Lot 136

Kamil Lhoták (1912 - 1990) WATER TANK FOR A STEAM LOCOMOTIVE

Following a decades-long hiatus, 1979 reunited Kamil Lhoták with František Gross and František Hudeček from the former Group 42 art group. They exhibited together at Galerie Kniha and at the Small Gallery at Československý Spisovatel publishing house in Prague. It was a very fertile year that gave rise to fifty artworks, and it was at exhibitions where Lhoták presented his new illustrations. This large print is dominated by a large bright blue cistern with protruding pipes. In contrasting, miniature scale, a human figure is depicted on the horizon in the background.

A fascination with civilization and the modern world is a common thread throughout Lhoták’s oeuvre, as he himself explained: “I’ve always been interested in landscapes where nature combines with civilization, artificial landscapes in which man intervenes. For me what's exciting is the tension that arises between the primordiality of the Earth and the human touch, especially the touch by man – machines. There is always some deformation that creates a new beauty and picturesqueness … it is a new poetry as created, consciously and sometimes unwittingly, by man living in 20th century civilization. It possesses dynamics, strength, and courage, and sometimes things that contain a hidden sadness.”