(Pilsen 1897–1976 New York)
Venus / La Désossées, 1964, signed Ladislav Sutnar, titled, signed and dated on the reverse Ladislav Sutnar 1964, acrylic on masonite, 108.5 x 179.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Estate of the artist
Radoslav and Elaine Sutnar Collection

Since the late 1920s, the name Ladislav Sutnar has always been associated with excellent graphic design. However, despite the artist’s international reputation and worldwide reception of his work, Sutnar’s painting skills remained hidden for many decades. It was not before his first major exhibition in 2003 that his paintings were rediscovered, albeit as a mere addition to his multiform artistic personality. The pursuit of his Venuses started in 1963 with the Strip Street portfolio, an extraordinary set of 12 silkscreen prints, which lead to a series of unique visual transformations of the female body. The early Venuses created in the 1960s display an astonishing sense of shape and colour as well as an ability to catch the movements of striptease dancers. The inspiration offered by contemporary magazine photographs, abstracted to a distillation of shapes and colours, opened up an endless variability for Sutnar’s natural graphic sense and imagination, leading to a unique visual experience.