His friend, Bohumil Hrabal, called this act self-killing,
explains Boudník’s photographer, Ladislav Michálek. Vladimír liked to confront people. On 5th December he was supposed to hold an opening exhibition in Viola. The exhibition should have been opened by Hrabal but he had to leave Prague because the movie based on his book Skřivánci na niti (Larks on a String) was being shot and he had to be present. Others of Boudník’s friends would have been at the exhibition: Vláďa Merhaut (his assistant), me (his photographer), Pepík Hampl (graphic designer), and his wife Věrka.
Věra was still a student; she studied at the Institute of Pedagogy in České Budějovice. She had a meeting with her girl-friends at the Patron pub. Vladimír wanted to go as well. Neither of us was in the mood but Vladimír insisted. Upon our arrival, Vladimír discovered that Věra was there with ten guys instead of ten girls. His jealousy boiled over, and the guys were laughing at him saying, Uncle is angry.
Věra was sitting with her classmates, and we sat at a nearby table. We all walked out of the pub together and carried on over Charles Bridge. The day after, Merhaut called me saying, Vladimír is dead.
Apparently, the pair had been arguing on the way home to Kostnické Square in Žižkov. When they came home, at first they wanted to make love but then Vladimír started to argue again, and Věra became scared that he would strangle her. He was a very strong man, but he primarily liked to provoke people. Věra got dressed and ran to Vladimír’s psychologist, Dr. Drvota. In the meantime, Vladimír decided to dramatically strangle himself (but not to death), something he had already done a few times before, but unfortunately this time it worked. When Věra came back, he was beyond help. He loved life and had big plans, including exhibiting abroad. The house where Vladimír lived is these days recognized by a memorial plaque that commemorates him.”
Charm of old Libeň
The beginning of Vladimír Boudník’s friendship with toolmaker Ladislav Michálek was marked by the fact that they worked in the same company Aero Vysočany, and were given neighbouring lockers. Boudník, who graduated from a school of graphic design, worked in the factory as a tool-maker and draftsman but he was mainly an artist. He used cuttings from metal plates, iron filings, old bolts and screws to create original graphics. He loved the atmosphere of the factory and flaking walls of old Libeň, where he also lived for some time in the same street as his friend Bohumil Hrabal.
Michálek soon became Boudník’s photographer, and thanks to that he discovered the charm of Prague’s outskirts. Boudník introduced him to Bohumil Hrabal, who was at this time already a distinguished writer. He was the one who made Boudník into a character of two of his books Perličky na dně (Pearls of the Deep) and Něžný barbar (Tender Barbarian). Boudník even played in the movie Automat which is based on Hrabal’s story.
In 1968 I asked Vladimír if I can take picture of him with Hrabal. Hrabal agreed and suggested that we would walk along the so called Klíma’s path to the hotel Krása in Vysočany. This is where philosopher Ladislav Klíma, who was Hrabal’s favourite, used to live. I was supposed to take pictures but at first Hrabal was busy and couldn’t make it, then Russian tanks arrived and afterwards it was too late as Vladimír was dead.
Ladislav Michálek remembers,
Shortly before his death, he got married. It was either on 21st or 22nd August 1968 when Vladimír wrote his wedding card on a piece of paper and asked me to take a picture of it. He arranged his wedding to take place in Česky Krumlov and asked Hrabal to be his best man, but the Russians didn’t allow him to return to the country.
Ladislav Michálek (born1937) could easily be one of the characters of Hrabal’s stories. He is an outsider, he owned just one camera and his only photographic education comes from the amateur photographic club in the ČKD company. He got enchanted by the colours and sounds of the factory, and by the “tender barbarian Boudník. He became his personal photographer and thanks to him he discovered the beauty of Libeň’s walls and the imaginary maps that covered them. Recently he published two books called “Extinct Military Graveyards of Prague” and “Olšany Heroic”. He is also an author of photographs for the Bohumila Hrabal’s book “Clubs of Poetry”.
