Exhibition Talk
Eva Kmentová

We cordially invite you to a guided tour of the exhibition Eva Kmentová on Wednesday, 18 October 2023 at 5:00 pm at the House of Arts. The exhibition will be presented by Polana Bregantová, daughter of Eva Kmentová and Olbram Zoubek. Librarian, bibliographer, emeritus worker at the Institute of Art History of the CAS, v. v. i., in Prague. Author of the inventory of Eva Kmentová's work in the monograph Now. The Work of Eva Kmentová (Prague 2006) by Ludmila Vachtová. She participated in the preparation of three previous exhibitions of Eva Kmentová in Brno (1983, 1990 and 2007). Since 2017 she has been the chairwoman of the board of the Kmentová Zoubek Fund. She will offer her personal perspective on the work of both parents, this time mainly her mother: What was the family and artistic life like in the 1960s and 1970s? How did she perceive the studios in which the works now on display at the House of Art were created? What kind of mother was Eva Kmentová and how did she manage to combine caring for her children with her own work? How does the Kmentová Zoubek Fund take care of the works in its possession, and how does the archive of documents and photographs on the work of both sculptors function?

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The retrospective exhibition of Eva Kmentová (1928-1980) will present the fundamental artworks of this sculptor. Rather than the linear arc of the work, it will provide space to the artist's key works. Through them, it will explore the working conditions of a woman as an artist-sculptor. It will show the meanings of prints and casts for Kmentová’s artistic statement. It will reflect on the sense of ephemerality in some of her later works and attempt to understand the position of Eva Kmentová's work in the international context of sculpture. Compared to the retrospective held in Prague in 2006/2007, the current exhibition has a more selective character. It is not an inventory of a hitherto unknown or indistinct whole, but rather selects from it several formally, thematically and temporally defined sets. While the previous exhibition in 2006/2007 interpreted the works mainly in the spirit of Eva Kmentová's intention, the current one prefers an external view: How does the viewer perceive her work today? What is obvious at first glance, and what is hidden on other levels? How did Eva Kmentová manage not only to survive professionally, but also to achieve creative self-expression in the environment of socialist culture?

The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Petr Fiala, the Minister of Culture, Mr. Martin Baxa, and the Mayor of the City of Brno, Mrs. Markéta Vaňková.
For the support of the project we thank the Ministry of Culture, National Restoration Plan and the Kmentová Zoubek Fund.