Education
After the war, he attended art school, where he studied printmaking.
After the war, he attended art school, where he studied printmaking.
He is best known for his active and structural graphic art, but also created mostly photographic and monotype works that, until recently, remained unknown. During World World War II Boudník was sent to forced labor in Germany, an experience that resulted in a lifelong trauma. He spent a brief period working in advertising before getting a job at an ironworks in Kladno, where he met Bohumil Hrabal.
In 1952 Boudník, began working for ČKD Works in Prague.
The factory environment served as an inspiration for his "active graphics" made of industrial material and waste. In 1968, Boudník committed suicide while experimenting with asphyxiation.
Boudník worked mostly in graphics, and developed a number of innovative printmaking techniques. He was also one of the first Czechoslovakian artist to begin working with the general public, organizing "happenings" and interacting with psychiatric patients.
His work had a large influence on many contemporary Czechoslovakian artists, especially author Bohumil Hrabal, with whom he shared many years of friendship.
Boudník appears in several novels by Hrabal. Since 1995, the city of Prague has annually awarded the Vladimír Boudník Award (Cena Vladimíra Boudníka) to a living Czechoslovakian printmaking artist. At least five volumes of collected works and correspondence of Vladimír Boudník have been published since the 1990s.