Lot 137

Josef Lada (1887 - 1957) WINTER

Josef Lada established himself as undoubtedly one of the most important painters of the Czech countryside. Recognized as a typical figuralist in the 1940s, Lada also more often focused on village motifs with almost or no figural staff and sought the optimal position of expression between drawing and painting. Josef Lada sticks to his linear stylization and translates landscape motifs into simple characters, from which he composes a new pictorial reality. Lada's original painting, in which he fully applied his drawing experience, significantly enriched the expressive register of contemporary Czech landscape painting. The artistic conception of the presented work, characterized by particularly fine contours and a more pronounced application of the painter's handwriting, is characteristic of the period of the 1940s, when Lada's painting reached its peak phase. The arrangement of the composition, the drawing stylization, the method of coloring and the type of signature coincide with the documented originals from the given period. Thanks to his uniqueness of the manuscript, Josef Lada became one of the icons of Czech fine art, and the Czech winter in the countryside is often referred to as "Ladovská." The work comes from the restitution of the National Gallery and an expert assessment is written on it by PhDr. Pavla Pečinková, CSc.

Published: Olič, J .: Lada, Slovart 2008, p. 499. Exhibited by: NG - Heritage of Folk Art in Czech and Slovak Painting, in the Karlovy Vary Art Gallery, inventory label of the National Gallery K33910.