Viktor Kolář

(b. 1941, Ostrava, Czech Republic)

Viktor Kolář was born in Ostrava, Moravia, on September 7, 1941. His father came from Sviadnov near Frŷdek-Mistek and was, from the age of three, brought up by his mother; he attended a parish secondary school, from which he ran away, and then, at the age of fourteen, worked in steel mills; he later became a self-taught photographer and filmmaker, then owned a shop with photography supplies and a studio; he passed his interest in photography to his son. Kolář’s mother was from the village of Dolni Dubňany (not far from the town of Dukovany where a nuclear energy plant now stands); she was one of seven siblings; in the early 1930s she went to live at her brother's in Ostrava, where she remained. Viktor Kolář grew up with five siblings in a small apartment. He especially enjoyed his vacations in Dolni Dubňany; his impressions of this “paradise” and the world of Ostrava became the basis for his later photography.