Zorka Ságlová
Sheilas II
Artist
Zorka Ságlová
(1942, Humpolec - 2003, Praha), Czech
Original Title
Sheilas II
Date1998
Mediumvarnish on damask
Dimensions 105 × 105 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionZorka Ságlová is a conceptual artist whose work incorporates a wide range of artistic forms while simultaneously maintaining a remarkable unity. Her practice spans painting, assemblage, photography, graphics, minimalist sculpture, land art, and action art. Her distinctive artistic expression is influenced by geometric constructivist structures and particularly land art projects. After 1969, she was forced to work in seclusion for the following two decades due the incompatibility of her art with the state apparatus. A recurrent theme in Ságlová’s work is the motif of a rabbit—an archetypal symbol of certain values as well as an element of her personal mythology—which she developed in many forms and symbolic contexts throughout the years. From the 1990s onward, she incorporated various found objects and travel souvenirs into her assemblages. She also began to use damask satin fabrics in place of the traditional painting canvas. The damasks imbued her works with new textures of weaved patterns and substantially changed the interpretive context of these pieces.
Sheilas II (1998) is part of a series titled Sheilas (1998-2001), created using damask fabrics. The title is a reference to the Celtic goddess of fertility, commonly depicted with exposed breasts and genitalia—sacred symbols of nativity and life which have since accumulated vulgar connotations. The texture of the fabrics played a significant role in the creation of this series, figuring as a central theme it works. Ságlová embellished the damask pattern with multicolored vertical painted lines which form an orderly geometric structure. The delicate materiality and liberated expression connote feminine identity and prehistoric fertility cults. The work’s meaning comprises a wide range of cultural contexts as well as Ságlová’s personal experiences.
Zorka Ságlová (1942, Humpolec – 2003, Prague) studied in Antionín Kybal’s textile studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague from 1960 to 1966. Her experience of working with textiles has subsequently permeated various periods of her artistic practice. She partook in important group exhibitions of the 1960s such as Konstruktivní tendence (Constructive Tendencies; 1966) and Nová citlivost (New Sensibility; 1968), becoming part of a significant current of the Czech art scene marked by an interest in the rationalization and objectivization of art. Together with the band The Plastic People of the Universe and the art group Křižovnická škola čistého humoru bez vtipu (Crusader School of Pure Humor Without Jokes), she organized land art happenings such as Throwing Balls into the Bořín Pond in Průhonice (1969) and Laying Down Diapers near Sudoměř (1970). Ságlová died in 2003 in Prague. Her 2006 retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery Prague and the Moravian Gallery in Brno marked the first comprehensive overview of her work.
Sheilas II (1998) is part of a series titled Sheilas (1998-2001), created using damask fabrics. The title is a reference to the Celtic goddess of fertility, commonly depicted with exposed breasts and genitalia—sacred symbols of nativity and life which have since accumulated vulgar connotations. The texture of the fabrics played a significant role in the creation of this series, figuring as a central theme it works. Ságlová embellished the damask pattern with multicolored vertical painted lines which form an orderly geometric structure. The delicate materiality and liberated expression connote feminine identity and prehistoric fertility cults. The work’s meaning comprises a wide range of cultural contexts as well as Ságlová’s personal experiences.
Zorka Ságlová (1942, Humpolec – 2003, Prague) studied in Antionín Kybal’s textile studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague from 1960 to 1966. Her experience of working with textiles has subsequently permeated various periods of her artistic practice. She partook in important group exhibitions of the 1960s such as Konstruktivní tendence (Constructive Tendencies; 1966) and Nová citlivost (New Sensibility; 1968), becoming part of a significant current of the Czech art scene marked by an interest in the rationalization and objectivization of art. Together with the band The Plastic People of the Universe and the art group Křižovnická škola čistého humoru bez vtipu (Crusader School of Pure Humor Without Jokes), she organized land art happenings such as Throwing Balls into the Bořín Pond in Průhonice (1969) and Laying Down Diapers near Sudoměř (1970). Ságlová died in 2003 in Prague. Her 2006 retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery Prague and the Moravian Gallery in Brno marked the first comprehensive overview of her work.
