Lot 181

Jan Bauch (1898 - 1995) RECLINING ODYSSEUS

It is a unique sculpture in wood by the important Czech painter and sculptor Jan Bauch, who confronted the craft of carving at an early age in his father's workshop. In addition to his important painting work, Bauch's talent as a sculptor also developed. In the 1930s, Jan Bauch collaborated with the sculptor Karel Pokorný and won second prize in a competition for the door of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague for his allegory of human life from birth to death. He also co-authored with sculptor Jan Lauda the monumental sculpture The Overthrow of Czechoslovakia, intended for the World Exhibition in New York. Both his paintings and sculptures carry elements of inner tension inspired by the Baroque legacy. The offered sculpture of a reclining Ulysses, with which Jan Bauch is also photographed in person, represents the artist's return to the medium of sculpture in 1962.