ANTIQUES ART AUCTIONS


 

JAN ZRZAVÝ - THE CZECHOSLOVAK MONA LISA
A PORTRAIT OF MRS. PAVLA OSUSKÁ (Paris 1926)

 

ONE PAINTING EXHIBITION

6th to 8th NOVEMBER 2019, GREGR HALL, OBECNÍ DŮM (MUNICIPAL HOUSE), PRAGUE

OFFICIAL OPENING 6th NOVEMBER 2019 FROM 5 PM

Music / Jan Pěruška & Sons / Bohuslav Martinů: Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola

  

Oil on canvas, dimension 62 x 47,5 cm, signed top right Jan Zerzavý 1926

  

 

   

 

AAA – Antiques Art Auctions in cooperation with the Czechoslovak Institute of Foreign Affairs (Bratislava) will introduce in the Gregr Hall of the Municipal House in Prague,  within the framework of “THE EXHIBITION OF ONE PAINTING”,  Jan Zrzavý's „PORTRAIT OF MRS. PAVLA OSUSKA – THE CZECHOSLOVAK MONA LISA” from 1926. It stands among Jan Zrzavý's best works, and is considered one of the best, if not the best, examples of Neoclassical portraits in the world.

 

Leonardo da Vinci, whose 500th anniversary of death was this year, was a great source of inspiration to Jan Zrzavý, and in this work the parallels between the two artists are very clear. Jan Zrzavý was inspired by two of the most famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and arguably the two most renowned portraits in the world – Mona Lisa and Lady with an Ermine. The portrait of Mrs. Pavla Osuská stands in comparison with these great works, even though it was executed centuries later using modern techniques.

 

This portrait was created in Paris during the time that Czechoslovakia started to establish its place in the world. Mrs. Osuska's husband, Štefan Osuský, who was the Czechoslovak ambassador to France until 1939, was an important Slovak politician who greatly contributed to the growing political prestige of Czechoslovakia on the world stage. Mr. Osuský decided to commission a portrait of his beautiful wife Pavla (née Vachková, a Czech opera star) from amongst the world‘s leading artists. The fact that Jan Zrzavý received this assignment testifies to his artistic prowess and to the position that Czechoslovak artists had earned during the short existence of the new republic.

 

The portrait was published on the front page of SALON No. 4 in 1931, in which it was already compared to Mona Lisa. A preparatory drawing, which is an important work of art in its own right, will also be exhibited along with the final portrait.

 

The title page of the magazine

SALON, year X - 1931, number 4
In the big article inside the magazine the painting was highly praised and compared to works by Leonardo da Vinci.

 

Preparatory pencil drawing

on paper fixed on canvas,
Signed top right Jan Zrzavý, dated 1926
Size 50 x 40 cm

 

The author of highly informed article on Jan Zrzavy in the above mentioned magazine SALON, together with several other images of Jan Zrzavy’s work, was František Viktor Mokrý (1892 – 1975) - painter, graphic artist, publicist, professor, Art correspondent to several daylies, correspondent to the International Federation for Art Education, Drawing and Arts Applied to Industries, member of the Art Teachers Guild in London, art historian, etc.
 

The painting‘s extraordinary story from the years 1925 - 2009 is outlined in a concise publication by PhDr. Ivo Barteček, CSc. The 40 pages of this representative publication perfectly capture the mood surrounding Czechoslovak artists and politicians of the time as they engage in world art and politics.

 

Translation of quotation from the cover of the publication:

 

This publication follows in the context of a long time, the interconnection of the early modern period as represented by the genius of Leonardo da Vinci and the twentieth and early twenty-first century represented by the work of Jan Zrzavý, and the history of his portrait of Mrs. Pavla Osuská, dubbed the Czechoslovak Mona Lisa. The portrait is ranked among the masterpieces of world-class neoclassicism. The oil was last mentioned in the inter-war years and was published in 1931. Then it disappeared; only to reemerge on the art and collector scene after 2009. It is currently stored in a private collection in the Czech Republic. This text recalls the ties between this work and the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci. All this in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death.”

 

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