Stanislav Podhrázský – Unsettled Beauty 25. 10. 2013 – 23. 2. 2014

The exhibition Unsettled Beauty presents the work of Stanislav Podhrázský (1920–1999), a leading representative of Czech postwar painting. Podhrázský’s early works place him alongside radical representatives of Czech postwar Surrealism, and his close friends included Zbyněk Sekal, Zdeněk Palcr, Josef Lehoučka, Emila Medková, Mikuláš Medek, and Miloš Chlupáč. His later works are more distinctive: In addition to Surrealism, he explored formal patterns and other important stages in international art (in particular the Italian Renaissance and Mannerism) in a distinctively intuitive manner. Besides an ever-present sense of unease, his work is characterized by spontaneity, a mastery of form, and immense poetic value. This extensive retrospective at the Stone Bell House and the accompanying monograph published by Arbor Vitae hope to take a closer look at and properly assess Podhrázský’s life-long work.