Tomáš Císařovský
Lessons of Positivism
Artist
Tomáš Císařovský
(1962, Praha), Czech
Original Title
Lessons of Positivism
Date1989
Mediumacrylic tempera on canvas
Dimensions160 × 130 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.
A Lesson in Positivism (1989) is part of the so-called Masaryk cycle, in which Císařovský thematized the figure of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. However, in contrast to the traditional, revelatory idea of Masaryk’s legacy, Císařovský, adopting an ironic, playful postmodernist approach, portrays him in unusual, fantastical situations far removed from real historic moments and events. His will to examine national history was fueled by the context of a deteriorating totalitarian system, linked to the disintegration of its underlying ideological message. The postmodernist approach does not, however, seek to establish a new conceptual framework, but rather to achieve a playful, ironic suspension which creates distance and fundamentally disrupts the accepted hierarchies of meaning constructed between different genres. This postmodernist pastiche thus places the figure of the first Czechoslovak president in the immediate proximity of characteristic postmodernist signs related to collective myths.
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.
A Lesson in Positivism (1989) is part of the so-called Masaryk cycle, in which Císařovský thematized the figure of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. However, in contrast to the traditional, revelatory idea of Masaryk’s legacy, Císařovský, adopting an ironic, playful postmodernist approach, portrays him in unusual, fantastical situations far removed from real historic moments and events. His will to examine national history was fueled by the context of a deteriorating totalitarian system, linked to the disintegration of its underlying ideological message. The postmodernist approach does not, however, seek to establish a new conceptual framework, but rather to achieve a playful, ironic suspension which creates distance and fundamentally disrupts the accepted hierarchies of meaning constructed between different genres. This postmodernist pastiche thus places the figure of the first Czechoslovak president in the immediate proximity of characteristic postmodernist signs related to collective myths.
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.
