Vilém Heckel a Legend of Czech Photography

The Vilém Heckel Photographic Archive © Vilém Heckel, Helena Heckelová

If there ever was a individual whose work has irrevocably made a historical, unique and irrevocable contribution not only to Czech but world photography, the man is Vïlém Heckel.His fundamental passionate love of nature, sport and especially the high mountains provided the lifetime passion of mountaineering photography. Ironically, his love for photographing mountains, especially monumental mountain ranges unfortunately also became his destiny.

Vilém Heckel Kavkaz 1958 © Vilém Heckel, Helena Heckelová

Vilém Heckel was born in 1918 in Pilsen into the family of Adolf Heckel , a crane operator for Skoda Plzen, who himself was a devout tourists and passionate photographer who had no idea that he would predestine the career of his son.In 1936, Wilhelm Heckel studied in Pilsen as a trade photographer, specializing in portraits and began working in small photography studios. After that he became the trade photographer in Zbrojovka Brno and the Czechoslovak Chamber of Commerce in Prague. He also devoted his time to commercial photography in his work, concentrating on cars, motorcycles, electronics, etc., yet this body of his work is largely unknown and unrecognized.In 1949 he was admitted to the photographic section of the Association of Czechoslovak Creative Artists. .

Vilém Heckel Commercial Photography © Vilém Heckel, Helena Heckelová

In the fifties, he began to actively commit himself to mountain climbing. He successfully completes his first major ascents and along with his cameras discovers and captures the instrumentality of primordial nature, the magical majesty of the mountains and discovers his personal gift that gives these photographs a story and humanist relevance In 1956, he eaves his regular day job and fully devotes himself to his freelance photography. Finally, he can now fully and freely devote himself to his beloved mountains and travel, local and world wide expeditions and trips.He publishes first publication, “Our mountains” .In 1960 he has his first public exhibition in Prague of a collection of his photographs from the Caucasus.

Vilém Heckel Linhof © Vilém Heckel, Helena Heckelová

In the sixties, he publishes a series of monograms with the following titles- Journeys to the High Peaks, Kingdom of the Sun and Ice Expedition Caucasus, Hindu Kush, The Stairs of the Universe and others.On 23rd April 1970, he departs on an expedition to Peru to climb the mountain range surrounding Huascaran. Tragically, on May 31st, he and his friends and expedition climbing partners died in mountaineering camp avalanche of mud and rocks during an earthquake under the mountain of Huascaran.

Vilém Heckel HINDÚKUŠ 1965 © Vilém Heckel, Helena Heckelová

The focus and themes of Wilhelm Heckel’s work does not only mountains. He created a monumental body of work encompassing excellent portraits, unparalleled architecture, urban atmosphere, winding streets, intimate moments and those magical yet sometimes fleeting moments that landscape provides.In Trento, in the competition of Vitorio Sella, he won the top award for mountaineering photography..During his lifetime he published 10 books, many of which have been translated in numerous languages.The photographs of Wilhelm Heckel continue to be posthumously published in a memorial book as well as other publications, which confirm his constant relevance, importance and actuality.He and his wife Milada and daughters Eva and Helena lived in Cernosice near Prague. Among his close friends were the writers Ota Pavel, Arnost Lustig, Arnost Černík; the world renowned athlete Emil Zatopek, Frantisek Stastny, the screenwriter and director Francis Pojdl; and world class mountaineers Radan Kuchař, Bohumil Svatos, Jan Červinka. His artistic and human sensitivity, technical excellence, diligence, hard work, courage and exclusivity, have ranked Wilhelm Heckel among the leading Czech and international photographers for generations to come.

Vilém Heckel with the the renowned Czech Photographer Josef Sudek 1960 © Vilém Heckel, Helena Heckelová

For Sales Inquiries, Gallery Representation or Co-operation, Exhibits, please contact The Vilém Heckel Photographic Archive Director: Helena Heckelová heckelova@vilemheckel.cz www.vilemheckel.cz

“Beach Life” by Eric Fischl

“Beach Life” by Eric Fischl Opens at Guild Hall

A major solo show by Eric Fischl opens on Saturday at Guild Hall Museum. “Beach Life” presents 15 paintings depicting life unfolding on the beaches of the Hamptons, St. Tropez and St. Barts. The show includes works loaned from the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and private collectors. Two paintings have never been exhibited before. All of the works are figurative.“Forget about bathing beauties,” writes the novelist A.M. Holmes in the forward of the bookBeach Paintings published by Rizzoli. “The beachgoers in Eric Fischl’s paintings are real people caught with their guard down–often their bathing suits too–as they wade and wallow at surf’s edge or lounge on the sand, sunlight slathering their naked thighs and shoulders.”

“Beautiful Day” by Eric Fischl, 2006. Oil on linen, 53 x 78 inches. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Zeckendorf.

“Four Women” by Eric Fischl, 2010. Oil on linen, 80 x 112 inches. Collection of Terry Semel.

The works in “Beach Life” were painted from 1983 to 2010. Works range in size from 3 x 4 feet to panels that stretch to over 13 feet. The people populating his painting are sometimes friends and family.For instance, Fischl’s wife–the painter April Gornik–stands prominently in a polka dot bathing suit in ”The Gang.”  Artists Bryan Hunt, David Salle and Ralph Gibson are included in the painting inspired by group photographs made by Hans Namuth of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and other artists gathered on a sand dune, according to Phyllis Tuchman, who wrote the essay for the exhibition.

“Untitled” by Eric Fischl, 2010. Oil on linen, 48 x 32 inches.

Beach scenes have been Fischl’s muse for over three decades, writes Tuchman in her essay Beach Baby Blue.“Some of Fischl’s earliest beach scenes are extensions of the narrative panels that secured his reputation in the early nineteen eighties,” she writes. “Others have only a figure or two, their poses based on photographs the artist took on the French Rivieradecades ago. A few are outright portraits. Many are virtuoso displays of light and shadow with slashing brushstrokes that animate the surf as well as hair blowing in the breeze.”While the setting is casual and the figures relaxed, the paintings are steeped with psychological undertones and narrative intrigue. Tuchman sums it up this way: “In the beach paintings on view at Guild Hall, Fischl has conveyed how men and women enjoying sand and surf, in his words, ‘drop their guard.’ He has imbued his figures with the ‘hedonistic, the erotic, the playful’ in a way that has allowed the artist to address ‘a metaphor of desire and fantasy.”

another world within reach

mars 1

mars 2

NASA’s Mars rover, Curiosity, has taken its first color photo of the Red Planet. The photo acted as sort of a thumbs-up message to scientists, indicating it’s equipment operational and prepared for the mission ahead.

Branka Kurz..magical eye

portrait By: Branka Kurz

..not much witen about this ldy, but I have long been captivated by her eye and tste. Shhe has introduced me o mny a great creatives: I am grteful…

Branka Kurz Fakebook Unusual site with Branka’s work

?Next Level Boss

I’m trying to move into another format. Vertical a.k.a. Portrait notice I put my signature at an angle so it can be Horizontal OR Vertical! Anyway, still the same 8.5 x 11 colored acid-free paper with Acrylic, ink and color pencil.

(c)2012 Ralf Schulze

http://aardvarkfarms.blogspot.com/2012/01/next-level-boss.html

Guy Garnier – Collage artistique contemporain de papiers.

Visual artist-Recyclage artistique par collage de papiers et prospectus sortis de ma boite à lettres. I am somewhat amazed at how little has been written about him. I have a particular fondness for collages, so   I noticed his fine creations right away. Sharring! The dadaists further developed the collage technique recently discovered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques in Paris. Like the cubists, the dadaists pasted papers, fabric and other two-dimensional materials to their works, breaking down the barrier between art and everyday life. But the dadaists abandoned the pretense of still life or other identifiable subject matter in favor of abstract collages, and they cast their net far wider for their source material: the collages of Hannover dadaist Kurt Schwitters, for example, included such items as transportation tickets, calendars, candy wrappers, lace, printed pamphlets, maps, and other disposable ephemera collected in the course of the artist’s daily outings. Collaged together, they formed a chaotic visual diary of modern life.

guy-garnier-collages

Guy Garnier est un artistecollagiste français, né dans le marais poitevin à Damvix en 1948. Il a d’abord pratiqué la peinture à l’huile avant de s’adonner au collage de prospectus et feuilles de magazines sortis de sa boite à lettres.Créer, c’est mettre en scène des réalités ou des rêves que l’oeil de chacun verra de sa propre expérience Depuis une vingtaine d’années Guy Garnier préfère le papier pour ses créations et « recycle » avec frénésie tout ce qui déborde de sa boite à lettres de prospectus et de publicités. Le papier est déchiré ,lacéré, froissé,décoloré ou rehaussé de couleurs , puis collé sur un support cartonné (un vieux calendrier par exemple). La mise en scènedes formes ,des couleurs ,des harmonies, peut être programmée mais très souvent le tableau se construit de lui-même , les morceaux de papiers s’assemblant comme par « magie.J’adore cette transe qui me parcourt quand l’évidence d’un tableau s’impose et m’accapare entièrement. De ce plaisir personnel naît un désir de partage lors des expositions . Les compositions de Guy Garnier ne sont pas hermétiques, elles s’ouvrentà celui qui trouvera une faille pour y entrer et s’abandonner à ses propres désirsguy-garnier-collages

the nebular Sonia Rumzi

Nebulae…the birthplace of stars and the remnant gases of dead galaxies…  What cosmic clouds swirl about; its lengthy arms astride? And recompence the void of death. The stars, the space, the signs. What astronomers drift in bits against the black and empty sky, or people left in misty ruts? The Earths, the wreck, their cries. What beauty shifts through the ink, and winks back into space, or drifts across the universe to reach us in our place? Sonia‘s poetic gateway to her emphemeral art work, here is it’s visual form. Her literary work is well presented on her blog and she runs a writers group on Facebook. And she lives in one of the coolest cities on this planet!

soniarumzi.com