Zdeněk Sýkora (February 3, 1920 – July 12, 2011) was a
Czechoslovakian
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
modern
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Phil ...
abstract painter and sculptor, and a pioneer of using computers in art.
Early life
Sýkora was born and died in
Louny, Czechoslovakia. His style and medium changed from landscape paintings in the late 1940s to
geometrical
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...
abstract structures in the 50s. Influenced by
cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
and
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
in the 1960s, he became one of the first artists to use computers in creating geometric abstract paintings.
During the
Soviet occupations of many countries after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, including Czechoslovakia, Sýkora was unable to hold many exhibitions, and some of the only pieces that can be seen from the late 1960s are government building projects.
During this period, the artist spent a great deal of time working in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
.
Later career
Sýkora's style eventually turned to a less strict system of line paintings with lines of color moving across large canvasses in random directions.
Also in the 1960s, Sýkora was member of the art group Crossroad (
Skupina Křižovatka). While in this group, he created his first structures and realizations for architecture in the Prague neighborhood of
Letná on Jindřišská Street). In 1985, he began collaborating on paintings with his wife, Lenka Sýkora. Their most recent realization for architecture can be found in the building of flight operation in
Jeneč
Jeneč is a municipality and village in Prague-West District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,300 inhabitants.
Notable people
*Jiří Tichý
Jiří Tichý (6 December 1933 – 26 August 2016) was a Czech foot ...
near Prague. Sýkora had his second retrospective exhibition in 1995, 25 years after his first one, which had been held in Špála Gallery in 1970, and was not authorized by the occupying Russians. In 1995, it was the Prague City Gallery that held the exhibition in the Municipal Library and was a cross-section of his work. Sykora remained mostly active up until his death at age 91.
Legacy
Sýkora 's paintings are owned by galleries around the globe, including the
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
and the
MUMOK in Vienna.
Awards
*Vladimír Boudnik Award – 2008 – Czech Republic
*
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
– France
*Herbert-Boeckl-Preis – Austria
Exhibitions
Sýkora had hundreds of exhibitions internationally over his lifetime. A partial list is found o
Prague Art & Design.
Associated Czech artists
References
*Prague Art Catalogue
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110929162910/http://www.fcca.cz/shared/events/orbisfictus/ofzdeneksykora4.html
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sykora, Zdenek
1920 births
2011 deaths
20th-century Czech painters
Czech male painters
Modern painters
Czechoslovak artists
20th-century Czech male artists