Knížák, Milan

Milan Knížák (*1940 Pilsen)

Softhard chair, 1974 

glued plywood, varnish; H 113 cm, W 36 cm, D 43 cm, acquired in 2006, Olomouc Museum of Art, No. UŽ 135

The Softhard chair designed in the 1970s by Milan Knížák is an isolated item in his postmodern orientation. The surface structure of the asymmetrical chair is made by the technique of glued veneers, subsequently processed into organic lines, on the right-hand side of the legs, the seat and the backrest the chair is “finished” with a sharp vertical cut. The area of the cut is painted green. The tension originating form the combination of soft and hard shapes (contrasts of soft lines and their brutal endings) was put into the name of the chair. The form and the content of this artefact shifts it to applied art.

Anežka Šimková