Lot 68

Bohumil Kafka (1878 - 1942) GENERAL M. R. ŠTEFÁNIK

In the presented sculpture, Kafka was preparing for one of his greatest works, which no longer exists today. It was ceremoniously unveiled in Bratislava in 1937, but was dismantled in 1952 and most likely melted down irretrievably. It was a bronze statue of Milan Rastislav Štefánik, a French-Slovak officer and politician, over seven meters tall, who is presented in the work as a proud aviator who contributed significantly to the creation of the independent Czechoslovak state. In 1928, a competition was announced for ideas for a large monument to Milan Rastislav Štefánik for Bratislava. At the beginning of September, Kafka had completed the first plastic sketch on a scale of 1:40. It turned out that matters related to the Štefánik monument were complicated, as it was not only an artistic but also a political issue. During 1929, Kafka modeled six more variants and began to focus on the Štefánik-aviator variant. The auxiliary model, which was exhibited in Paris, where it was also purchased by the French Ministry of Education, was 247 cm high and was used as the basis for the final sculpture. In 1936, permission was granted for the project to go ahead, ending a struggle that had lasted a total of eight years. The bronze sculpture on offer is an almost one-meter-tall sculpture of General Štefánik, which he created as a final study for the monument and which bears elements of sculptural realism. The work on offer comes from the author's estate in the famous Kafka Villa in Prague 6 - Ořechovka