Book Launch: Smetana (edice m)

Kunsthalle Praha, Academia Publishing, and Kodl Gallery invite you to the launch of the third volume from the edice m.

This volume is dedicated to the painter and art teacher Jan Smetana (1918–1998), primarily known in connection with Group 42. Smetana's further, significantly extensive work has awaited comprehensive assessment. After the "group" period, where the themes of his paintings revolved around marginal attributes of technical civilization and suburban landscapes, he turned to exploring the hidden forces controlling natural phenomena in his painting. From the early 1960s, nature in all its forms and lighting variations became his main inspiration. He developed and modified natural motifs similarly to the work of a musical composer.

The monograph draws from the extensive body of work preserved in galleries and the author's family, from diaries stored in the Archive of the National Gallery in Prague, and from the memories of students. Several thousand pages of personal diaries reveal many aspects of Smetana's personality and unveil the background of a rich painting oeuvre that is not confined to its time but, as the author wished, speaks to future generations. An important part of the publication is a selected inventory of this work, including over six hundred items.

The book's author is art historian Eva Neumannová, and the graphic design was done by Studio Najbrt.

*your free reservation includes admission to the gallery and exhibitions