Bauch Jan 1898–1995

Othello, 1968

mixed media, cardboard, frame, 49,5 × 45,5 cm, signed. LD Jan Bauch 1968
mixed media, cardboard, frame, 49,5 × 45,5 cm, signed. LD Jan Bauch 1968The presented work "Othello" is original, very high quality, motivically unique and brilliant in colour work by Jan Bauch, the father of Czech modern painting and its tireless revivalist, an artist whose paintings are at the same time an expression of a violent, passionate temperament and delicate lyricism, they are ecstatically exuberant, but at the same time delicate and poetic. In Jan Bauch's painting everything is strained to the extreme, the opposites touch each other immediately and suddenly turn into their opposite. Colour instrumentation of the scenes changes from striking dissonances to fascinating harmonies of pure and broken tones. Born in Prague's Old Town, Jan Bauch studied after his apprenticeship in his father's woodcarving workshop at the School of Arts and Crafts, first with Prof. E. Dítěte. After a forced war censorship, which he spent at the front in Hungary and Romania, he finished his studies in 1919 in the studio of Vratislav Hugo Brunner. In 1921 he entered the Academy of Fine Arts, ...which he did not complete because of a conflict with Prof. Max Švabinský. In the first period of his work he was influenced by the atmosphere of Czech poetism and imaginative painting. The unique artistic culture of his work was influenced by his craftsmanship, relationship to the great domestic artistic styles and, last but not least, the study trips to France and Italy. Respect for tradition and respect for the central figures of modernism united in a body of work that increasingly asserted the sensual side of his temperament and his expressive handwriting. He was able to imprint his own style on classical genres such as the nude, still life and landscape. and infuse them with new content. The themes themselves came with time, with dramatic events and in anticipation of the tragedy that would befall Czechoslovakia. Several versions of the painting Loreto, a highly expressive view of the Baroque church, which stands directly opposite the Czernin Palace, where was the official residence of the German Reich Protector from 1939 to 1945. for Bohemia and Moravia, is one of the most impressive works of Czech modern painting from the time when Reinhard Heydrich ruled Prague. In addition to the Loreto paintings with episodes from the life of Christ were the most emotional. From the New Bauch chose a fateful moment of betrayal and suffering: the Lord's Supper, Christ on the Mount of Olives, Golgotha and the Taking Down of the Cross. The present work "Othello" is a beautifully shaped and coloured painting, perfectly matching Bauch's mature late Expressionism. In his work, Jan Bauch liked to delve into the dramas of human destiny, his themes as embodiments of the conflicts and dynamics of the modern world. Therefore, he was also attracted to very exclusive personalities of art, history and literature, whose lives were inscribed with passion (Paganini, Verlaine, Homer, Feidias, Villon, Mozart...). This is how he arrived at the theme of Othello, the main hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, which belongs to the golden treasury" of world literature. In addition to the combined technique under consideration Bauch created in 1968 another oil of the same subject, but more monumental format (133 × 108 cm, private collection). Later, the subject was already he did not return to the subject again, as he did with other paintings that had been varied many times over the years. motifs over the years. The work under consideration, Othello, can be described as a charming painting feria, ...which is almost stained-glass in the brilliance and translucency of its colours. In this this work also differs significantly from the aforementioned oil painting, which is typically Bauchian, dense and "sculptural", but lacks the unique airy and luminosity, which the artist has achieved with a combined technique that does not allow for the layering of pastes. From the expertise of Rei Michalová, PhD. Rea Michalová - Peter Kováč, Jan Bauch, Galerie Art Praha, 2012, no. 192, p. 255. the expert opinion of Rei Michalová, PhD. D. attached