Lacina, Bohdan

Bohdan Lacina (1912 Sněžné – 1971 Brno)

Women in Veils 6., 1943

drypoint, paper, 350mm×250mm; 216 mm×190mm, acquired 2011, Olomouc Museum of Art, inv. no. G 14068

Bohdan Lacina was an outstanding Czech painter, graphic artist, illustrator and teacher. Originally his artistic work was based on surrealism, which he and other members of the RA Group; Václav Zykmund, Josef Istler, and Václav Tikal, were developing in a distinctive way. Bohdan Lacina enriched surrealist procedures with expressive elements following the artistic avant-garde of the beginning of the century. The evaluation and connection of these two creative approaches in the reflection of landscape and in depicting inner manifestations of the human soul, are independent and irreplaceable contributions from Bohdan Lacina to Czech and European painting and graphic art. In 1943 he created a cycle of large-format drypoints called Women in Veils for the publisher Jan Jelínek from Frenštát pod Radhoštěm. He developed the theme of the female face, imaginary portraits of suffering and emotionally strained women. All of them are characterized by an expressively rendered inner charge. The cycle of six graphic sheets was accompanied by an introduction by František Halas.

Ivo Binder