Lot 173

Jan Souček (1941 - 2008) HOMUNCULI

In the work of Jan Souček, we observe through various manifestations the triple dimension of images consisting in the intermingling of myth, the present and timelessness (utopianism). Through the artist's fascination we see elements of mannerism with complex encrypted meanings concentrated in worlds already extinct or completely fictional. Jan Souček was closest to the postmodern paintings of Italian painters who subscribed to the Pittore Colta movement (Enlightened Painting), for whom quoting not only the paintings of the Old Masters but also their themes is essential. In the work on offer, the artist interprets the Latin concept of homunculus ("little man") in the field of technological imagination, which took on a new meaning in the early modern period in connection with speculations about the possible creation of an artificial man. For example, the alchemical treatise De natura rerum ('On the Nature of Things', 1538) describes in detail how to grow a little man from a male seed. Jan Souček studied between 1957 and 1961 at the Secondary School of Glass Arts in Železný Brod under the guidance of Professor Stanislav Libenský. He then studied between 1963-1969 at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Prague in the cartoon studio of Professor Adolf Hoffmeister. Since 1971 he has exhibited regularly in the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, France, Austria and the United States.