Jindřich Štreit

Jindřich Štreit studied at Palacký University Olomouc. The recorded working language is Czech. Places of work recorded in the authority are Olomouc and Opava. Residence is recorded at Sovinec. Work by Jindřich Štreit is recorded in the collections of Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, Jindřich Štreit in Sovinec Collection, Interviews Collection of the Oral History Center and Jindřich Chalupecký Collection at the Museum of Czech Literature. Distinctions recorded are Czech Medal of Merit, Personality of Czech photography, Olomouc City Award and Silver Medal of the President of the Senate.

Štreit was born in Vsetín on 5 September 1946. He began taking photographs in 1964, during his studies at the Pedagogical Faculty of Palacký University in Olomouc. Following his graduation he worked as a teacher in Rýmařov; later he became director of the school in Sovinec and Jiříkov. In addition to his profession, Štreit actively participated in public life. As a local chronicler he documented the everyday events and life of Czech villages under the communist regime. The photography theorist Antonín Dufek identified him as "a continuer of the tradition of old village teachers, propagators of culture and progress". • Illustration — Since the 1980s, Jindřich Štreit has regularly organized exhibitions, concerts and theatrical performances at the Sovinec Castle. The photographer is sometimes nicknamed 'Jindra from Sovinec'. In the late 1970s, Štreit's approach to photography began to change. He studied at the Institut výtvarné fotografie (Institute of Art Photography) in Brno, led by K. O. Hrubý and Antonín Hinšt. He graduated from the Institute with a cycle of theatrical photography. At the same time, he continued expanding his cycle of everyday life of the villages in the foothills of the Jeseníky Mountains. Additionally, he helped organize cultural life in the region; he participated in organizing exhibitions and concerts. In 1981, during the general elections in the former Czechoslovakia, Štreit documented the official course of the elections. In some of his photographs made during the meetings of the local authorities, the portrait of the President of Czechoslovakia appeared on photographs in very "unlikely and absurd places". A year later, in June 1982, Štreit agreed to display his works at the exhibition Setkání (The Meeting) organized in Prague by the graphic artist Alena Kučerová. After several hours, the exhibition was banned by the state police and Štreit was arrested and accused of defamation of the President and the country. He was sentenced to ten months' imprisonment with a suspended sentence of two years. As a consequence, he lost his job and was forced to earn a living at a state farm in Rýžoviště. He was banned from taking photographs, but he never respected the ban and returned to photography immediately after his release from the prison. The photography theorist Anna Fárová managed to include his works in the exhibition 9 + 9, visited by Henri Cartier-Bresson, who documented Štreit's installation and published his photos in the French newspaper Le Monde. In 1989, after the Velvet Revolution and subsequent democratization of Czech society, Štreit was rehabilitated and allowed to take photographs without limitations. In 2009, he was named Professor of Applied Arts by the President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus. As of 2010, Štreit works as a teacher at the Institut tvůrčí fotografie (Institute of Creative Photography of Silesian University in Opava).

• 1990 • Sovinec. Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne • 2002 • Lidé z kraje písku. City Gallery, Pécs; Muvészetek Háza, Eger (both Hungary) • Katholische Akademie, Munich (together with Adriena Šimotová) • Vesnice je svět. Prospekto Fotografijos Galerija, Vilnius; Fujifilm Fotografijos Galerija, Kaunas (both Lithuania) • Jindřich Štreit: Dans le cadre de Bohemia Magica, Le Château d'Eau, Toulouse • Mezi námi. Cesty života. Brána naděje, Prague • Fotografie. Gallery Langův dům, Frýdek-Místek (Czech Republic) • Za oponou. National Museum, Prague • Fotografie z kraje písku. New Town Hall, Prague • Jindřich Štreit-Tvorivé dielne na Slovensku. Czech Centre, Bratislava • 2003 • Cesta ke svobodě. Theatre Ludus, Bratislava • Cesta ke svobodě. Czabai IFIHAZ, Békéscsaba (Hungary) • Cesta ke svobodě. Theatre Baj Pomorski, Toruń (Poland) • Lidé olomouckého okresu. Kulturplatz, Münsingen (Switzerland) • Daleko od domova. Czech Centre, Novorosijsk, Moscow • Beziehungen. Fotogalerie Friedrichshain, Berlin • Das Tschechische Dorf. Tschechisches Zentrum / Czechpoint, Berlin • Interpretace. Gallery Caesar, Olomouc (Czech Republic) • Úcta k životu. Church of St. Cyril and Methodius, Přerov (Czech Republic) • Svět dětí. Gallery Auritius, Tábor (Czech Republic) • Cesty života. Gallery Perseus, Olomouc • Viděno srdcem. Olomouc • Lidé mého kraje. Museum in Bruntál, Bruntál • 2004 • Lidé z kraje písku. Hungarian Cultural Centre, Helsinki • Vztahy. Czech Centre, Dresden; Palais für aktuelle Kunst, Glückstadt (Germany); Neumünster (Germany) • Lidé ledkových dolů. Maison de l'Alsace, Paris • The Village is a Global World. Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne • Mezi námi. Gallery Měsíc ve dne, České Budějovice (Czech Republic) • Život na zámku. Gallery Patro, Olomouc (Czech Republic) • Tak blízko, tak daleko. M.E.C.C.A., Terezín (Czech Republic) • Tak blízko, tak daleko. Theatre, Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) • Tváře za zdí. Gallery of Critics, Prague • Lidé mého kraje. Gallery Fiducia, Ostrava; Prague • 2005 • Jindřich Štreit. Blue Sky Gallery, Portland • Ein tschechisches Universum, Gallery Fotoforum, Innsbruck • Čzech Universum. Photogallery, Bolzano (Italy) • Jindřich Štreit. Photo-Forum, Bozano • Jindřich Štreit. Gallery of the Parliament of Lithuania, Vilnius • So near and yet so far: Photographs from Chechnya and Ingushia. Gallery Vapriikki, Tampere (Finland) • Tak blízko, tak daleko. Museum Kampa, Prague • Vztahy. Gallery 4, Cheb (Czech Republic) • Cesta k člověku. Minorites Monastery, Opava (Czech Republic) • Fotografie J. Štreita ze sbírky Moravské galerie. Moravian Gallery, Brno • 2006 • Vztahy. Gallery ZPAP Pryzmat, Kraków • Jindřich Štreit. Galeria BWA, Bielsko-Biała (Poland) • Sovinec. Centrum Kultury Zamek, Galeria Fotografii PF, Poznań • Jindřich Štreit. European Parliament, Brussels • Jindřich Štreit. Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava • Jindřich Štreit. House of Arts, Ostrava (Czech Republic) • Jindřich Štreit: Fotografie, které mám rád. Museum of Ostrava, Ostrava • Jindřich Štreit. Orlická galerie, Rychnov nad Kněžnou (Czech Republic) • Vzpomínky. Malá galerie, Kladno (Czech Republic) • Jindřich Štreit. Castle, Sovinec (Czech Republic) • Jindřich Štreit. Gallery Zdeněk Sklenář, Prague • 2008 • Das Dorf ist eine Welt. Fotografien. Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Wörlen, Passau (Germany)

Jindřich Štreit is recorded as having received Czech Medal of Merit, Personality of Czech photography and Olomouc City Award.