"Fokalke"

gelatin silver print, negative manipulation

signed and dated verso

Miloš Koreček, along with photographers Vilém Reichmann and Václav Zykmund, was a member of the well-known Czech artist group “Ra” of the 1940s,¹ which was dedicated to Surrealism and developed its own interpretation of the movement. By chance, Koreček discovered an experimental photographic process, the results of which he named “Fokalke” (light print) in 1947. He systematically refined the technique between 1944 and 1948 and again after 1971 until his death. “In the spirit of figurative and abstract Surrealism, he sought, on the one hand, to discover representational associations in the randomly formed textures of the negatives, and on the other hand, pure structures that anticipate the aesthetics of Informel.”²
Although the Fokalken were created exclusively by Koreček, they are not unique in the history of Surrealism. Raoul Ubac in France and Marcel Lefrancq in Belgium created their “Brulages.” David Hare in the USA created his “Chauffages.” All of them partially heated or burned the gelatin on the photographic plate and enlarged the result onto photographic paper. These experiments all arose independently of one another during the course of World War II. Koreček typically used the less successful negative plates for his Fokal works, often featuring images of artworks by his fellow artists. Although the Fokal was shaped by chance, it was not determined by chance alone. The other component – that of the artist – is what transforms it into a Fokal; before that, it is merely a photographically processed plate. The editing process, the selection, the cropping, and the interpretation transform the originally merely exposed photographic plate into a Fokalk. Koreček resisted describing the Fokalk as photography, yet today it can be regarded as a precursor to concrete photography.³
(Christoph Fuchs)

Notes

1
See in detail: D. Siegert (ed.) et al., Real SurReal, Meisterwerke der Avantgarde-Fotografie, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg 2014, p.194; on Miloš Koreček, p.226.

2
Vladimir Birgus, Tschechische Avantgarde-Fotografie, Stutgart 1999, p.288.

3
Photo Edition Berlin, https://www.photoeditionberlin.com/programm/czech-fundamental/milos-korecek/ (accessed 30.3.2026)