Tomáš Císařovský (large monograph)

The representative monograph provides an exciting look at thirty years of work by Tomáš Císařovský, who is one of the key artists of Czech postmodernism. From the beginning of his work, he has been fascinated by the medium of painting and purposefully returns traditional painting genres to the art scene.

He is particularly interesting for his unusually excellent work with color and his ability to update the long tradition of Western painting with the experience of contemporary art. Among painters, he is one of the greatest storytellers, which is evidenced especially in the cycles in which he turns to recent history and examines the relationship between the past and the present, such as in the latest cycle, in which he captures various moments from the life of the playwright and president Václav Havel in an original way.

With the power of imagery, Císařovský confronts collective memory and iconic images, introducing uncertainty into firmly experienced and historically codified images. His work is democratically open, intellectually serious and morally provocative.

Martin Dostál is the author of the narrative monograph, which includes over four hundred reproductions of the author's works as well as a number of documentary photographs. The book closes with a brilliant study by Jiří Přibán, who approaches the essence of Císařovský's work in an almost analytical way and places it in not only philosophical contexts.