Jan Hendrych

The figures in plaster are usually polychromed in neutral tones reminiscent of clay. Colour polychromy is used for non-figurative subjects (House in the Garden, 2003–2004) or to increase the expressive effect (Bridge of the Jester, 1975, Lady Goose, 2005).

When depicting a literary subject, Hendrych returns to abstraction and concentrates on relief modelling of the surface (Kafka's Stories I-IV, 1998). Contour sculptures intended for the frontal view are rather an exception in his work (Clown Heads, concrete, 1984–1992), as are sculptures composed of surface elements and an empty interior space (Bust with Three Ties, 1978–1999).

In 1993 he became a member of the renewed Umělecká beseda, and in 1995 a member of the State Commission for Metallic Currency of the Czech National Bank. In 1993-95 he was the vice-rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. In 1997 and 1999 he led two semesters of figure modelling at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki.

Sculptures and relief plaques with the theme of gates have a similar symbolism (Theatrical Entrance, 1991, The Gate of Dantescus, bronze, 1994, Lot's Woman, plastic, 1994).

In 1990 he was appointed head of the Studio of Figurative Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and a year later he was appointed professor there. At the same time he worked as an external professor at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica and since 2000 as the head of the sculpture studio there.

Several variants of carousels from the 1990s are a distinctive commentary on the social upheavals of the time, showing defeated, expressively modelled figures helplessly adrift on a rotating platform (The Great Carousel, 1994, Carousel, 1996–1997). From the same period comes the series of sculptures Wardrobe (1996–1999), which are conceived as existential situations and seem to still partly preserve the volume of the disappeared bodies that clothed them. Hendrych portrays them with an irony that is at the same time a pathetic celebration of critical consciousness.

Jan Hendrych created an extensive set of preparatory drawings and graphic sheets (drypoint, etching) as studies for sculptures. The drawings are spontaneous, sovereign and experiment with matter and space in a limited two-dimensional format. Only a fraction of the recorded ideas can be realized in material. Many of the drawings are not directly related to his sculpture and form an integral part of his painting. (Sonata, gouache, 1986, The Dogman, 2000).

Hendrych is concerned with addressing the overall proportions and posture of the figure and consciously refrains from modelling parts he does not consider important - mostly the hands and face. He deliberately accentuates some of the practices associated with the expressive tendencies of New Figuration - for example, he leaves the figures with traces of the mould after casting (Torso with Bra, 1982) and gives the impression that the life-size sculpture has been assembled from individual parts (Study of the Nude without Hands, 2006–2007) or dresses it in loosely stitched pieces of clothing (Angel in Warm Underwear, 2007). Even more brutal is the marking of seams and perforations, which are related to the use of foam in the modelling. The naked figure evokes the chilling sense that the body has been sewn together after dissection or previous dismantling into parts (Late Afternoon, 2008). Resting Wrestler (2006–2007), created using a similar technique, is more reminiscent of a soldier training dummy.

Jan Hendrych is a baroquely dramatic and emotionally oriented sculptor and his works are part of a kind of theatre stage, telling a story in accordance with the baroque image of the world. His dominant theme since the 1980s has been the female nude. The figures are based on a tradition represented by the sculptures of Pomons by Marini or Maillol (Little Pomona, 1992). By sensitively modelling the monumental volume and balancing the proportions in relation to the base, the sculptor creates a female type to which he gives a completely contemporary expression but does not primarily seek to convey female beauty. In Study of a Girl from 1980, the torso has a modelled head with a calm, almost challenging facial expression. Girl with a Ball (1980–1990) is reminiscent of Bohumil Zemánek's figures in its grotesqueness. The suggestive effect of Hendrych's sculptures lies in the combination of the pathetic naturalism of some figures with lightening and grotesque details, as in the case of the sculpture Piercing (1998).

During the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia he lost the opportunity to exhibit and from the 1970s worked as a restorer in South Bohemia. He was able to return to real creative work only after the fall of the communist regime in 1989. His encounters with historic bridges in small villages and the ubiquitous statues of John of Nepomuk were the inspiration for the following large-scale series of chamber sculptures of bridges with the figure, which continued until 2000. The bridges are an existential metaphor for a fateful journey, a risk, a turning point, or a record of a dramatic event in conjunction with a human story. A comprehensive set of these sculptures was exhibited in 1997 by the Ztichlá klika Gallery (South Bohemian Bridge with a Figure, bronze, 1976, Blacksmith's Bridge, tin, iron, 1986, St. John's Bridge, tin, 1991, South Bridge, cement, 1996, Chinese Bridge, bronze, polychrome, 2000). The bridges are also monuments to life's dramas and fatal tragedies, symbolizing the futility of every effort and glory.

After the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 he lost the opportunity to exhibit and made a living restoring sculptures. The most significant from this period is his reconstruction of two sculptures of Theodor Friedl on the attic of the theatre in Karlovy Vary (with J. Laštovičková). It was not until 1988 that Jan Hendrych was able to exhibit his free work at the Prague City Gallery (Old Town Hall).

He first presented himself as a sculptor at the exhibition Socha 1964 Liberec and exhibited with members of the Index group at the Gallery of Modern Art in Roudnice (1966) and at the Vincenc Kramář Gallery (1968). He had his first solo exhibitions in 1966 at the Young Gallery in Mánes and in 1967 at the Summer Palace in Ostrov. Participated in nine FIDEM (International Art Medal Federation) shows.

He was an accomplished portraitist, but like many of his generational comrades, he too was affected by a wave of structural abstraction and experimentation with new materials (Figure with Raster, polyester, 1960). In the 1960s he produced a series of abstract stelae (The Pianist, 1964), figurative abstractions (Leaning Figure, 1965–66) and expressive busts combining plaster with plastic and polychrome (Sitting with Thought, 1969) or with industrial elements. With his own conception of abstraction, Jan Hendrych profiled himself as a distinctive individual with an authentic sculptural sensibility since the early 1960s.

In the late 1960s he returned to figuration with his distinctive response to the impulses of American Pop art and French New Realism with the sculptures The Reader and Sitting with Beer (1968). His works are also associated with the contemporary "new figuration", marked by the return of existentialism. Several busts of Secretaries (Secretary the Great, 1968–1969) are a reaction to the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1969 he participated in the Artchemo sculpture symposium of plastic materials in Pardubice (constructivist torso of combined materials Lying, 1969) and the historically significant New Figuration exhibitions in Prague and Brno. His reflection on the programme of New Sensibility and rational constructivism is one of the best examples of the liberating actuality of technical motifs in Czech art at that time.

Jan Hendrych devoted himself to portraiture during his studies in Wagner's studio, but was also influenced by the expressiveness and emotional involvement of the Czech Baroque. Through Prof. Kaplický, he became acquainted with the work of Marino Marini and learned from the expressive cubist modelling of Otto Gutfreund (Sitting in a Café, 1957) the plastic construction of Henry Moore's sculptures, and the possibility of smooth transitions between figuration and abstraction. Jan Hendrych is himself very musical and has been influenced by listening to Baroque music throughout his life. His sculptural work also gradually evolved towards a kind of Baroque mannerism.

In 1951–1955 he graduated from the Secondary Industrial School of Interior Design (Prof. Václav Markup). He studied at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Prague (1955–1961) in the sculpture studios of Prof. Josef Wagner and Prof. Jan Kavan and attended seminars in general aesthetics led by Dr. Dušan Šindelář. In 1963–1966 he was a postgraduate at the Academy of Fine Arts under Prof. Karel Hladík and Prof. Karel Lidický. Among his classmates and generational peers were several avant-garde artists who dealt with structural abstraction: Antonín Tomalík, Pavel Nešleha, Aleš Veselý, Zdeněk Beran, Antonín Málek, Jan Koblasa.

Jan Hendrych (born 28 November 1936) is a Czech sculptor, painter, restorer, curator and professor emeritus at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.

Jan Hendrych was born in Prague-Střešovice in the family of the lawyer Jaroslav Hendrych (1908–1992) and the sculptor Olga Hendrychová, née Tobolková (1910-1986), a pupil of Prof. Otakar Španiel.