Václav Sokol: Hojnost / Abundance

The universe of Václav Sokol is composed of simple images. Rain falling on the landscape, a ship on the sea, light piercing the darkness, a cluster of grapes, or a glass on a table—these modest motifs are familiar from biblical stories as well as from our own lives. In Sokol’s drawings the old language of symbols comes alive again, a language in which the whole world was once told.

Archaic metaphors connected with spiritual and religious experience repeatedly became, in the twentieth century, a language of revolt, an island of resistance. Recall the Madonna of mute pain by Karel Kryl, the sung sermons of Svatopluk Karásek, folk songs interpreted by Jaroslav Hutka, or the poems of Ivan Martin Jirous.

Painter, draftsman, book designer, signatory of Charter 77, publicist, and curator Václav Sokol was born on September 19, 1938, in Prague. He grew up in a house in Břevnov with an original layout, built for the family by his father, an architect. The house later became the address of the philosopher Jan Patočka, the first spokesperson of Charter 77; it was here that underground seminars were held. Sokol studied at the School of Applied Arts (today known as Hollar Art School). Because of his background and views, he was prevented from pursuing further education. He worked as a librarian, graphic designer, and porter. He illustrated and designed books, organized and opened exhibitions for friends, and wrote articles about art.

In both his illustrations and independent drawings, he followed a path of simplification, reduction, and geometry. He works primarily with pastel and charcoal; earlier drawings were created in ink, using pen or brush. A firm, concentrated line, its repetition in varying intensity, and the construction of form through pressure within the line are characteristic features of Sokol’s artistic handwriting. As early as the late 1960s, Sokol accompanied Readings from the Bible, selections chosen by his brother Jan, with his drawings. In recent years, he has masterfully transformed Comenius’s Visible World in Pictures into timeless pastels. In Czech art Václav Sokol stands as a remarkable solitary figure, much like Bohuslav Reynek, Jan Zrzavý, or Pavel Brázda.

Abundance is an old word. We associate it with a land flowing with milk and honey, where our ancestors settled, and with the biblical abundance given by God. Abundance is a blessed measure, a sense of fullness. It means being content with what we already have: spiritual plenitude, inner peace, trust in the future, and a life lived in love and generosity.

The catalogue of exhibition is devoted to rain, water in the sea and in glasses, clusters of grapes, ships, light, houses, churches, and animals. All of these are miracles of life. Sokol’s concentrated body of work reminds us that—despite everything—the world can still be read as a meaningful whole.