Love You from Prague

An extensive exhibition presenting the world-renowned photography of Robert Vano master of platinum printing and pioneer of male nudes, Love You from Prague – opens in Notting Hill this June. The retrospective is a carefully curated cross-section of Vano’s work spanning from the 1980s to the present day with special focus on the free and optimistic era of the 1990s. It showcases more than 50 photographs sectioned into three different standalone exhibits featuring Vano’s work for leading fashion magazines from New York to Paris and Milan; his dramatic stills of Prague; and his most famous work of black and white male nude portraits, often developed through Vano’s signature platinum printing - a rare and highly demanding technique used only by a handful of photographers.

Inspired by Horst P. Horst, the pioneering photographer of Hollywood’s golden era, Boys from Bohemia (Vitrínka Gallery) showcases Vano’s celebrated black-and-white series exploring youth, friendship and freedom against the dramatic backdrop of the Adršpach Rocks. The intimate atmosphere of the secluded nature provides refuge to the closeness of the men in the early 1990s when the LGBTQ+ rights were a far cry from today’s standard in democratic countries. Polaroid Sessions (public space outside the Czech Embassy) highlights his work for leading fashion magazines including Vogue, ELLE, Marie Claire, Dolce Vita and Harper’s Bazaar, revealing his distinctive approach to Polaroid photography. After spending nearly 30 years based in the USA, Vano returned to Czechoslovakia in the early 1990s, and has called Prague his home ever since. The third section of the Love You from Prague exhibition titled Prague Impressions, (Bouda Gallery) is dedicated to that very city. 

Together, the three series offer an insight into Vano’s unique visual language, shaped by fashion, portraiture and fine-art photography, and the remarkable international career that made him one of the best-known photographers connected to the Czech Republic.

Locations: 

Vitrínka Gallery: 30 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QY

Bouda Gallery: 132 Palace Gardens Terrace, Kensington, London, W8 4RT   

Public space outside of the Czech Embassy, London: 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4RT

Date: 26 June – 4 September 2026

Further Information: Robert Vano: Love You from Prague

Venue details