New Figuration, Czech Grotesque, Existential Figuration (1960-1980s)

In this part of the exhibition we present, alongside neo-figurative art, some of the most striking examples from the wide stream of the so-called ‘New Figuration’. Its impulses flowed into the Czech and Slovak environment, mainly from France. At first glance, however, it is clear that, as in the 1950s, the Czech version of this international stream was marked by the way of life in a socialist state that was somewhat more open, but the political apparatus still made sure that the population could not move and live freely. A Czech speciality was that many artists reacted to this abnormal situation of ‘life in a cage’ with black humour, which came to be known as ‘Czech Grotesque’.

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968, a second massive wave of emigration took place, as the era of so-called ‘real socialism’ took hold, which also affected the cultural sphere. Artists who did not leave the country once again split into ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’. Radical forms of art, which the regime had partially tolerated in the 1960s, were once again suppressed. Figurative painting underwent a revival, whose tense content and formality assisted the regime with its daily propaganda concerning the monstrous lie of ‘joyful life in socialism.’

The grotesque lineage, supported by expressive painting, was joined in the 1980s by Michael Rittstein. The dominant feature of his paintings is fantastic exaggeration, exaggerated details, and vivid and bright colours. Moreover, the large canvasses acknowledge their distant link to the tradition of the spectacular frescoes of the Baroque period. In his 1987 work Mushroom Harvest, Rittstein departs from the urban and leans towards nature. The topic of the devastation of the environment is transformed into an allegorical scene dominated by the aggressive figure of a flying woman. Her greedy hands, elongated into tentacles, are reaping a field of mushrooms, whose poisonous colour betrays something rotten beneath the surface.