Lot 269

Lída Penková (1947) MEXICAN JAGUAR DNACE

In the early 1980s, Lída Penková traveled to Mexico as a university researcher, fell in love with the country, and lived there for over 16 years. At the end of the 1990s, she moved to California, where she began painting. Dances and ceremonies associated with jaguars have been celebrated in Latin America since pre-Columbian times. Masked and disguised participants often fought to the death, as it was believed that blood would satisfy the sun god and thus guarantee fertile soil and a rich harvest. The dances are still held in many villages in Mexico today, but they are less dramatic than in the past and often very humorous.

About the artist: I was born a few years after World War II in the former Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), where I lived until I emigrated at the age of 20. I started painting at the age of 52 after moving to the USA. Painting found me completely unexpectedly and surprisingly, as I had no painting experience or interest in pursuing painting. For many years, I worked as a university researcher and, above all, as a psychotherapist. However, after years of thinking, analyzing, and debating, I felt the need to express myself creatively, tell a cultural story, and create a magical space. My inspiration came mainly from traveling, living with my artist husband, and the years I spent in Mexico. This symbol-rich country, with its festivals, folk celebrations, religious ceremonies, and pre-Hispanic customs, became the foundation of my artistic imagination and aesthetics. My paintings, mainly from Mexico, blend myths, stories told by neighbors as remembered from their ancestors, and reality.