I got to Letná
Park every so often and although it is not always to drink beer I generally
have a good time.
It was only
now that I noticed the work of one of
my favourite Czech artists on display there. Standing on the stairs of the Agricultural
museum I spotted a trio of columns with a vivid black and white geometric pattern.
They are in fact ventilation chimneys for the Letná tunnel right underneath.
Erected in the 1969 they are one of Zdeněk Sýkora’s
public works making use of architecture.
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| A detail |
This work by Zdeněk Sýkora would
be much easier to see if it was not obscured by the hideous carpark in front of
it. The chimneys, covered in black and white tiles are the culmination of a
decade when he focused on geometric patterns. His first structural images
appeared in 1960 and were further perfected in 1964 with the use of computers following
a set grid. The use of computers made him an innovator in what we today know as
digital graphic design. A similar mosaic from the period can also be seen in Jindřišská
Street which is now part of a cafe. This smaller mosaic though is much more
expressive.
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The mosaic in Jindřišská was originally part of the arcade.
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By 1970 the
sharp edges were gone and were instead replaced
organic line to which appear in his work
for the next 40 years until his death. Sýkora made a number of works for public
spaces some of which have unfortunately been lost. His last public
architectural installation was at the in the entrance of the Air Navigation
Services building near Prague in 2005.By
that time though he had moved on to his “lines” which were seemingly free
flowing curves on a white background.
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The mural at the Air Navigation
Services building in Jenč
Source: http://www.zdeneksykora.cz/?s=odkazy
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This was an
interesting evolution of an artist who had spent the 40’s
painting in the cubist and surrealist styles only to turn to rather traditional
looking landscapes in the 50’s.His works from the 60’s onwards are in
international collections and fetch some
of highest sums for Czech art.
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With the carpark
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Apart from
Sýkora’s ventilation chimneys the park and its surroundings have a fair of
modernist or contemporary architecture. The most notable being the Brussels 58
Expo Pavilion which gave its name to Czechoslovak mid-century modern. There is
also the brightly clad maternity school right by the park and the buildings of
the National Technical museum and the national Agricultural museum or the rather
drab Ministry of the Interior.
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Zdeněk Sýkora
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It is a pity
that the communist habit of putting large scale works of art in every public space
has been done away with. Not all of it was great but when I saw the new subway
stations I thought that at least a bit of aesthetic care could have been taken.
These chimney stacks will always serve the tunnels technical needs as well as please
passers-by.
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