Tomáš Císařovský
Grandpa and the Russian Bears
Artist
Tomáš Císařovský
(1962, Praha), Czech
Original Title
Grandpa and the Russian Bears
Date1988
Mediumacrylic tempera on canvas
Dimensions150 × 135 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionTomáš Císařovský is a prominent figure of Czech postmodern art and a founding member of the art group Tvrdohlaví (The Headstrongs). His painterly practice reacts to the crisis of portraiture and figurative painting in general, developing an original style marked by an expressive monumentality, as well as abstraction and a meticulous use of color. A central motif of his paintings and watercolors is the human figure, its portrayal continuously fusing personal, historical, and social references with banality, narrational elements, and moral reflection. Císařovský usually produces artworks in thematic cycles, the most famous of which include the Legionary cycle, the Habsburg cycle, and the Masaryk cycle, which explore the momentous period of the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia and questions regarding the existence and nature of Czech national identity. However, in line with the spirit of postmodernism, he does not address these deep topics with reverent gravity and documentary descriptiveness. Instead, he draws on perspectives rooted in personal and collective memory, allowing him to incorporate banal and amusing moments as well as moments from his own family history into his artistic reflection. Following Císařovský’s trip to North and South America at the end of the millennium, his canvases also began to contain a romantic dimension linked to the discovery of exotic lands.
The painting Grandpa and Russian Bears (1988) is part of the cycle From the Diary of My Legionary Grandfather. The cycle draws inspiration from sketches by Císařovský’s grandfather Josef Charvát, who undertook a treacherous and remarkable journey back home from the Russian front following the end of World War I. Císařovský thus intentionally focuses on a part of Czech (and Czechoslovak) history which was deliberately backgrounded under the communist regime. Characteristic of this cycle is an organic fusion of image and text, imbuing the canvases with the quality of a sort of visual postcard which can be understood as a record of his grandfather’s impressions from encountering a foreign and in many ways very distant country. To an extent, the painting, as well as the entire cycle, can therefore be interpreted through a generational interest in the topic of identity in relation to one’s own country and nationality. The monumental text in Cyrillic script in the top part of the paintings conveys the name of Ivan Ivanovič Šiškin, one of the foremost figures of 19th century Russian landscape painting. Three bears approaching from the abstract background are a loose quotation of Šiškin’s work. These motifs are complemented by the miniature figure of Císařovský’s grandfather and his name inscribed in the bottom right-hand corner. The painting concentrates postmodernist devices such as quotation, playful irony, and ostensible narration in which the true story is reduced to a mere sign. The canvas thus relates less to the past than to the lived present and to the ability of postmodernism to combine disparate elements into a whole.
Tomáš Císařovský (*1962, Prague) is a prominent figure of Czech postmodernist art. In the 1980s, he was involved in the underground art scene, where he partook in the independent exhibitions of the young generation, known as Konfrontace (1984–1987). During this time, he was also studying in Arnošt Paderlík’s studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (1983–1988). With the arrival of the 1990s, marked by a new-found interest in the art of Eastern Europe, Císařovský’s work became included in several international exhibitions mapping the contemporary Czech and Slovak art scenes: Zeichen im Fluss (Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1990, reprised in Zagreb, Pécs, and Prague), Trigon 8 x 2 aus 7 (Neue Galerie, Graz, 1991, reprised v Aarau, Prato, Belgrade, Budapest, and Prague), Prague-Bratislava: D´une génération l´Autre (Musée d´Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 1992), Second Exit (Ludwig Forum, Aachen, 1993). Throughout the 1990s, he was one of the artists represented by the legendary MXM gallery, one of the first commercial galleries established after the Velvet Revolution. The last comprehensive overview of Císařovský’s work was presented in 2020 through his retrospective exhibition at the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou. His work is included in the collections of institutions such as the National Gallery Prague, the Prague City Gallery, and the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou as well as the Neue Galerie Graz and the Museo Arte Contemporanea in Rimini.
The painting Grandpa and Russian Bears (1988) is part of the cycle From the Diary of My Legionary Grandfather. The cycle draws inspiration from sketches by Císařovský’s grandfather Josef Charvát, who undertook a treacherous and remarkable journey back home from the Russian front following the end of World War I. Císařovský thus intentionally focuses on a part of Czech (and Czechoslovak) history which was deliberately backgrounded under the communist regime. Characteristic of this cycle is an organic fusion of image and text, imbuing the canvases with the quality of a sort of visual postcard which can be understood as a record of his grandfather’s impressions from encountering a foreign and in many ways very distant country. To an extent, the painting, as well as the entire cycle, can therefore be interpreted through a generational interest in the topic of identity in relation to one’s own country and nationality. The monumental text in Cyrillic script in the top part of the paintings conveys the name of Ivan Ivanovič Šiškin, one of the foremost figures of 19th century Russian landscape painting. Three bears approaching from the abstract background are a loose quotation of Šiškin’s work. These motifs are complemented by the miniature figure of Císařovský’s grandfather and his name inscribed in the bottom right-hand corner. The painting concentrates postmodernist devices such as quotation, playful irony, and ostensible narration in which the true story is reduced to a mere sign. The canvas thus relates less to the past than to the lived present and to the ability of postmodernism to combine disparate elements into a whole.
Tomáš Císařovský (*1962, Prague) is a prominent figure of Czech postmodernist art. In the 1980s, he was involved in the underground art scene, where he partook in the independent exhibitions of the young generation, known as Konfrontace (1984–1987). During this time, he was also studying in Arnošt Paderlík’s studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (1983–1988). With the arrival of the 1990s, marked by a new-found interest in the art of Eastern Europe, Císařovský’s work became included in several international exhibitions mapping the contemporary Czech and Slovak art scenes: Zeichen im Fluss (Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1990, reprised in Zagreb, Pécs, and Prague), Trigon 8 x 2 aus 7 (Neue Galerie, Graz, 1991, reprised v Aarau, Prato, Belgrade, Budapest, and Prague), Prague-Bratislava: D´une génération l´Autre (Musée d´Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 1992), Second Exit (Ludwig Forum, Aachen, 1993). Throughout the 1990s, he was one of the artists represented by the legendary MXM gallery, one of the first commercial galleries established after the Velvet Revolution. The last comprehensive overview of Císařovský’s work was presented in 2020 through his retrospective exhibition at the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou. His work is included in the collections of institutions such as the National Gallery Prague, the Prague City Gallery, and the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou as well as the Neue Galerie Graz and the Museo Arte Contemporanea in Rimini.
