MIKULÁŠ MEDEK (1926-1971)Sorrow of the IVth Inquisitor 1965 signed and dated 65; signed, titled and dated 65 on the reverse oil and enamel on canvas 129.5 by 180.5 cm. 51 by 71 1/16 in. Footnotes:This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by Eva Kosáková Medková.ProvenanceArt Centrum, Prague The University of Sydney, Sydney (acquired directly from the above in 1968)ExhibitedBerlin, Akademie der Künste, Tschechoslowakische Kunst der Gegenwart, 1966, no. 109Stockholm, Sveagalleriet, Tjeckoslovakisk nutidskonst, 1967, no. 68Prague, Art Centrum, Mikuláš Medek: Peintures, Paintings, Bilder 1958 - 1967, 1968Sydney, Farmer's Blaxland Gallery, Power Bequest Exhibition 2, 1969Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria; Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales; Adelaide, Art Gallery of South Australia, The Power Survey of Contemporary Art, 1972LiteratureVratislav Effenberger, Petr Král and Stanislav Dvorský (Eds.), Surrealistické východisko (1938 - 1968), Prague 1969, n.p., illustrated in black and white (incorrectly titled and dated)Bohumír Mráz, Mikuláš Medek, Prague 1970, p. 146, no. 72, illustrated in colourVratislav Effenberger and Antonin Hartmann (Eds.), Mikuláš Medek, Prague 2002, p. 107, illustrated in colour (incorrectly titled)Widely considered as one of the most important representatives of Czech modern painting in the post-war period, Mikuláš Medek is an artist who only recently received the global attention and recognition he deserves. Having died in 1974 at the age of only 47 years of age, the artist became a legend to his Czech contemporaries during his lifetime and deeply influenced the development of Czech modern art. A free spirit through and through, Medek was in permanent conflict with the communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia and ended up on the index several times. As a result, he was not allowed to exhibit, and public commissions were denied to him for much of his lifetime. Despite these limitations Medek developed a unique style, divided in three distinct creative periods, in an environment where Socialist Realism was the only acceptable art form and in a country that tried to expunge modern art, thought and international artistic the exchange. Sorrow of the IVth Inquisitor from 1965 is the first work of a cycle of 'Inquisitor' works and was executed in a rare time window where the artist was able to exhibit nationally and internationally. Having worked in secret for years under the oppression of the communist regime, the later 1960s between 1963 and 1969 presented a rare window of greater artistic freedom and exchange with Europe and the world. The Inquisitor cycle is an ironic take on Medek's critics and the censors in his life. Coming to the market for the first time in over half a century the present work has been widely exhibited and published. It was acquired by the University of Sydney in Australia only shortly after the work's execution in 1968 and has remained in the collection ever since. The sale will benefit the university's art collections. The present work shows three imposing abstract figures against a stark black background. The spectator is confronted with an intense, emotionally charged scene full of mystical energy and symbolism but also with a spiritual force reminiscent of a catholic altar piece. Three heads balance on sharp, neck like spikes tinted in bloody dark kraplak. Long lashes surround thin lines of unfathomable eyes, and the central figure bears a dark mouth teeming with sharp teeth. Medek used synthetic enamel, a deliberately modern medium, along with oil paint and varnish to create a shiny supple texture. Slashing and gauging the surface with palette knives, spatulas and brushes and layering the enamel and paint on thickly, Medek created a rich, organic, almost skin like texture. Whilst the three Inquisitors in the present work are the art historians Frantisek Smejkal and Vera Linhartova alongside the artist's wife Emila Medkova, the identity of the fourth, referenced in the title, remains unknown. Mikuláš Medek was born in Prague on 3 November 1926 to a prominent artistic and intellectual family. He was the son of the writer and officer Rudolf Medek, the grandson of the impressionist painter Antonín Slavíček and the brother of the music theorist and dissident Ivan Medek. He studied at the State School of Graphic Arts, at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts under the tutelage of Vlastimil Rada and at the College of Applied Arts in the studio of František Muzika and František Tichy. Initially influenced by the rich Surrealistic tendencies in Prague and artists such as Max Ernst and Salvador Dali, he later became one of the leading exponents of informal and non-figurative painting, despite living under an oppressive regime that considered his work to be subversive. Medek worked in private for much of his life, hiding his paintings from Czechoslovak State Security forces, but he was well known to, and greatly influenced a group of likeminded artists and intellectuals. At the end of the 1950s, Medek turned away from figurative painting and concentrated on abstraction, only to return to more figurative subjects towards the mid-1960s. Throughout his oeuvre Medek worked with the theme of the human condition, destiny and the endangerment of human existence and dignity. He created large-scale works for church interiors in Senetářov, Kotvrdovice and, probably the best known, in Jedovnice in Moravia. Today Medek's works are held in a number of Czech and international public institutions as well as in private collections. After a comprehensive exhibition of his work in Prague's Rudolfinum in 2002 and a major retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery Prague in 2020-21 there is finally increased international interest in his works which only rarely come up at auction. Mikuláš Medek continually strove for creative freedom in an age hostile to intellectual liberty and modern art and rightfully occupies a leading position in the cultural history of Post-War Czechoslovakia.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * AR* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
