Lot 169

KVĚTA VÁLOVÁ (1922 - 1998) FOUR AGAINST

This monumental work by Květa Válová is an authentic, dire reflection of the times in which it was created – 1968. In every period of her career, Válová’s central theme was human beings in the context of their social environment responding to their living situation. Human figures fill the entire composition of the painting, bodies tightly knit in an almost monochromatic color scale and forming what seems to be an enormous, collective sculptural group. Through gradation she achieves a sense of plasticity in the gathered crowed, forcing the viewer to rove their eyes among the figures in an attempt to glimpse movement. Hundreds of people gather around a slightly decentralized dark focal point. With reverence and respect, the figures surround four lifeless, almost transparent bodies in the dark epicenter of the painting. Four sacrifices, laid out before all, likely refer to the events of October 1968, when four MPs had the courage to vote against a treaty with the Soviet Union that aimed to legalize the occupation of Czechoslovakia. For this action, the MPs faced repression and persecution. This is unquestionably an exceptional work of gallery-level quality. During their careers, Květa Válová and her sister Jitka became a single spirit in two bodies. Both studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, and both became members of the Trasa art group in 1954, with which they both exhibited. Their work mutually overlaps to form a coherent whole, presenting a persuasive testament of the times and innermost themes with an appeal to human empathy.