atruwcdx
Josef KUN. Slovakian-Canadian lauthier and teacher.
joseph Kun, violin and bow maker, b Košice, Czechoslovakia, 13 Apr 1930, d Ottawa 8 Apr 1996, apprenticed in Košice under Vladimir Pribyl 1948-53 and practised violin and bow making part-time 1953-68 while teaching violin at the Czechoslovakian State Conservatory (he graduated as a violinist from the latter in 1956). He moved to Canada in 1968 and opened a shop in Ottawa. Kun won several international prizes for his instruments and bows.
A shoulder rest is a practical device, whose history spans more than 150 years. Prior to the invention of the Kun Shoulder Rest, however, players had struggled with limited or makeshift solutions to correct or avoid discomfort while supporting their violin or viola.
Introduced in 1972, the earliest Kun rest was handmade from metal in limited quantities. Still, this early Kun rest possessed two breakthrough characteristics: a new ergonomic shape for ease and comfort in playing, and simple mechanisms allowing the rest to be adjusted in three directions. And the Kun rest had been designed with sound quality in mind. The objective was minimal contact with the violin or viola, so that vibrations would not be absorbed.
I met Kun when a friend of mine took his violin to him to be reset and tuned and was intrigued by the solidity of his body and the large hands that crafted such delicate instruments. I returned to his studio and photographed him in the light he used to craft his instruments, coming through a window to an enclosed courtyard.
Josef KUN. Slovakian-Canadian lauthier and teacher.
joseph Kun, violin and bow maker, b Košice, Czechoslovakia, 13 Apr 1930, d Ottawa 8 Apr 1996, apprenticed in Košice under Vladimir Pribyl 1948-53 and practised violin and bow making part-time 1953-68 while teaching violin at the Czechoslovakian State Conservatory (he graduated as a violinist from the latter in 1956). He moved to Canada in 1968 and opened a shop in Ottawa. Kun won several international prizes for his instruments and bows.
A shoulder rest is a practical device, whose history spans more than 150 years. Prior to the invention of the Kun Shoulder Rest, however, players had struggled with limited or makeshift solutions to correct or avoid discomfort while supporting their violin or viola.
Introduced in 1972, the earliest Kun rest was handmade from metal in limited quantities. Still, this early Kun rest possessed two breakthrough characteristics: a new ergonomic shape for ease and comfort in playing, and simple mechanisms allowing the rest to be adjusted in three directions. And the Kun rest had been designed with sound quality in mind. The objective was minimal contact with the violin or viola, so that vibrations would not be absorbed.
I met Kun when a friend of mine took his violin to him to be reset and tuned and was intrigued by the solidity of his body and the large hands that crafted such delicate instruments. I returned to his studio and photographed him in the light he used to craft his instruments, coming through a window to an enclosed courtyard.