| 1896 | Josef Sudek was born on March 17 in Kolín as the Sudeks' second child. His father, a painter and decorator, died three years later. | |
| 1911–1913 | He studied bookbinding in Prague and enjoyed photography. | |
| 1913–1915 | He worked in Nymburk as a bookbinder. | |
| 1915–1916 | During WWI he was on the Italian front where he also was taking photographs. He was hit by a grenade and lost his right arm. | |
| 1917 | Because he could no longer work as a bookbinder, he focused on photography. | |
| 1920–1921 | He was a member of the Prague Amateur Association of Photographers, at which time he was introduced to the work of the American photographer Clarence H. White. | |
| 1922–1924 | He studied photography at a graphic school under Professor Karel Novák. | |
| 1922–1927 | He photographed veterans at Invalidovna. | |
| 1924 | He co-founded the Prague Photography Association. | |
| 1927–1928 | The photographed the restoration of St. Vitus' cathedral and released an album of 15 original photographs in the Družstevní Práce for the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the republic. | |
| 1926 | He left to travel throughout Italy. | |
| 1927 | He settled down in his "garden" atelier. | |
| 1927–1936 | He worked as a photographer for Družstevní Práce, primarily focusing on portraits, advertisements and reports. | |
| 1932 | He had his first independent exhibit in Prague. | |
| 1933 | He took part in an exhibit of social photography. | |
| 1936 | He had a display in the international exhibit in Prague's Mánes. | |
| 1938 | He took part in an exhibit of 6 Czech photographers in Prague's Mánes. | |
| 1939 | He had a display at the exhibit for the 100th anniversary of photography in Prague's Museum of Applied Art. | |
| 1940 | He stopped enlarging his negatives and focused on contact prints. He used large board apparatus and various sized cameras. | |
| 1958 | He moved into his new studio at Úvoz. The darkroom stayed in the old atelier. | |
| 1976 | He died on September 15 in Prague. |