Ladislav Sutnar - Americké Venuše [US. Venus]

The Czech-American designer Ladislav Sutnar (1897–1976) was the creator of a number of iconic works from the area of product and graphic design. His remarkable paintings are not well-known and this book, which comes out on the occasion of an exhibition, makes a survey of Sutnar’s American paintings of the 1960s and 1970s for the first time. In addition to an ample number of reproductions of female nudes – the Venuses, which he focused on intently from the age of sixty five – the book is comprised of materials from the artist’s archival documentation tracking the bizarre ups and downs of the unique life and artistic fate of Ladislav Sutnar. Sutnar’s images are interpreted in texts by I. Knobloch, T. Pospiszyl, K. Císař and M. Juříková.  The images are difficult to contextualize in relation to Pop art and American art of the time, avant-garde utopias and modern art, as well as contemporary advertising, visual design and eroticism. The book also contains documentation on the lifelong painting career of the artist, a list of works and an extensive summary in English. This witty and authentic book is designed by Štěpán Malovec and comes wrapped in a poster of one of Sutnar‘s American Venuses.