High-resolultion photograph(s) Download

Pastel on paper. Signed top center: MATAL.53 The subject of cyclists starts to appear in the artist's work in 1946. As the youngest member of Group 42, in which he became familiar with the work of František Gross, František Hudeček, Jan Smetana, Jan Kotík, Kamil Lhoták and others, he was also influenced by Social Civilist themes of man over machine and man-athlete. Cyclists predominated in Matal's work until the late 1950s, when the structure of the image slowly transitioned into increasingly freer geometric color fields. During the 1950s, Bohumír Matal and Jánuš Kubíček founded the Brno-based art group later called Brno 57, which other major artists also ascribed to. Matal liked people, colors and life. The artist resurrected art techniques that had no longer been taught in art school. A Renaissance man, he also worked in theater, stage design and architecture.