), the Egyptians declared
these regions as a military zone - the forbidden teritory. Moses who were a citizen of Egypt, was definitely taught
how to live in the desert by his father in law Jetro, who was a desert Nomad.
My teachers were Bedouins and also Israeli friend who have lived and worked
in SINAI desert for years. Hasan - the Bedouin showed me how to find water
in a sun-baked Wadi. In a flat sand desert of East SINAI, he cut down a
nanny-goat Ali after a ritual that is described in Thora (Book of Moses). I
was sharing pita bread with Bedouins in the evening, in the morning I woke
up in the cold just in time to see and experience an iridescence, by which
the Sun enchanted the clouds. I experienced desert windstorms and rains, I
saw and felt when the earth was drying and crackling. After months I got
used to a totally different life rhythm, and I found a new understanding for
the nomadic crusade (similar to the “Children of Israel” pilgrimage) from
one water field to another. In the North, I stood in front of Jebel Safsafa
made of granite with massive hooks (similar to the tree roots) all over St.
Katherina-Plateau. In the South, I stood in a circular massif Jebel Halal
which looks like an amphitheatre for thousands people...there is no sign of
life there and the whole mountain is kind of surrounded with a majestic
silence. Horeb´s locality riddle did not endure the scientists´ onset, but
it is certain that while Moses was meeting God on the mountain Horeb, he
gave rise to the human civilization and he laid foundations of a big
building for monotheistic religion of Jews, Christians and Moslems. I saw a gorgeous cloud-scape, experienced lightning and
thunder and tangibly close full moon. I was sensing the newly attained
freedom more and more, and the more I was getting to this unique landscape´s
roots, the more I was becoming conviced that I understood the mountain Horeb´s
tidings. Jan Parik
CASPARI CENTER company was established in August 2002. We
deal with exhibition and gallery activities, photography, design and
architecture. We look for and invigorate relations between these individual
areas. Presently, we start running our gallery in central Prague. CASPARI CENTER company exclusively represents world-famous
photographer Jan Parik who lived many years in Germany and New York, and who
currently works and lives in Prague. So far, our company participated in the
artist´s three exhibitions of a unique black-and-white photographs cycle
KAFKA AND PRAGUE. In June there will be a SINAI cycle exhibition in Prague
– Klementinum, together with presentation of the author´s book that he
published earlier. We are also preparing a unique exhibition of large-size
pieces of author´s work, collages, assemblages and multipicture in a
beautiful baroque house in Hradec Králové. We plan a succession of thematic exhibitions from the
master´s production in the next few years. EXHIBITIONS 1958 1961 1962 1980 1981 1981 1982 KAFKA PRAGUE - Berkeley, USA KAFKA PRAGUE - Washington, USA 1983 1984 KAFKA PRAGUE - Londýn, Anglie KAFKA PRAGUE - Zürich, Švýcarsko KAFKA PRAGUE - Brusel, Belgie THE WONDERFUL ISLAND OF DJERBA - Chicago, USA 1985 1985 1986 1987 1990 1991 1992 1993 PRAG, AUF DEN SPUREN VON FRANZ KAFKA - Dessau, Německo. 1994 2000 2003 Portfolios and photographs in international museums such
as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, BOOKS 1960 1963 1965 1978 1982 1988 1990 1993 1993 2000 2003 |
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