Balloons, airships and motorcycles: Kamil Lhoták exhibition opens in Prague
A new exhibition at Prague’s Villa Pellé explores the work of Kamil Lhoták, one of the most distinctive Czech artists of the 20th century. Called Landscape of Dreams, it brings together works spanning more than five decades of his career.
Balloons, airships, motorcycles and aeroplanes: these are just some of the recurring images in the world of Kamil Lhoták, whose work often combines a fascination with technology and invention with a strong sense of nostalgia and poetry.
The new exhibition at Villa Pellé looks at Lhoták not only as a painter, but also as a graphic artist and illustrator. Although he became one of the most recognisable Czech artists of the 20th century, he never received formal training as a painter, explains the exhibition’s curator, Libor Šteffek:
“After finishing secondary school, he wanted to continue studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. However, his mother was not very much in favour of that, so he started studying law instead. He almost finished – he studied for five years and was missing just one final exam. But in the end, he decided to pursue a career as an artist.”
Lhoták may not have had formal artistic training, but he was remarkably prolific. During his career, he illustrated more than 400 books, worked for dozens of magazines and created hundreds of prints.
His work also reached beyond the visual arts: he contributed to animated and feature films, designed theatre costumes and created postage stamps.
The exhibition at Villa Pellé brings together nearly 300 of his works, borrowed from around 40 galleries, museums and private collections. Libor Šteffek again:
“Visitors can find a really wide variety of works here, starting with pencil and ink drawings. Then there are watercolours, prints – different kinds of prints, such as etchings, drypoints and lithographs – and, of course, a lot of oil paintings. We have several sections based on different themes, so visitors can find all these different aspects of his work here.”
The exhibition also traces how Lhoták’s work developed over the decades, from his early fascination with technology and the novels of French writer Jules Verne, known for his pioneering science-fiction adventures, to his involvement with Group 42, an important Czech artistic and literary group founded in the 1940s.
“The main motto of the group was ‘the world we live in’. So it was mainly about city life and whatever we could see around us in the city. Nevertheless, Lhoták was not interested in crowds or the city centre. It was completely the opposite. He was interested in the outskirts and suburbs. That was his point of view.”
After Group 42 dissolved in 1948, Lhoták increasingly turned towards landscape. But he was not interested in untouched nature. He focused instead on places shaped by people: industrial areas, suburbs and the edges of cities.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is Lhoták’s largest painting, Baseball Players, which also appears on the exhibition poster. Measuring 250 by 150 centimetres, it is the largest of Lhoták’s paintings, says Libor Šteffek:
“It comes from the period when Lhoták was fascinated by American culture and games. Baseball was an important part of his life, and the sport was becoming increasingly popular here at the time. So this painting is very typical both of that period and of Lhoták’s Group 42 style.”
Landscape of Dreams at Villa Pellé runs until December 6 and visitors can also buy a selection of Lhoták’s prints. So for those with a soft spot for old technological inventions and the magic of the city’s periphery, there is plenty to discover.
