Václav Chochola

1923–2005

Chochola studied at the Upper Secondary School in Prague-Karlín (1934–1941) and was an apprentice in Otto Urban’s studio in Prague in 1945. At the same time he attended the photography class of the School of Graphic Art in Prague. From 1943 to 1948 he was a photographer of the National Theater in Prague and he also photographed for other Prague theaters. In 1949 he became a freelance photographer. His thematically as well as stylistically varied work includes sports reportages and dramatic pictures of the Prague Uprising in May 1945, documentary photographs, an extensive collection of portraits of prominent Czech and world-reknowned artists, nudes, and imaginative pictures of horses.