Antonin Kratochvil Biography

Antonin is one of the founders of the VII photo agency.

As photojournalists go, Antonin Kratochvil has sunk his teeth into his fair share of upheaval and human catastrophes whilst going about his documentation of the time in which he lives.
As people go, Kratochvil's own refugee life has been much in the way the same as what he has rendered on film. Kratochvil's unique style of photography is the product of personal experience, intimate conditioning and not privileged voyeurism.

Over the years his fluid and unconventional work has been sought by numerous publications stretching across widely differing interests. From shooting Mongolia's street children for the magazine published by the Museum of Natural History to a portrait session with David Bowie for Detour, from covering the war in Iraq for Fortune Magazine to shooting
Deborah Harry for a national advertising campaign for the American Civil Liberties Union, Kratochvil's ability to see through and into his subjects and show immutable truth has made his pictures not facsimiles but uncensored visions.

And yet, what set his kind apart from the many is his consistency and struggle to carry on.
For Kratochvil this fact comes in the form of his numerous awards, grants and honorable mentions dating back to 1975. The latest of these are his two, first place prizes at the 2002 World Press Photo Awards in the categories of general news and nature and the environment.
The next is the 2004 grant from Aperture publishing for Kratochvil's study on the fractious relationship between American civil liberties and the newly formed Homeland Security since the World Trade Center bombings.

In addition, Kratochvil's fifth book Vanishing was presented in April 2005 and marks another significant milestone for the craft to which he belongs.
Vanishing represents a collection of natural and human phenomena that on the verge of extinction. What makes this book so innovative is the twenty years it has taken to produce, making it not only historical from the onset, but a labor of love and a commitment to one man's conscience.

Education:

• Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, Gerrit Rietveltd Art Academy, Amsterdam, Holland .

Awards:

• 1991 Infinity Award: Photojournalist of the Year, InternationalCenter of Photography, New York.
• 1994 Leica Medal of Excellence for outstanding achievement indocumentary photography.
• 1994 Dorothy Lange Prize, Duke University Center of documentary Studies.
• 1995 Ernst Haas Award, Maine Photographic workshops.
• 1997 Gold Medal for Photography from Society of Publishing Designers, New York.
• 1997 First Prize, World Press Photo Portrait Series, Amsterdam.
• 1997 (Eissie) Alfred Eisenstadt Award for 3Eyewitness Essay2 Life Magazine.
• 2000 Gold ARC Award for Best Annual Report, NGO Category, for Rockefeller Foundation 1999 Annual Report.
  
• 2003 First Prize World Press Photo Amsterdam (2 awards same year)
• Medal from the City of Prague for Photography awarded by the Mayor of Prague
• 2005 Lucie Award
  for Outstanding Achievement in Photojournalism
  
• 2005 Golden Light Award for Best Documentary Book for the book Vanishing

Books:

• Broken Dream: 20 Years of War in Eastern Europe
  Monacelli Press, New York 1997.


• Antonin Kratochvil
  Torst 2003


• Incognito
  Arena Editions, USA 2001


• Supravvivere
  Motta Editore, Italy 2001
  


• Vanishing
  de.MO 2005

Grants:

• Mother Jones International Fund for Photography, USA.
• 1994 Ernst Haas Working Grant USA.
• 1995 Hasselblad Foundation Grant for Photography / Sweden.