Lot 85

Miloslav Holý (1897 - 1974) BOUQUET IN A VASE

Bouquet in a Vase presents Holý’s favorite theme. He particularly focused on floral compositions in the 1920s, when his palette brightened and gained vitality under the influence of his study trips to Paris and Brittany. This bouquet is an exemplary piece from Holý’s work during the First Czechoslovak Republic, which shines with the celebration of life and democracy. The impasto flowers are executed with energetic strokes of the brush, bringing together the painter’s lifelong interest in expression and colorism.

Holý studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under Jan Preisler, Vlaho Bukovac and Jakub Obrovský, and he also attended printmaking courses led by Max Švabinský. He played an important role in the Ho Ho Ko Ko Social Group, which he co-founded with Karel Holan, Pravoslav Kotík and Karel Kotrba in 1924. He exhibited extensively in Czechoslovakia and abroad (France, United States, Italy), and later became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He still drew on French exmplars in the 1940s, with the open landscapes and vivid colors he saw during his study residences in France in the late 1920s. Later (from the 1950s) the colors darken, dominated by green and again a certain trend towards Neo-impressionism. Miloslav Holý’s oeuvre is represented in all major Czech galleries. He is also the author of several articles and memoirs.