Edited by Anežka Šimková, Terezie Zemánková. Preface by Roger Cardinal. Text by Eva Ko?átková, Terezie Zemánková, Manuel Anceau, Pascale Jeanneret, Bruno Decharme. Interview by Pavel Konecný.
“I am growing flowers that are not grown anywhere else”: the fantastical botanica of an Art Brut genius
The work of Czech painter, draftsman and pastel artist Anna Zemánková (1908–86) defies easy definition and categorization. As a self-taught artist, Zemánková tends to be described as Art Brut, but her Art Brut is of a mysterious and magical strain. Her work gives the viewer the impression of entering a herbarium of fantastical extraterrestrial plants or a unique, imaginary world, always created by the artist using newly discovered and often surprising techniques.
This extraordinary new publication presents a representative selection of Zemánková’s drawings, collages, objects and assemblages, accompanied by texts written by experts and researchers including Roger Cardinal, Eva Kotátková, Terezie Zemánková, Manuel Anceau, Pascale Jeanneret and Bruno Decharme. These are not staid scholarly essays; each contributor tries in their own way to understand the inherent mystery of Zemánková’s art. Readers are invited to join them on a journey through Zemánková’s visionary work.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Anna Zemánková.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The Paris Review
As a self-taught artist, Zemánková tends to be described as art brut, but her art brut is of a mysterious and magical strain..
Bookforum
Trinie Dalton
Zemánková's pictures pulse and breathe, depicting an inner life that willfully combated oppressive external.
One of the weirdest books on our list this season, as well as one of the most beautiful, Anna Zemánková is the first major English-language monograph on this fascinating self-taught Czech painter, draftsman and pastel artist who began drawing when she was more than fifty years old, getting up at 4:00AM daily to enter a trance-like state, "as if dawn could put her in a state of ecstasy conducive to attracting the magnetic forces emanating from a parallel world." An eventual double-amputee who suffered from depression, she also crocheted yarn into curtains, tablecloths, lampshades, pillowcases and hats, transforming her home into an "iridescent bubble." Featured image, a pastel, was produced in the early 1960s. continue to blog
"It drives me all on its own.
Why? Where does it come from?
It's one of those mysteries that will probably never be solved.
What do I get from art? It frees me from material things. It's easier when you're released from material concerns.
I don't give my pictures titles because everybody sees something different in them.
When I draw something, it's already fulfilled its purpose: It brings me boundless joy."
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 11 in. / 304 pgs / 213 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $90.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $120 ISBN: 9788074372315 PUBLISHER: Kant AVAILABLE: 2/27/2018 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR
Published by Kant. Edited by Anežka Šimková, Terezie Zemánková. Preface by Roger Cardinal. Text by Eva Ko?átková, Terezie Zemánková, Manuel Anceau, Pascale Jeanneret, Bruno Decharme. Interview by Pavel Konecný.
“I am growing flowers that are not grown anywhere else”: the fantastical botanica of an Art Brut genius
The work of Czech painter, draftsman and pastel artist Anna Zemánková (1908–86) defies easy definition and categorization. As a self-taught artist, Zemánková tends to be described as Art Brut, but her Art Brut is of a mysterious and magical strain. Her work gives the viewer the impression of entering a herbarium of fantastical extraterrestrial plants or a unique, imaginary world, always created by the artist using newly discovered and often surprising techniques.
This extraordinary new publication presents a representative selection of Zemánková’s drawings, collages, objects and assemblages, accompanied by texts written by experts and researchers including Roger Cardinal, Eva Kotátková, Terezie Zemánková, Manuel Anceau, Pascale Jeanneret and Bruno Decharme. These are not staid scholarly essays; each contributor tries in their own way to understand the inherent mystery of Zemánková’s art. Readers are invited to join them on a journey through Zemánková’s visionary work.
