Paur Jaroslav (1918–1987)

In Space, 1985–6

oil, canvas
97.5 x 74.5 cm
sign. PD J. Paur 85–6


Provenance: Private collection, from the estate of the artist. Lit.: Exhibition catalogue. Jaroslav Paur, Tělesa a prostory. Nová síň Prague 1970. Padrta Jiří: Jaroslav Paur. Prague 1964. Padrta Jiří: Jaroslav Paur, Výtvarné umění 1960, No. 3. From the ‘60s the central motif of Paur’s painterly work has been the city, or the city panorama, which is approached as a geometrical structure or network, revealing a system of relationships, distances and links. The same significance as the depiction of the city is given to the rendering of the sky, through which the earth space meets the universe, the ovoid shapes of which occasionally come near the earth. “In addition, Jaroslav Paur has mastered unusually cultivated painterly means based on complete control over a complicated technological process, the result of which is an original organism of the colour structure of the picture surface. From the multiple-layered coat of paints, shining through each other to the pastes on top, made smooth by numerous glazes, he builds the fine web of the painting. Using a combination of structures and carefully considered smooth areas, often graphically redefined by means of a network of lines and notches, he achieves impressive sensory effect of the canvases.” Luboš Hlaváček. J. Paur studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under prof. J. Obrovský. In 1946 he became a member of the Mánes Society of Fine Artists.