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Oil on canvas. Signed top left: “Jan Bauch/1957”. According to the expert opinion prepared by PhDr. Rea Michalová, PhD, “'Standing Nude' is an authentic and superbly executed painting by Jan Bauch, one of the Czech Republic's most important expressionists, an artist whose work has significantly shaped almost the entire 20th century. It represents the artist's exceptionally powerful reflection on the vitality of life; it is, as Bauch himself says, 'an explosion towards life,' shining a light on the gloomy atmosphere of the 1950s. He masterfully captures the feeling of intoxication from the beauty and haptic richness characterizing female shapes. It is as if he had heard August Rodin say, 'The body is a model formed by passion.' Jan Bauch was attracted to subjects that allowed him, again and again, to stir up strife and play with intensity, matter and light. For this reason, he returned 'to the eternally dramatic story of the woman, woman's body, woman's beauty, exorbitance …' (J. B.). Nudes were one of his primary themes. 'Standing Nude' is a very beautiful work by Bauch, distinctive for its 'coursing life', the expression of which most characterized the artist's program. It is an excellent testament to the suggestive power of Bauch's painterly expression, which has adequate comparison only among the greatest names in Czech and broader European modern painting.” EXHIBITED/ Jan Bauch 1956-1957, Gallery of the Czech Art Fund, Prague, 7 February – 3 March 1958; Exhibition of Jan Bauch's Paintings and Sculptures of the Past Seven Years, Mánes, Praha, April 1963, cat. no. 79; Jan Bauch, Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures of the Past Years, Ostrava – Černá louka, 5 September – 10 October 1965, cat. no. 50.