Tomáš Císařovský
Tahiti
Artist
Tomáš Císařovský
(1962, Praha), Czech
Original Title
Tahiti
Date2014
Mediumwatercolor on handmade paper
Dimensions113 × 150 cm
Classificationsworks on paper
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.
Watercolor painting is a masterly technique, its spontaneity and fortuity a test of the artist’s technical capabilities. For Tomáš Císařovský, it represents an everyday form of rejuvenation and a technical exercise to begin the day. Watercolors form an autonomous segment of Císařovský’s oeuvre equivalent to his oil paintings, as evidenced by his solo exhibition dedicated solely to watercolor paintings (Yellow Spot, Prague City Gallery, 2010). Despite the more intimate materiality of the medium, Císařovský achieves an expressive monumentality facilitated by a formal reduction of the figure to a corporeal sign without clothing and other potentially individualizing attributes. Tahiti (2014) depicts a segment of an exotic landscape. Formally, the painting is marked by a characteristic romanticizing gaze linked to personal experiences and the discovery of exotic lands, with the pastel palette and the lightness of the technique furthering the impression of a fairytale-like uniqueness.
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.
Watercolor painting is a masterly technique, its spontaneity and fortuity a test of the artist’s technical capabilities. For Tomáš Císařovský, it represents an everyday form of rejuvenation and a technical exercise to begin the day. Watercolors form an autonomous segment of Císařovský’s oeuvre equivalent to his oil paintings, as evidenced by his solo exhibition dedicated solely to watercolor paintings (Yellow Spot, Prague City Gallery, 2010). Despite the more intimate materiality of the medium, Císařovský achieves an expressive monumentality facilitated by a formal reduction of the figure to a corporeal sign without clothing and other potentially individualizing attributes. Tahiti (2014) depicts a segment of an exotic landscape. Formally, the painting is marked by a characteristic romanticizing gaze linked to personal experiences and the discovery of exotic lands, with the pastel palette and the lightness of the technique furthering the impression of a fairytale-like uniqueness.
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.
