John Jiří 1923–1972

Butterfly, 1968

drypoint, paper, mount, frame, glass, 23,5 × 27,5 cm, signed in pencil PD Jiří John 1968
Although Jiří John started with drawing and devoted his life to painting, it was especially in the 1960s that printmaking became significant for his work, which made him an internationally renowned artist. John used a predominantly drypoint technique with a distinctive handwriting for which characterized by short, tightly executed strokes covering the entire surface of the scene, without strong contrasts. The theme of John's prints is was nature, depicted despite the initial inspiration of specific scenes, such as an abstracted universe, resembling the geological strata of the earth with different natural formations, rocks and crystals. A silent and poetic world without human presence, in which the life-giving power of the earth and nature plays the main role, John has created with a unique imagination far removed from his generations contemporaries. His work was more closely related to the artistic work of Václav Boštík, with whom to the work of Josef Šíma, with whose work he had a long-standing friendship. John first became acquainted with at an exhibition at the Topič Salon in Prague in 1947. In the 1960s John had the opportunity to visit France several times and repeatedly met Šíma in person at his retrospective exhibition (1968) and in his Paris studio.