Lot 172

Josef Jíra (1929 - 2005) FUR TRADER

Josef Jíra's paintings are often marked by the realities of Venovian life, experiences and narratives. He projected such unforgettable experiences onto the canvas, incalculably imprinting a piece of himself onto it, and remained true to his bold expression even in times when his manuscript went on the rampage against committed art and the condoning of suffering and crime. He sold paintings only unofficially and privately and was repeatedly investigated. He moved from Prague to Malá Skála, where he switched from the monstrous Eyes series to images of real people. The figure of the fur trader belongs to the inventory of that pure and sincere Jir's village landscape with a touch of childhood memories, which the author spread on the canvas all his life. Human lives inscribed in a face hypnotically challenging to see in it a certain inevitability of fate. A red ring of sun glows behind the fur trader, which also accompanies the farmer embracing for the last time the horse to be taken to the 1970-1971 slaughterhouse. Bohumil Hrabal responded to this image with the words: "The millennia are breaking and Jira painted it!"