Human Dignity

The sculptors Eva Kmentová and Olbram Zoubek represent two extraordinary creative individualities, both of whom gradually became icons of Czech and European sculpture in the second half of the 20th century. They were classmates from the extraordinarily stimulating studio of Professor Josef Wagner at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Prague, where Czech post-war sculpture was actually revived or reborn. And they were also life partners, marrying just after graduating from the school - the bonds of partnership, family and friendship were an important defence against the demagoguery of the totalitarian era, which was reflected in the subtext of their work and their approach to it. Both Eva Kmentová and Olbram Zoubek were the authors of distinctive sculptures, where the human being, his position in the world and time, played an important role, with an intimate experience of human existence. The book presents themes based on both artists' own works (themes such as figure, gesture, surface, emptiness and their different or close rendering by both artists), as well as moments of mutual inspiration. The book focuses on the period from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, showing both sculptors' well-known works (Zoubek's The Guardians, The Runner, and sculptures from the Shootings series; Kmentová's The Abandoned Space, The Human Egg, and stelae with fingerprints and lips), as well as lesser-known works, reliefs, and small sculptures. The book was published on the occasion of Kmentová Zoubek's exhibition Human Dignity at the Miroslav Kubík Gallery.