Lot 120
Zdeněk Rykr (1900 - 1940) BEFORE SPRING

Around 1920
Oil on canvas
60 x 75 cm (h x w)
Lower right "Rykr"

Starting price
95 000 CZK
   |   3 878 €
Price realized
190 000 CZK
   |   7 755 €
price without premium

Zdeněk Rykr was one of the peculiar solitaires who, despite their adversity, did not hesitate to devote themselves to art. He was never accepted at the Academy of Fine Arts, but received his doctorate from the Faculty of Arts, where he studied art history and classical archeology. He was described by professional critics of his time as the "enfant terrible" of the avant-garde - he played the role of a tireless experimenter, whose speech stubbornly defied all established normative courts. Zdeněk Rykr approached his own path through art methodically and sought the path himself and did not downplay it in any way. His friend Jaromír Funke understood his variability in such a way that he reached every goal very easily, so she lost interest in him. Thanks to his talent for creating advertising design and free graphics, he was not dependent on the sale of his works. He believed that advertising should cultivate the viewer, and we still buy some of its realizations on the packaging - for example, the star Orion, a mourner who enjoys coffee on a Kofila bar. His success allowed him to paint completely unobtrusively. The work Early Spring is an authentic, high-quality and collector's rare work by Zdenek Rykr and exemplarily represents Rykr's joy in painting and summarizes the impression evoked by sensory experience. According to the X-ray picture, there is still a repainted abstract composition under the landscape painting.