VÁCLAV CiGLER

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* 1929 VSETÍN, CZECH REPUBLIC

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ABOUT THE ARTIST:

The sculptor and pedagogue Václav Cigler, born in 1929 in Vsetín, is the founder of the conceptual perception of glass as an artistic expression. In his work, he anticipated the nascent concepts of contemporary artistic expression (constructive tendencies, minimalism, land-art, light and kinetic sculpture). The domain of his work are spatial installations made of glass and metal with symbolic light and water elements. He deals with plastic objects made of cut optical glass, designs and realizations of lighting and jewelry, drawing and texts, light and sacral architecture. He has been working with glass, mostly optical, since the late 1950s. In 1965 he founded and until 1979 he ran the Glass in Architecture studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. After returning from Bratislava, he created an interactive light object for the Náměstí Míru metro station (1978), glass stelae and the interior of the Náměstí Republiky metro station (1983–1985) and two glass screens for the vestibule of the Křižíkova metro station (1988). Since 1982, he has been dealing with the landscape situation and inventing technical means describing the theme of water as a principle in the form of water sculpture for the city of New Orleans in the upcoming World's Fair (1984). Cigler's winning object, called the Fountain, took the form of a circular metal ring made of a high-gloss steel tube. It was equipped with nozzles through which water mist should emerge, which would create an artificial rainbow in the installation space in sunlight.

Václav Cigler has long represented the Czech Republic on the world stage, he was selected to participate in major international exhibitions (1959 at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, USA, in 1957 and 1960 at the 11th and 12th Triennials in Milan, Expo 58 in Brussels, 1964 at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts of the American Craftmen's Council in New York), followed by Expo 67 in Montreal, where his prismatic sculpture was awarded international honors for the first time.

In 2008, the exhibition Cold War Modern / Design 1945–1970 presented Václav Cigler's jewelery from the 1960s at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She emphasized Cigler's connection between body, object and environment and linked his work to the work of Italian artist Arte Povera Maria Merze, utopian designs in the architecture and design of the Italian Superstudio and the Viennese architectural group Haus-Rucker-Co.
He was awarded the prize of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic in 2019 for his life's work, pedagogical work and unquestionable contribution in the field of fine arts.

Cigler's universally and conceptually understood artistic and pedagogical work combines ingenious intuition and an extraordinary ability to present to the viewer a different experience of perception, which is often mediated by very complex and completely contemporary technologies.
Václav Cigler is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable artists of our time.

EDUCATION:

  • 1965-1979 Head of the Glass Architecture Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava
  • 1951-1957 studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Josef Kaplický's studio
  • 1948-1951 studies at the Higher Vocational School of Glass and the Secondary School

SEPARATE EXHIBITIONS DUO CIGLER / MOTYČKA:

  • 2019 Václav Cigler and Michal Motyčka: Light Field, GMU Roudnice nad Labem, Roudnice nad Labem
  • 2019 Václav Cigler: Drawings, Olomouc Museum of Art, Olomouc
  • 2019 Václav Cigler and Michal Motyčka: Prisms and Wars, GVCH Zlín Castle, Zlín
  • 2019 Václav Cigler and Michal Motyčka: Human Space I, II, III, North Bohemian Gallery of Fine Arts in Litoměřice, Litoměřice
  • 2019 Václav Cigler, Michal Motyčka: Prisms and Cylinders, Caterina Tognon contemporary art, Venice
  • 2019 Václav Cigler, Michal Motyčka: Individualities, Sredets Gallery, Sofia.
  • 2018 Václav Cigler, Michal Motyčka: Event of the Place, Miroslav Kubík Gallery, Litomyšl
  • 2017 Václav Cigler, Michal Motyčka: Dialog, DSC Gallery, Prague
  • 2016 CIGLER MOTYČKA AKČYTOM RELGIC, Gallery of Contemporary Art and Architecture / House of Art, České Budějovice
  • 2015 Václav Cigler, Michal Motyčka: Projects 2003–2015, Regional Museum in Litomyšl
  • 2015 Václav Cigler: Here and Now, Troja Castle, Gallery of the Capital City of Prague, Prague
  • 2013 Václav Cigler: Here again, Gallery 19, Bratislava
  • 2013 Václav Cigler, Michal Motyčka: At the Castle, Museum in Bruntál, Sovinec Castle
  • 2013 Church space, crypt space, Castle Brewery, Litomyšl
  • 2012 Václav Cigler in collaboration with Michal Motýčka: Searching for Order, DSC Gallery, Prague
  • 2010 Václav Cigler: Light and Space in the Garden of Reason, Litvak Gallery, Tel Aviv
  • 2009 Meeting places, Kampa Museum, Prague
  • 2009 Double vertical, Kramář's villa, Prague
  • 2009 Light and Water as a Principle, National Glass Center, Sunderland
  • 2008 Zerbrechliche Schönheit, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
  • Water levels, mirroring, ripple, Kai de kai, Prague
  • 2007 Václav Cigler, Caterina Tognon Contemporary Art, Venice
  • 2007 Václav Cigler, Drawings, Gallery of Modern Art in Roudnice nad Labem
  • 2006 Václav Cigler, Pokorná Gallery, Prague
  • 2004 Václav Cigler, Caesar Gallery, Olomouc
  • 2004 Václav Cigler, Trade Fair Palace, National Gallery in Prague
  • 2004 Václav Cigler, Benedikt Rejt Gallery, Louny
  • 2004 Thinking in glass, Václav Cigler and his school, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag
  • 2003 Václav Cigler and graduates of the Department of Glass in Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava in the years 1965–1979, Mánes, Prague
  • 2003 Václav Cigler and graduates of the Department of Glass in Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava in the years 1965–1979, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava

Skupinové výstavy:

  • 2006 V závěsu avantgardy? České výtvarné umění 1956-1978 ze sbírek Muzea umění Olomouc. Muzeum moderního umění, Olomouc.

  • 2004 Blízká vzdálenost/Közeli távolság/Proximate Distance. Steny Uštván Király Múzemu, Székesfehérvát, Maďarsko.

  • 2003 Ejhle světlo. MG Brno.

  • 2003 Struktura…Galerie U Bílého jednorožce, Klatovy; 

  • 2003 Pražské bienále 1. NG Praha.

  • 2000 Dva konce století. ČMVU, Praha.

  • 1997 Actual textile art. GVU, Hodonín.

  • 1996-1997 Umění zastaveného času. Brno, Cheb, Praha.

  • 1996, 1999, 2002 I.-III. Nový zlínský salon. Zlín.

  • 1995 Na hranici znaku. Kutná Hora.

  • 1993 Mona Lisa. Galerie Mladých, Brno; 

  • 1993 Příběhy bez konce. Dům umění m. Brna; 

  • 1993 Sdružení pražských malířů. Mánes, Praha; 

  • 1993 Mezinárodní trienále textilního umění. Tournai, Belgie.

  • 1992 Drogerie Zlevněné zboží 1986-1989, Rennes, Francie; 

  • 1992 Kolumbovo vejce. Galerie Behémót, Praha; 

  • 1992 Minisalon. Nová síň, Praha; 

  • 1992 Šedá cihla 35/1992. Galerie Klatovy-Klenová.

  • 1991 Galerie Coupole, Neu-Isenburg, Německo; 

  • 1991 Galerie MXM, Praha; 

  • 1991 Umění akce. Mánes, Praha; 

  • 1991 Alternativy české a slovenské tapiserie. Dům umění, Brno; 

  • 1991 Art Jonction International. Nice, Francie.

  • 1990 Současná česká malba. Walker Jill Art Center, Soul, Korea; 

  • 1990 Nové cesty kresby a grafiky. Palác kultury, Praha; 

  • 1990 Pocta Andymu Warholovi. Muzeum Andyho Warhola, Medzilaborce, SR. 

  • 1989 Nová grafika. Výstavní síň Umění-knihy, Vodičkova, Praha; 

  • 1989 Tschechische Malerei Heute. Esslingen, SRN; 

  • 1989 Razítkové umění-Stamp Art. Institut průmyslového designu, Praha.

  • 1988 Salón pražských výtvarných umělců. Praha; Dny otevřeného dialogu. Vysokoškolský klub, Brno.

  • 1986 Textilní výtvarníci k súčasnosti. Slovenské národné muzeum, Bratislava.

  • 1982 Czechoslovac imparmuvészet. Galéria V, Budapešť, Maďarsko.

  • 1981 Mezinárodní výstava textilních miniatur, Jindřichův Hradec, Galerie "d" Praha

  • 1981 Návraty k přírodě. Salon fotografia, Bělehrad

  • 1980 3. mezinárodní bienále textilních miniatur. Savaria Muzeum, Szombathely, Maďarsko.

  • 1979 Krajinná inspirace. Jindřichův Hradec, Galerie d, Praha; 

  • 1973 8. biennale de Paris; 

  • 1973 Omaha Flow Systems. The Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, USA; 

  • 1973 De Beneville Pines. Angelus Oaks, Kalifornie, USA.

  • 1971 Interventi di land art. Universitá degli studi, Lecce, Itálie.

  • 1970 Výstava Mladých. Mánes, Praha.

  • 1969 Galerie V. Špály, Praha.

  • 1968 Nová citlivost. Brno, Karlovy Vary, Praha.

  • 1966 Konstruktivní tendence. Oblastní galerie Vysočiny, Jihlava.

  • 1966 Mezinárodní výstava textilních miniatur. Jindřichův Hradec, Galerie d, Praha.

REPRESENTATION IN COLLECTIONS:

  • National Gallery, Prague, CZ
  • Museum of Applied Arts, Prague, CZ
  • Olomouc Museum of Art, CZ
  • North Bohemian Museum, Liberec, CZ
  • Moravian Gallery, Brno, CZ
  • Benedikt Rejt Gallery, Louny, CZ
  • Gallery Klatovy / Klenová, CZ
  • Central Bohemian Region Gallery, Kutná Hora, CZ
  • Museum of Glass and Jewelery, Jablonec nad Nisou, CZ
  • Kampa Museum - Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation, Prague, CZ
  • Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, SK
  • Milan Dobeš Museum, Bratislava, SK
  • Miloš Bazovský Gallery in Trenčín, Trenčín, SK
  • Kunstgewerbemuseum / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, D
  • Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, D
  • Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, D
  • Museum, Coburg, D
  • Museum of Applied Arts, Frankfurt am Main, D
  • Bellerive Museum, Zurich, CH
  • Lausanne Museum, Lausanne, CH
  • Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
  • Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
  • Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, NL
  • Glas Museum, Leiden, NL
  • Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, F
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
  • Museum of Decorative Arts of Montreal, Montreal, CAN
  • The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, USA
  • American Craft Museum, New York, USA
  • Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, J
  • The Rose-Asenbaum Collection, Dallas Museum of Art, USA
  • The Design Museum, Munich, D.