An Inkling of Connection

Adéla Matasová’s diverse and multilayered body of work is characterized by transitions between artistic disciplines, materials, and media. It includes intimate works on paper, reliefs, sculptures, gallery installations, and monumental works for representative and public spaces. The versatility of her distinctive artistic expression ranks Matasová among the most remarkable figures of postwar Czech art. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1964, where she studied in the studio of Vladimír Sychra. There she acquainted herself with, among other things, the techniques of mosaic, sgraffito, fresco, stained glass, and ceramic tiling, and from the very beginning she was deeply interested in the connection between the visual arts and architecture. She made extensive use of these experiences throughout the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s in her work on government commissions for various architectural projects. Working with paper plays a central role in her personal oeuvre—from prints and drawings to three-dimensional creations in the form of cast pulp, crumpled paper, or relief prints. These works often possess an intimate, even corporeal character, permeated by a provocative and unsettling tension. After 1989, in addition to her own artistic practice, Matasová also established herself as a prominent educator at several art schools, including UMPRUM in Prague. The hand-pressed relief print Tušení souvislostí (An Inkling of Connection), which is a typical example of the artist’s work with paper, also derives from her long-standing interest in architecture and the spatial qualities of materials. The work was created using handmade paper from the mill in Velké Losiny, with which the artist had established a long-term experimental collaboration. It was precisely this collaboration that gave rise to a whole host of important works. This series features a total of six prints, and due to the handcrafted approach, each copy is slightly different and is thus an original.

70 % of the hammer prize is allocated to support the non-profit foundation Spolu s odvahou, a member of the Bátor Tábor Family.