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Jan Křížek and the Paris Art Scene of the 1950s

National Gallery in Prague, Wallenstein Riding Hall
31. May 2013 - 13. October 2013
Concept originator and curator, Anna Pravdová


The National Gallery in Prague presented a retrospective exhibition of Jan Křížek’s work at the Wallenstein Riding School. Of the many Czech artists who settled in France in the previous century, Jan Křížek (1919-1985) is one of the most original. From 1947 until his death, he lived in France, where he created a substantial part of his work. The impulses of Czech art were able to merge with contemporaneous currents in the postwar Parisian art scene and develop their own individual expression. Křížek was recognized by distinguished French theorists and artists, primarily Michel Tapié, Charles Estienne, André Breton, Jean Dubuffet, Pablo Picasso and René Duvillier. He presented his works in progressive Paris galleries and participated in several important collective exhibitions. In his work, we see how the results of his admiration for archaic and non-European art, early Romanesque stylization, Baroque expression and the work of Auguste Rodin combine in a unique way with a spontaneous, rapid gesture moving on the border of an automatic, intuitive and impulsive expression. In actuality, the process of his work was perfectly thought out, and he knew precisely where he was heading and what he was pursuing. When he concluded that he had achieved his goals, he ceased work at the age of forty-four and moved from Paris to the French countryside.

Although he was first and foremost a sculptor, he left behind a rich collection of drawings and graphic work. At the beginning of the 1950s he worked for several years in a small servant’s quarters, where he lived with his wife. He met with no one. He drew, made small statuettes of wood and clay. He wanted to prepare himself properly before presenting his works to the public once again. Since he did not have the money to buy raw materials, he would often recycle material. He would break up and crush his statuettes, soak the clay and begin modeling again. First he would draw on the paper then dip it in water or ink, and finally he would carve figures into it. He worked with various scraps, envelopes, or paper tablecloths, which his wife Jiřina brought home from work. This resulted in colorful engraved drawings, the technology of which was influenced by the artist’s material deficiency, yet which corresponded to contemporary artistic techniques of the time. In 1954, he created a cycle of black-and-white lithographs in the workshop of the Parisian lithographer and typographer Jean Ponse, through whose studio passed a number of prominent artists. In order not to bind himself to someone else’s workshop, Křížek then went from lithography to linocuts, which he worked on in his miniature Parisian dwelling. In 1956 he created a set of black-and-white linocuts, and between 1958 and 1961 colored linocuts. Here he once again explores the possibilities of an “authentic” display of the human figure.

The peak of Křížek’s work is stone and wooden statues, which he created from 1947 to 1948 in the Parisian atelier of the Spanish sculptor Honoria Condoye, in 1948 at a farm in central France near Marie and Oldřich Dubinová, and during a summer stay in Gordes and Brittany in 1955 and 1956.

The turn of the 1950s and 1960s was a hectic creative period for Křížek, when he launched a series of new experiments. He created several drawings with pastel on newsprint and also set to work on collages. It is a specific chapter of Křížek’s work, deviating from his previous spontaneous and “raw” approaches, even though he was once again composing pictures of a human, or a group of human, figures from scraps of paper, sometimes combined with drawing.

At the beginning of the 1960s, he created a series of paintings and a number of sketches with watercolor or gouache, in which he recapitulated the main problems he was dealing with in his work—that is, the many ways of depicting the human figure. In 1962, he ceased creating, convinced that he had solved his problem. Characteristically he did not provide any of his works with names; for him what was important was his own process of searching, continuity and development: drawings and statues were “mere” stages on the way to cognition.

The exhibition follows the artist’s fortunes and the development of his work. It presents twenty years of Křížek’s vigorous creative activity and presents many of his previously unknown works, which have been borrowed from both public and private collections in the Czech Republic, as well as from important museums and collections in France (Fonds régional d'art contemporain Limousin, Fonds régional d'art contemporain Bretagne, Musée de la Cohue, Vannes, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Brest, and the collection abcd.). Křízek’s work is complemented by the works of his friends and peers, whom he personally knew and who were artistically close to him. His work, through hints and suggestions, are embedded within the international context of post-war art: it demonstrates a close creative affinity with the work of Václav Boštík, with whom during World War II Křížek examined in a number of drawings the interrelationships of colors and lines, questions of the articulation of planes and space and their rhythmic division.

Shortly after Křížek arrived, his work was represented at the first exhibition of a new exhibition space, Jean Dubuffet’s Foyer de l’art brut, devoted to the exhibition of works which went beyond the usual canons of artistic production, and for which Dubuffet introduced the designation art brut. We partially reconstruct this introductory presentation from the autumn of 1947 as part of Křížek’s retrospective. Between 1948 and 1949, Křížek spent several months in a region of France that had a hundred-year pottery tradition. He created a large set of kitchen utensils and free works, all in his own primitivizing style. He was allowed to work there at the intercession of Pablo Picasso, who was also making ceramics there at the same time. Picasso's ceramic art will be represented at the exhibition thanks to a loan from the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.

In the fifties Křížek's work was supported and exhibited by the main theorist of lyric abstraction and Tachisme, Charles Estienne. The circle of artists gathered around Estienne, to which Křížek belonged at that time, are represented here by the drawings of René Duvillier.

The distinctive primitivizing style of the representation of female figures on Křížek’s canvases and drawings resonates with the contemporaneous work of Jean Dubuffet, especially his Corpes des Dames series, two drawings of which will also be on display. In the second half of the 1950s, Jan Křížek attended meetings of the surrealist group and carried on an interesting correspondence with André Breton. Breton also exhibited his work in his own gallery in Paris.

An extensive monograph by Anna Pravdová has been published for the exhibition, “Man Must Always Be Inherent in My Work” Jan Křížek (1919-1985), A documentary film by Martin Řezníček Jan Křížek, statues and bees (2008) can also be seen at the exhibit.
Anna Pravdová

ANNA PRAVDOVÁ (born 1973). She studied French and art history at Charles University in Prague and art history at the Sorbonne in Paris. She focuses on the art of the twentieth century, primarily Czech-French relations in the arts and on the activities of Czech artists abroad. She is currently working as a curator in the National Gallery in Prague.

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Václav Boštík

6. 11. 1913 - 7. 5. 2005

1913 Horní Újezd u Litomyšle ✚2005 in Prague

 

1933-1937

Studies drawing and descriptive geometry at the Czech Technical University in Prague.

1937-1939

Studies painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under prof. Willi Nowak. During this time he meets the sculptor Jan Křížek.

1942

Becomes a member of Umělecká beseda. Gets married. The Boštík family have five children. Creates his first abstract drawings.

1945

Completes his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in the graphic studio. Through Jiří Mrázek he meets the students of the School of Applied Arts, future members of UB12.

1953

Confrontational exhibition of Václav Boštík, Jiří John, Stanislav Kolíbal, Daisy Mrázková, Jiří Mrázek, Adriena Šimotová in the studio of Václav Boštík in Prague, Nad Královskou oborou 15.

1953-1955

Employed as a laboratory technician and photographer in the Laboratory of higher nervous activity of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.

1953-1959

Together with Jiří John implements the Memorial of Jewish Victims of Nazism in the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague.

1956

Trip to Paris with Jiří John (with an exhibition of children’s drawings from the Terezín concentration camp).

1957

Solo exhibition at the Aleš Hall of Umělecká beseda in Prague.

Exhibits his abstract work.

1968

Solo exhibition in the New Hall in Prague. A six-month stay in Paris.

1970
With the advent of Normalization, the group UB 12 began to dissolve and was officially banned in 1970.


Based on biographical data of the members of UB12 up to 1970 in: SLAVICKÁ Milena. UB 12 - Studies, interviews, documents. Prague: Gallery in cooperation with Gema Art a o.s. OSVU, 2006, pp. 306-311

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Jan Křížek

31. 7. 1919 - 9. 2. 1985

1919  Born July 31st in Dobroměřice u Loun.

1938 He begins studying at the Academy of Fine Arts at the sculpture studio of Bohumil Kafka.

1939-1945 After completing his studies, he works with the stonecutter Otakar Velínský; he draws and educates himself in libraries, especially in the library of the Museum of Applied Arts. Almost every day he meets with Vaclav Boštík and together they concern themselves with questions of art.

1946 At the end of April he participates in a trip to Paris, organized by V. V. Štech for students of the Academy. He completes his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. In the fall of 1946 he goes to Paris for three months.

1947 He marries Jiřina Batíková and at the end of October he leaves with his wife for Paris. In the studio of Honorio Condoy he creates stone statues of a smaller format. In November, the critic Michel Tapié includes these works in an exhibition for the opening of Jean Dubuffet’s Foyer de l’art brut.

1948 On February 13th, Křížek’s own exhibition opens in Foyer de l'art brut under the name Jan Krizek sculpteur. At the end of September, he leaves for the Cote d'Azur in the hope of earning some extra money by creating ceramics. Thanks to the intervention of Picasso, Robert Picault allows him to work in his workshop in Vallauris. Here Křížek creates a set of ceramic vessels and free works.

1949 In February the Křížeks are forced to leave Vallauris for administrative reasons. They return to Paris and settle in the 16th arrondissement, where they live on the 7th floor in a small servant’s room. Křížek works intensively on his drawings and models, interrupting his work only on Sunday when he and his wife go to the Louvre.

1953 When he has enough works to show, he contacts the critic Charles Estienne, who incorporates Křížek into a circle of artists he supports and promotes. In October he participates in the second season of the October Salon in the Craven Gallery.

1954 He prints a cycle of black and white lithographs in Jean Ponse’s lithography workshop.

1955 He participates in several major projects in Paris, where his works are exhibited together with works of authors such as Alberto Giacometti, Simon Hantaï, Wifredo Lam, René Magritte, Wolfgang Paalen, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, Yves Tanguy and Toyen. He spends the summer in the house of Charles Estienne in Gordes, where he creates sixteen large stone statues in the surrounding area.

1956 In the spring a separate exhibition of Křížek’s work takes place in the gallery L'Étoile scellée. The preface to the catalog was written by Charles Estienne. He meets André Breton and attends meetings of his surrealist group. He spends the summer in Brittany, where he creates large sculptures of wood and stone.

1958 He participates in several collective exhibitions, where his work appears alongside works by Constantin Brancusi, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, Jean Dubuffet, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque, Max Ernst and others. His third independent exhibition in Paris is held in June in the Craven Gallery. In the summer he exhibits his collages with Hans Hartung, Jean Dubuffet, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Kurt Schwitters.

1959 In February he corresponds with André Breton, during which they exchange views on automatic creation. In May another independent Křížek exhibition is opened in the Craven Gallery.

1962 He ceases his creative work and settles with his wife in the French countryside. He builds a small wooden house with his own hands and supports himself with beekeeping, rabbit breeding, and vegetable growing.

1979 He completes his final statue, which he had promised his wife ten years earlier for her fiftieth birthday..

1985 On February 9th he dies of a heart attack at a hospital in Tulle.
(Translation Craig Cravens)


 

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Jiří Mrázek

22. 4. 1920 - 2. 3. 2008

1920 Prague ✚2008 Prague

 

1930-1939

Attends Real Gymnasium in Prague. His drawing professors are F.V. Mokrý and Pravoslav Kotík.

1937

Mrázek is impressed by the exhibition of modern French art at Mánes. Meets Václav Boštík at the Arnošt dormitory in Prague at an exhibition of young artists.

1939

Graduates Real Gymnasium. An unsuccessful attempt to enter the studio of Willi Nowak at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where Václav Boštík is studying at the time. Studies drawing at the Technical University in Prague under prof. Cyril Bouda, Oldřich Blažíček and Josef Sejpka. After the schools are closed by the Nazis, he studies at the Ceramic School in Prague.

1940-1941

Attends the Ukrainian Academy of prof. Ivan Kulc. Meets Jan Křížek in Václav Boštík’s studio.

1942

Unsuccessfully attempts to be admitted to the School of Applied Arts in Prague. First automatic drawings. Passes the exams at the State Graphic School in Prague. Studies for a year with Richard Lander and Zdeněk Balaš, who greatly influences his further artistic development. Meets Adriena Šimotová, Jiří John and Jiří Šindler.

1943

Admitted to the School of Applied Arts. School closed by the Nazis the following year.

1944

Marries the painter Daisy Troníčková. Leaves Prague with his wife and spends a year in the Bohemian-Moravian highlands in the village of Březiny u Svratky. Works for the architect ing. Jaroslav Čermák and designs applied art for church buildings.

1945-1949

Studies at the School of Applied Arts (since 1948 at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design) in the studio of prof. Josef Kaplický, his classmates are Adriena Šimotová, Jiří John and Jiří Šindler.

1949

Graduates from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. By this time, he has three children. In the 1950s and 1960s works as a designer of Textile production in the woven textile studio of prof. Antonín Kybal (later the Institute of Housing and Clothing Culture, aka UBOK). In the mid-1950s Jindřich Chalupecký and Václav Bartovský work here. Becomes a member of the applied art creative group Balance.

1952

Included in the II. Regional Center of the Union of Czechoslovak Graphic Artists, Umělecká beseda, in the section of applied arts.

1953

In Boštík’s studio, takes part in the first confrontation between the works of artists Václav Boštík, Jiří John, Adriena Šimotová, Stanislav Kolíbal, Vlasta Prachatá and Daisy Mrázková.

1958

The Textile Studio, of which he was a member, won the Grand Prix at the Czechoslovak Pavilion at the World Exhibition in Brussels. Trip to Brussels.

1959

First solo exhibition in the Aleš Hall of Umělecká beseda in Prague. The exhibition is prepared by Václav Bartovský. Trip to Paris with the Institute of Fashion and Design (ÚBOK).

1964

Solo exhibition at the Václav Špála Gallery in Prague. Jiří Mrázek exhibits abstract paintings. The exhibition was attended by the American Lee Freeman from Chicago, who becomes his lifelong collector. Thanks to his support, he is able to leave his job at ÚBOK and pursue freelance work. Trip to England.

1965

Wins important awards at tapestry exhibitions in Menton and Liège.

1967

Mrázek's tapestries are awarded a gold medal at the Czechoslovak Tapestry Exhibition in Prague.

1968

Trip to the United States.

1970

Solo exhibition at the Platýz Gallery in Prague, organized by Ludmila Vachtová.
With the advent of Normalization, the group UB 12 began to dissolve and was officially banned in 1970.




Based on biographical data of the members of UB12 up to 1970 in: SLAVICKÁ Milena. UB 12 - Studies, interviews, documents. Prague: Gallery in cooperation with Gema Art a o.s. OSVU, 2006, pp. 306-311

Exhibitions

Selected artworks






















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