Lot 191

Alén Diviš (1900 - 1956) THE BLACK TOMCAT

Alén Diviš's work is characterized by its dark and harrowing style, which corresponds to the author's troubled life. He devoted himself to horror scenes, desolate landscapes, people on the margins of society, and depicted themes from E.A. Poe. The Black Cat is a short story about an animal tortured by an alcoholic who tries to kill it. However, the cat keeps coming back and appears as a phantom that haunts him. Alén Diviš was a Czech painter and illustrator, a classmate of Marie Čermínová. In Paris, he also met Bohuslav Martinů, Josef Šíma, František Tichý, and Jan Zrzavý. To this day, he is unjustly regarded as a neglected loner, even though he created a very original oeuvre.