Jan Zrzavý
Ostravice with Slag Heaps
Artist
Jan Zrzavý
(1890, Okrouhlice - 1977, Praha), Czech
Original Title
Ostravice with Slag Heaps
Date1933
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions65,5 × 105 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha (Eva and Petr Zeman Collection)
DescriptionJan Zrzavý was a prominent, albeit solitary, figure of the Czech 20th century art scene. Through his distinctive style, colour palette, and depiction of light, he was able to imbue real-world subjects with an artistic delicacy and a spiritual tone. Zrzavý’s style, based on a schematic portrayal of form, synthesized surrounding visual perceptions with varied sources of inspiration from the Orient and the Middle and Far East. Due to the fairy-tale-like features of his art and his work with the subconscious, he is associated with the broader current of Czech imaginative art. His early works from the early 20th century drew on the tendencies of the secession, symbolism, romanticism, and post-impressionism, as well as the influences of Edvard Munch and Leonardo da Vinci, who was a lifelong source of inspiration for Zrzavý. The sadness and hopelessness of their content corresponded with contemporary poetics, which Zrzavý combined with his own emotional experience of life. Some of his works openly and ironically addressed questions of sexuality, providing a personal testimony shaped by decadent aesthetics aligned with contemporary artistic tendencies. Around 1913, his work began betraying subtle influences of cubism, stemming from his friendship with Bohumil Kubišta. However, Zrzavý primarily used geometric forms to heighten the symbolic and spiritual effect of his paintings. In the 1920s, his work was most significantly influenced by neoclassicism, which he, however, imbued with pronounced imaginative and spiritual dimensions. Numerous landscapes from the first decade of the 20th century are conceived as gardens of paradise, a result a Zrzavý’s lifelong preference for imaginary landscapes permeated shaped by an expression of the artist’s soul. He intentionally painted landscapes based on images and impressions preserved in his memory. In the early 1920s, Zrzavý painted several landscapes in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands; he later revisited the subject of his homeland in the late 1930s and particularly the 1940s. In other works, he portrayed his impressions of Venice, depicting St. Mark’s Square and stylized church domes with the sea, canals, and gondolas. In 1925, he visited Brittany for the first times and became fascinated by its rocky, sea-washed landscape, which would become a central motif of his paintings throughout the following decade. Drawing on this inspiration, Zrzavý painted stone structures set against the horizon of the sea. Human figures were absent from these works, instead replaced by boats, bolstering the imaginative character of his paintings, which can be seen as a reflection of his internal state. In the 1930s, Zrzavý produced distinctive representations of the Arcadian world, rid of narrative and action. During the mid-1930s, he moved from pastel tones to a more saturated colour palette, which can be linked to the intensifying atmosphere of the time. During World War II, he painted his memories of Brittany, as well as Italy, and portrayed subjects from the Czech landscape, which gained increased resonance due to the state of socio-political affairs. Parallel to landscapes, Zrzavý’s oeuvre also contains an ever-present current of figurative painting with opaque meanings. Generally rooted in the relationship between death and sexuality, these works also revealed a dark side of Zrzavý’s soul and his struggle to come to terms with his feelings of difference. They can partially be interpreted as an expression of the depths of the human psyche, simultaneously conveying a sympathetic view of individual human life. In 1915, he painted his first paintings with socially oriented subjects from contemporary life. After World War I, his figurative work became shaped by neoclassicism. A characteristic feature of his paintings is the prominence of gestures, stemming from his inspiration in biblical motifs. Zrzavý drew on biblical motifs and Christian legends in his early work, as well as later, during the early 1940s, when he created illustrations for Julius Zeyer’s poems. From 1960 onward, his work became influenced by an interest in Ancient Greece, mythology, and archaic Greek sculpture, which—alongside Christianity—became the main pillars of his synthetic approach to art. In his later work, Zrzavý almost exclusively focused on drawing, particularly on pastel drawing.
The painting Ostravian Heaps (1933) is part of a homonymous series of paintings inspired by the landscapes around Ostrava. In 1932, Zrzavý had a solo exhibition at the House of Art in Ostrava, becoming acquainted with the atmosphere of the mines in the city’s periphery during this time. The authentic character of the local landscape and its unique bizarre poetics reminded him of his impressions of Brittany. In line with his other landscapes, this painting, portraying heaps of coal with solitary boulders in the foreground, was created with temporal distance in Zrzavý’s studio. He intensively focused on the Ostravian landscape during 1933, fully exhausting the subject and abandoning it in the following years. His paintings of the Czech landscape were exhibited in 1940 at the Umělecká Beseda artists’ forum’s Aleš Exhibition Hall. During the 1950s, Zrzavý revisited the subject of Ostrava’s heaps; however, his choice of motifs was limited by the contemporary political reality: he was banned from exhibiting following the Communist coup in 1948, but his painting of Ostrava’s coal heaps was exempted from this ban due to their limited interpretive possibilities.
Jan Zrzavý (1890, Vadín – 1977, Prague) spent his childhood in Okrouhlice, with visual memories from this period becoming incorporated into his some of his later work. In 1906, he moved to Prague, where he initially attended private art courses. In 1907, Zrzavý enrolled in the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, in Emanuel Dítě’s studio; however, he was expelled from the school after the 1908-1909 academic year. He became a member of the Sursum Art Association (1910–1912), which brought together the second generation of symbolist artists. The group’s largest exhibition took place in 1912 at the Municipal House in Prague. During this time, an important influence on Zrzavý’s art, apart from his self-education, was his friendship with Bohumil Kubišta. In early 1918, Zrzavý contracted a serious illness. After recovering, he presented his in a major exhibition at the Topič Salon in Prague. After World War I, he joined the art group Tvrdošijní (The Stubborn Ones; 1917–1924), whose members represented varied styles of what theorist Václav Nebeský termed the Czech art scene’s “differentiated modernity”. The group exhibited their work around Czechoslovakia (Prague, Brno, Košice) and Central Europe (Dresden, Berlin, Hannover, Vienna, Geneva). In 1923, Zrzavý visited Italy for the first time, later visiting again in 1928, after recovering from illness. In 1925, he visited Brittany, where he would regularly return to for long stays during the following years. From 1923 to 1942, Zrzavý was a member of the Umělecká beseda artists’ forum, which annually exhibited collections of his work. In 1931, Zrzavý’s work featured in the international exhibition L´Ecole de Paris, organized by Umělecká beseda at the Municipal House in Prague. During the 1920s and 1930s, his work was included in important international exhibitions of Czech art, including: Europäische Kunst der Gegenwart: Zentenarausstellung des Kunstvereins Hamburg, Kunstverein Hamburg, 1927; the 17th Venice Biennale, 1930; Exhibition of the Arts of Czechoslovakia, Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1935; L'art moderne tchécoslovaque, Galerie Charpentier, Paříž, 1937; Exposition Internationale de Paris 1937 (Arts et Techniques dans la Vie moderne), Palais des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris, 1937. In 1938, prompted by the political situation in France, Zrzavý moved back to Czechoslovakia. He spent the war living between Prague and Vodňany in Southern Bohemia. In 1940, at the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, the Umělecká beseda artists’ forum organized an exhibition at the Municipal House, which was seen as an explicit protest against Nazi repression. After World War II, his work again began to feature in international exhibitions of Czech art, such as Thirty Years of Czechoslovak Painting, held at the Parisian Musée de l’Orangerie in 1946, and the 29th Venice Biennale in 1958. In 1947, Zrzavý returned to France again, but historical events rendered him unable to renew his positive relationship with the country*. Most of his post-war paintings inspired by Brittany were therefore painted from memory. His first post-war exhibitions in Czechoslovakia took place in 1947 at the Topič Salon (Pastels and Drawings) and the Vilímek Gallery (New Landscapes and Still Lifes) in Prague. In the same year, Zrzavý became a professor of painting and composition at the Art Department of the Palacký University in Olomouc. However, his position at the school soon became untenable due to the political and cultural situation in Czechoslovakia; after 1948, he was banned from exhibiting, with the exception of his illustrations. In 1963, the National Gallery organized an exhibition surveying his work, held at the Mánes Exhibition Hall in Prague and later travelling8 to Brno and Bratislava. In 1966, Zravý was named a national artist, a state-designated title awarded to artists whose work was considered significant contribution to Czechoslovak national culture. Another retrospective exhibition of his work took place in 1990 at the National Gallery Prague (at the Kinský Palace and the Waldstein Riding School). Zrzavý bequeathed his estate to the National Gallery Prague. His work is also held in the collections of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové, the Gallery of Fine Arts in Cheb, the Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen, and the Kunstmuseum Bochum.
The painting Ostravian Heaps (1933) is part of a homonymous series of paintings inspired by the landscapes around Ostrava. In 1932, Zrzavý had a solo exhibition at the House of Art in Ostrava, becoming acquainted with the atmosphere of the mines in the city’s periphery during this time. The authentic character of the local landscape and its unique bizarre poetics reminded him of his impressions of Brittany. In line with his other landscapes, this painting, portraying heaps of coal with solitary boulders in the foreground, was created with temporal distance in Zrzavý’s studio. He intensively focused on the Ostravian landscape during 1933, fully exhausting the subject and abandoning it in the following years. His paintings of the Czech landscape were exhibited in 1940 at the Umělecká Beseda artists’ forum’s Aleš Exhibition Hall. During the 1950s, Zrzavý revisited the subject of Ostrava’s heaps; however, his choice of motifs was limited by the contemporary political reality: he was banned from exhibiting following the Communist coup in 1948, but his painting of Ostrava’s coal heaps was exempted from this ban due to their limited interpretive possibilities.
Jan Zrzavý (1890, Vadín – 1977, Prague) spent his childhood in Okrouhlice, with visual memories from this period becoming incorporated into his some of his later work. In 1906, he moved to Prague, where he initially attended private art courses. In 1907, Zrzavý enrolled in the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, in Emanuel Dítě’s studio; however, he was expelled from the school after the 1908-1909 academic year. He became a member of the Sursum Art Association (1910–1912), which brought together the second generation of symbolist artists. The group’s largest exhibition took place in 1912 at the Municipal House in Prague. During this time, an important influence on Zrzavý’s art, apart from his self-education, was his friendship with Bohumil Kubišta. In early 1918, Zrzavý contracted a serious illness. After recovering, he presented his in a major exhibition at the Topič Salon in Prague. After World War I, he joined the art group Tvrdošijní (The Stubborn Ones; 1917–1924), whose members represented varied styles of what theorist Václav Nebeský termed the Czech art scene’s “differentiated modernity”. The group exhibited their work around Czechoslovakia (Prague, Brno, Košice) and Central Europe (Dresden, Berlin, Hannover, Vienna, Geneva). In 1923, Zrzavý visited Italy for the first time, later visiting again in 1928, after recovering from illness. In 1925, he visited Brittany, where he would regularly return to for long stays during the following years. From 1923 to 1942, Zrzavý was a member of the Umělecká beseda artists’ forum, which annually exhibited collections of his work. In 1931, Zrzavý’s work featured in the international exhibition L´Ecole de Paris, organized by Umělecká beseda at the Municipal House in Prague. During the 1920s and 1930s, his work was included in important international exhibitions of Czech art, including: Europäische Kunst der Gegenwart: Zentenarausstellung des Kunstvereins Hamburg, Kunstverein Hamburg, 1927; the 17th Venice Biennale, 1930; Exhibition of the Arts of Czechoslovakia, Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1935; L'art moderne tchécoslovaque, Galerie Charpentier, Paříž, 1937; Exposition Internationale de Paris 1937 (Arts et Techniques dans la Vie moderne), Palais des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris, 1937. In 1938, prompted by the political situation in France, Zrzavý moved back to Czechoslovakia. He spent the war living between Prague and Vodňany in Southern Bohemia. In 1940, at the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, the Umělecká beseda artists’ forum organized an exhibition at the Municipal House, which was seen as an explicit protest against Nazi repression. After World War II, his work again began to feature in international exhibitions of Czech art, such as Thirty Years of Czechoslovak Painting, held at the Parisian Musée de l’Orangerie in 1946, and the 29th Venice Biennale in 1958. In 1947, Zrzavý returned to France again, but historical events rendered him unable to renew his positive relationship with the country*. Most of his post-war paintings inspired by Brittany were therefore painted from memory. His first post-war exhibitions in Czechoslovakia took place in 1947 at the Topič Salon (Pastels and Drawings) and the Vilímek Gallery (New Landscapes and Still Lifes) in Prague. In the same year, Zrzavý became a professor of painting and composition at the Art Department of the Palacký University in Olomouc. However, his position at the school soon became untenable due to the political and cultural situation in Czechoslovakia; after 1948, he was banned from exhibiting, with the exception of his illustrations. In 1963, the National Gallery organized an exhibition surveying his work, held at the Mánes Exhibition Hall in Prague and later travelling8 to Brno and Bratislava. In 1966, Zravý was named a national artist, a state-designated title awarded to artists whose work was considered significant contribution to Czechoslovak national culture. Another retrospective exhibition of his work took place in 1990 at the National Gallery Prague (at the Kinský Palace and the Waldstein Riding School). Zrzavý bequeathed his estate to the National Gallery Prague. His work is also held in the collections of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové, the Gallery of Fine Arts in Cheb, the Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen, and the Kunstmuseum Bochum.
