Sabína Jankovičová
Czech and Slovak glass in exile is an exhibition in the Slovak national gallery (27/02 – 11/05/2008) and an extensive research project of prominent Czech theorist Sylva Petrová. The author now works at the University of Sunderland and specialises in the history of Czech glass art. Based on her research, she wrote a book and published it under the title the Czech glass in 2001. When conducting her research, Petrová discovered the importance of artists who left their native country to work abroad. For two years, she monitored the career of visual artists educated in the Czech Republic and Slovakia who moved and worked abroad. As a result, she produced the book Czech and Slovak glass in exile. The exhibition is visual expression of the book.
Petrová identifies two specific styles as they developed in two centres of glass education in the former Czechoslovakia – Prague (the studio headed by Stanislav Libenský) and Bratislava (studio headed by Václav Cigler). The author emphasizes significant impact of concepts that have their followers abroad. In the exhibition, Petrová presents the work of artists who live abroad. The exhibition is a unique opportunity for the Slovak audience to get acquainted with the work of Slovak artists working abroad (Pavol Tomečko, Ján Zoričák, Václav Cigler) and Slovak artists active in Slovakia with active contacts with foreign environment (Zora Palová, Lukáš Mjartan, Patrik Illo and Karol Hološko).