Lot 107

Otto Matoušek (1890 - 1977) FIELD IN A WIND

Otto Matoušek was a fascinating figure with a rich life story. He began painting landscapes largely under the influence of Antonín Slavíček. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under Max Pirner, Vlaho Bukovac, and Jan Preisler, but he was also a legionnaire and a colonel in the Czechoslovak Army. He was sent to Japan on a study trip to study Japanese printmaking, and this visit undoubtedly influenced his landscape painting. Together with Karel Chochola, he founded the Association of South Bohemian Artists in České Budějovice. During World War II, Otto Matoušek was arrested by the Gestapo after being denounced. He was later sent to Flossenbürg and forced to march in a death march; the prisoners were, by a stroke of luck, liberated by the U.S. Army. This experience was reflected in his work on two levels: first, in the somber Drawings from the Concentration Camp, which are striking in their heaviness. The second level consists of the vitalistic and luminous South Bohemian landscapes in a modern spirit, which are, in the truest sense, the painter’s triumph of life over death.