Biography
Frantisek Strouhal was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, from a family of painters and artists. His interest in art has always been focused on the traditional and classical painters. He was introduced to photography while studying fashion design in college.  Primarily self-taught he learned the photographic and printing craft through the study of many renowned photographers. Photography gave him the opportunity to grow, express and transform himself. While exploring the boundaries of the photographic medium his artistic nature developed a strong appeal towards the alternative process called Bromoil. This process allowed him to find satisfaction in techniques that gave him complete control over the final print. His choices of brush, paper, texture and lithographic inks determine the quality of his images. It takes him many hours to build up a depth of ink, layer by layer, to create the desired image. Presently, he is experimenting with the Oil Printing process in collaboration with his wife Chantal. Together they combine the hands on techniques of this nineteenth century process to create a paper ready for contact printing with digitally printed paper negative. Minutes, hours, and days of hand labor applying layers of ink indicate his personal dedication to the work of art. Working with Bromoil and oil Printing makes each image unique.
He invites you to visit his website to share his exploration of the world through in a classical style utilizing historic photographic and printing processes. To view the original work, to discuss exhibition, representation or acquisition of limited edition prints,  and to have portraits done on commission please contact the artist.
 

                                             Artist Statement

 

 

My art and the processes which I choose to apply myself to are representative of the feelings and perceptions that surface from my deepest self. Photography has become the median through which I translate the language of the heart and soul, as subjected to my individual experience and expression. In today’s world of instantaneous satisfaction and digital development, I have reverted to the  techniques of Oil Printing and Bromoil. Such procedures demand a commitment above and beyond most developmental protocol. The rewards of which enrich my artistic experience, and endow me with a greater capacity to manipulate the end results as per my vision. I have found an affinity with methods outside the prevailing conventions of contemporary photography in combining 19th century styles with 21st century art and craft. What you see on my canvas is a commentary from the core of my being. I hope to extend the boundaries of these processes and manifest images unique in their own right yet resonant to all. It is my rebellion, my renaissance, and my self.  
 

Frantisek Strouhal
frantisekstrouhal@gmail.com
                                                Oil printing process

The oil printing process, whose origins go back to the mid-nineteenth century, works on the same principle as lithographic printing, which is that oil and water don’t mix. The prints are made on paper with a thick gelatin layer that has been sensitized with dichromate salts. Exposure using a negative for contact-print leads to hardening of the dichromated gelatin, in direct relation of the amount of light received. After the paper is washed and dried, it gets soaked in water again. Thick oil based ink is applied to the paper and sticks to the areas with the hardened gelatine, but the water-swollen areas of the paper repel the ink. The non-mixing character of oil and water results in a coloring of the exposed parts of the print, creating a positive image. The ink application requires considerable skill, and as a result no two prints are alike.
 
                                               Bromoil process
                                                                     
The bromoil process was an early photographic process that was very popular with the pictorialists during the first half of the twentieth century. It is one of the rarest and most permanent of the photographic printing process. Bromoil prints are a direct variety of the oil printing process. One starts with a normally developed print on a silver bromide paper, which is then chemically bleached and hardened. This bleached print is called a “matrix”. The gelatin, which originally had the darkest tones, is hardened the most, the highlights remain absorbent to water. After drying, the print is soaked in water before an oil-based ink is applied to the surface. This print can then be inked like the oil print. Using any variety of techniques, including brushwork, use of a brayer or roller, and even more unconventional tools such as cosmetic sponges a unique image can be created. Because of the need to ink the image by hand, every print is one of a kind.
 
There are three features that make the bromoil and oil printing process so attractive to the artist. The first is that every print is unique. The second, more important reason is that they offer a considerable amount of control; during the application of the ink, there are limitless opportunities to manipulate the image and create true work of art. Finally, the silver print will deteriorate over the year while the ink image is completely permanent. It will last as long as the paper on which it is formed.