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Jan Beran
1913 - 2003
Jan Beran was born on August 4, 1913 in Uhercice, in the Moravian region of Austria-Hungary, present-day Czech Republic. After completing grammar school, he studied art education at the Pedagogical Institute in Brno. He was employed at the regional office in Brno until 1945, then after the war as a specialist worker first at the Institute for film and slides in Brno, and later at the Research Pedagogical Institute. Since 1960 he has worked in the Regional Cultural Educational Centre in Brno as a specialist in teaching methodology for artistic fields and as an organizer.
Mr. Beran has been photographing since 1923 and since 1938 has actively devoted himself to amateur photography. Since 1937 he has been a member of KFA in Brno, and later of the group VOX. He is also a member of the Union of Czech Photographers. Thus far he has participated in well over 400 exhibitions at home and abroad, and he has won a number of prizes, medals and honorable mentions in competitions, including the AFIAP international title and the national ASCF. In 1949, he expanded his field of activity to include that of amateur film, and worked as an instructor, juror, lecturer, and first and foremost as creator of over 120 films, recognized both at home and abroad. He currently lives in Brno, where he continues to work as an artist, lecturer and juror.
To move beween photography and film does not necessarily suggest a lack of talent in one of these fields. Jan Beran has the rare ability to capture with technical precision the unique moments in which the features of everyday life - encountered by chance, and intesified by art - create a higher whole with new and often symbolic meaning. His art of observing and seeing naturally led to parallel creation in both media. With the help of photography and film he strived to reveal the world and its circumstances, rather than construct these with the help of arranged pictures. This creative approach often led him to the revelation of curious and absurd situations; thus Beran, among other things, became the foremost humorist of Czech photography.
Life:
1913: Born August 4 in Uhercice, present-day Czech Republic
1923: Becomes a member of the Union of Czech Photographers
1937: Becomes a member of the Club of Amateur Photographers in Brno, Czechoslovakia
1946-48: Master of the Czechoslovak Film Industry (CFI)
1970: Honorable mention, Czechoslovakian Ministry of Culture member, AFIAP
2003: Died in Brno
Exhibitions: Individual: Funke's Cabinet, Brno 1961; Zlin 1964; Cultural Centre, Prostejv 1970; Olomouc 1981; Art Hall, Blansko 1982; Union of Czech Photographers, Ceska Lipa 1983; Uherske Hradiste 1984; Funke's Cabinet, Brno 1984; Rennes 1985; Brno 1986; Breclav 1987; House of Culture, Hustopece near Brno 1987; Galerie Artica, Cuxhaven (Germany) 1992; FOMA Gallery, Hradec Kralove 1992; EGU Gallery, Brno 1993; Galerie Hradni, Boskovice 1993; Cultural Club, Uherske Hradiste 1993; Gallery "U dobreho pastyre," Brno 1993. Collective: Czech Club of Amateur Photographers, Brno 1946; Club of Photographic Workers, Brno 1949; Group VOX, House of Kunstats, Brno 1967.
Literature: I. Zhor: Jan Beran, Czechoslovak Photography, 1960, No. 4; K.O. Hruby: Jan Beran, KKS, Brno 1969; V. Richtrmoc: Two Hobbies of Jan Beran, Czechoslovak Photography, 1984, No. 7; Encyclopedia of Czech and Slovak Photographers, ASCO, Prague 1993.
Work can be found in collections of: Moravian Gallery, Brno; Archive of Union of Czech Photographers, Prague; Czech Centre of Photography, Prague.