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“Jan Svankmajer – Wunderkammer” “DISEGNO INTERNO_Eva Švankmajerová/Jan Švankmajer”, Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre; DISEGNO INTERNO – EVA ŠVANKMAJEROVÁ / JAN ŠVANKMAJER – GASK Kutná Hora 2024

The Czech artist Jan Švankmajer (*1934 in Prague, lives in Prague and Horní Stankov, CZ) is internationally known for his surreal short films, which he has been making since the 1960s using the stop-motion technique.

Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934) is a Czech retired [1] film director, animator, writer, playwright and artist. He draws and makes free graphics, collage, ceramics, tactile objects and assemblages. [2] . In the early 1960s, he explored informel, which later became an important part of the visual form of his animated films. [3] .

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Discover all artworks by Jan Švankmajer (Czech, 1934) on MutualArt along with auctions, exhibitions and articles featuring the artist.

WINNER OF NUMEROUS PLAUDITS, HIS REVOLUTIONARY STOP-MOTION AND LIVE-ACTION FILMS INSPIRED A LEGION OF YOUNG FILMMAKERS WITH THEIR RADICAL IDIOSYNCRASY AND POST-COMMUNIST AESTHETIC. JAN ŠVANKMAJER ’S VARIOUS INSPIRATIONS INCLUDE THE ART OF HIS LATE PARTNER, EVA ŠVANKMAJEROVÁ, AND A COLLECTION OF MAGICAL AND MEDIUMISTIC ART.

The exhibition’s central theme is the concept of disegno interno or ‘inner ordering’, in other words how the artist sees the essence of a given subject in their mind’s eye. In Švankmajer’s work, this notion links Rudolphine Mannerism with Surrealism’s ‘inner model’.

The creative diversity of Jan Švankmajer, however, exceeds the limits of film. The artist is active in autonomous visual expression which he has practised since the end of the 1950s. His literary expression consists mainly of scenarios and tactile poems, while his theoretical activity has focused on research of tactile phenomena and imagination.

Jan Švankmajer is a Czech Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in 1934. Their work is currently being shown at Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GAMeC) in Bergamo. Numerous key galleries and museums such as SKD, Residenzschloss (The Royal Castle) have featured Jan Švankmajer's work in the past.