Press - Jaroslav Valečka – český malíř

Jaroslav Valečka,

born on October 27, 1972, is one of the most important Czech painters. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague from 1991 to 1998 and also studied in Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands. His work was significantly influenced by his childhood spent in the former Sudetenland, which was severely affected by displacement, Soviet occupation, and the devastation of the communist regime.

He has been exhibiting since 1999, and his works have been displayed in major Czech galleries, including the National Gallery in Prague. His paintings are in the collections of most Czech public institutions (Regional Gallery Liberec, GASK Kutná Hora, National Gallery, and many others).

Since 2004, he has been a member of the international Stuckist movement and has participated in exhibitions in London, Venice, and New York, among other places. The world-renowned British art historian Edward-Lucien Smith wrote a monograph about his work and included him as one of two Czech artists in his book Movements in Art after 1945. His works have been repeatedly and successfully auctioned at Sotheby's, the world's largest auction house.

This monographic publication offers a representative and comprehensive look at Jaroslav Valečka’s work from the years 2010-2015. It presents an artist who has established himself as a distinctive member of the middle generation of artists, as someone who draws on the long tradition of Czech landscape painting and symbolist imagination. Besides his typical enchanted landscapes with distant horizons and magical lighting, the book also explores the hidden, inner sources of his work, revealing the influences of the landscape of his childhood, the darkly melancholy environment of the Lusatian Mountains and the “chilling” stories of their inhabitants.

The introductory essay was penned by renowned British art theorist and curator Edward Lucie-Smith, who has written more than a hundred publications in the fields of art history and poetry. His best-known book, Art Today (1995), remains an indispensable guide to contemporary international art. Other informed studies on Valečka’s work were written by art historians Martina Vítková and Rea Michalová and curator Veronika Marešová.

Paintings in print quality (300dpi) to download:

Jaroslav Valečka - portrait