Mikulas Medek *
(Prague 1926–1974)
Střelnice I - Shooting Range I, 1971, signed and dated M Medek 71, oil, enamel on canvas, 170 x 122 cm, framed
We thank Adéla Procházková for her kind assistance with cataloguing of this lot.
The work will be listed in the upcoming Catalogue Raisonné of Mikuláš Medek issued by the Medek Family.
Provenance:
Collection Wilhelmi, South Germany
Thence by descent to the present owner
Exhibited:
Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Mikuláš Medek, 25 April - 18 August 2002, exhib-cat. Prague 2002 with full page col.-ill. (there dated 1973)
Over the course of his life, Mikuláš Medek (1926–1974) produced an oeuvre comprising just under 400 works, which evolved from his early Expressionist works, with occasional forays into Cubism, through an engagement with Surrealism and Existentialism, towards a mode of expression described as Informel, closely aligned with abstraction, before ultimately returning to a form of figuration permeated by architectural and morphological concerns. His paintings became known to a wider public only after the end of totalitarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia; during his lifetime, like many other artists, he faced politically motivated restrictions on his artistic activity, and his works were repeatedly banned.
From 1967 onwards, Medek was regularly invited to participate in group exhibitions in Western Europe, where he came into contact with a number of important international collectors who, in the years that followed, became recognised authorities on his work. Among them was the German art historian Christoph Wilhelm, who visited Medek at his Prague studio in the early 1970s and played an important role in introducing his work to audiences in West Germany. Wilhelm included Medek in his ‘Handbuch der Symbole’ (1980), in which he devoted numerous entries to the artist. The painting now offered at auction was originally in Wilhelm’s collection.
By the early 1970s, motifs associated with death had already begun to appear in what is perhaps Medek’s best-known series, ‘Thirsty Angels’. At the time, Medek was not only among the artists officially banned from exhibiting, but was also suffering a rapid deterioration in his health. Against this background, death became increasingly prominent within the complex repertoire of imagery that characterised his work. This development included the ‘Shooting Range’ series of 1973, comprising just two works, in which Medek took his exploration of the interplay between perspective and the dissolution of figuration to a new level of compelling immediacy. Medek borrowed the title ‘Shooting Range (Střelnice)’ from the Czech Surrealist painter Toyen, who had produced a cycle of twelve drawings on the subject between 1939 and 1940, during the Second World War. The cycle was republished in 1973, the year in which Medek’s work was created.
Specialist: Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers
(Prague 1926–1974)
Střelnice I - Shooting Range I, 1971, signed and dated M Medek 71, oil, enamel on canvas, 170 x 122 cm, framed
We thank Adéla Procházková for her kind assistance with cataloguing of this lot.
The work will be listed in the upcoming Catalogue Raisonné of Mikuláš Medek issued by the Medek Family.
Provenance:
Collection Wilhelmi, South Germany
Thence by descent to the present owner
Exhibited:
Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Mikuláš Medek, 25 April - 18 August 2002, exhib-cat. Prague 2002 with full page col.-ill. (there dated 1973)
Over the course of his life, Mikuláš Medek (1926–1974) produced an oeuvre comprising just under 400 works, which evolved from his early Expressionist works, with occasional forays into Cubism, through an engagement with Surrealism and Existentialism, towards a mode of expression described as Informel, closely aligned with abstraction, before ultimately returning to a form of figuration permeated by architectural and morphological concerns. His paintings became known to a wider public only after the end of totalitarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia; during his lifetime, like many other artists, he faced politically motivated restrictions on his artistic activity, and his works were repeatedly banned.
From 1967 onwards, Medek was regularly invited to participate in group exhibitions in Western Europe, where he came into contact with a number of important international collectors who, in the years that followed, became recognised authorities on his work. Among them was the German art historian Christoph Wilhelm, who visited Medek at his Prague studio in the early 1970s and played an important role in introducing his work to audiences in West Germany. Wilhelm included Medek in his ‘Handbuch der Symbole’ (1980), in which he devoted numerous entries to the artist. The painting now offered at auction was originally in Wilhelm’s collection.
By the early 1970s, motifs associated with death had already begun to appear in what is perhaps Medek’s best-known series, ‘Thirsty Angels’. At the time, Medek was not only among the artists officially banned from exhibiting, but was also suffering a rapid deterioration in his health. Against this background, death became increasingly prominent within the complex repertoire of imagery that characterised his work. This development included the ‘Shooting Range’ series of 1973, comprising just two works, in which Medek took his exploration of the interplay between perspective and the dissolution of figuration to a new level of compelling immediacy. Medek borrowed the title ‘Shooting Range (Střelnice)’ from the Czech Surrealist painter Toyen, who had produced a cycle of twelve drawings on the subject between 1939 and 1940, during the Second World War. The cycle was republished in 1973, the year in which Medek’s work was created.
Specialist: Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers
