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Oil on canvas. Signed lower center: “F. Muzika 1921”. From the expert opinion prepared by PhDr. Rea Michalová, PhD.: The work “Seamstress” is an authentic, exclusive and truly rare work for collectors by František Muzika, a leading exponent of 20th century Czech painting, typography and stage design whose work was connected with the Czech interwar avant-garde. This excellent and absolutely rare painting was part of a collection of twelve works that František Muzika exhibited at Devětsil's legendary First Spring Exhibition in 1922. It is a unique discovery which is likely being presented to the public for the very first time since that momentous exhibition. After many decades, this magnificent painting, which is typical for the early Devětsil period and whose existence was known only as a title in a catalogue, is once again seeing the light of day. The work is an expression of the “New Realism” in Czech art of the early 1920s. It ideally captures the Devětsil program of proletarian art which, led by art theorist Karel Teige, took on the artistic form of magical realism and Primitivist Neoclassicism. These two movements come together brilliantly in this painting. František Muzika's “Seamstress” is a sophisticated figurative composition that gives voice to the monumentality of Primitivist-Neoclassical form, inspired by the “painter of love and goodness” Henri Rousseau and the works of anonymous artists of hanging signs and flea-market paintings, glorified in Čapek's “Humblest Art”. The Naïvist aspect is most pronounced in the depiction of a frontally seated figure with puppet-like gestures, captured at a moment that has an air of festivity. The young woman's blue dress with a white collar unmistakably refer to romantic faraway lands, which during that same period was also reflected in Wachsman's and Stefan's “Sailor” figures. František Muzika later explained, “Although we painted (…) workers, factories and other work environments, we still tried to make work a special occasion. However, we usually chose Sunday motifs, and not always did we eschew 'slipping' into idealism.” (F. Muzika) Exhibited: SPRING EXHIBITION 1922 Bedřich Feuerstein – Adolf Hoffmeister – Josef Jiříkovský – František Muzika – Bedřich Piskač – Bedřich Stefan – Ladislav Süss – Josef Šíma – Karel Teige – Karel Vaněk – Alois Wachsman in the exhibition rooms of the Bohemia Art Society in Prague in the House of Artists (Rudolfinum). [Exhibition opening on 29 April 1922.] Catalogue no. 46 (“Seamstress, oil”). The painting is from a major Prague collection.