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JARMILA MARANOVA WAS BORN ON SEPTEMBER 8TH, 1922 IN PRAGUE. HER FATHER, AUGUSTIN BARTOŠ (1888-1969), WAS A LEADING CZECH PEDAGOGUE AND DIRECTOR OF THE JEDLICKA INSTITUTE FOR DISABLED CHILDREN. HER MOTHER BEDRIŠKA (NEÉ WEINBERGER, 1892-1942) WAS A CONSERVATORY-TRAINED PIANIST AND MUSIC TEACHER. SHE WAS THE ELDER SISTER OF THE COMPOSER JAROMÍR WEINBERGER (1896-1967), ALSO A GRADUATE OF THE PRAGUE CONSERVATORY. IN 1925-26 HE COMPOSED THE OPERA SCHWANDA THE BAGPIPER, THE PREMIERE OF WHICH AT PRAGUE’S NATIONAL THEATRE IN APRIL MET WITH GREAT SUCCESS. THE OPERA WAS PERFORMED AT THE WORLD’S LEADING OPERA HOUSES, INCLUDING COVENT GARDEN AND THE METROPOLITAN OPERA. WITH HER FAMILY BACKGROUND JARMILA MARANOVÁ WAS DESTINED FOR A MUSIC CAREER. SHE WAS TO HAVE ATTENDED THE CONSERVATORY, BUT FATE BROUGHT HER TO ART. SHE LATER RECALLED: “I GREW UP A HEALTHY PERSON AMONG CHILDREN WHO WERE VERY DISFIGURED – AND THIS HAS AFFECTED ME FOR ALL MY LIFE. ONE OF THESE CHILDREN WAS KAREL JANÍČEK, A SEVERELY HANDICAPPED PAINTER WHO WAS A GREAT FRIEND OF MINE…” HER PARENTS DIVORCED BEFORE THE WAR, AS A RESULT OF WHICH HER MOTHER BEDRIŠKA AND HER SISTER EVA (1926-1943) WERE DEPORTED TO TEREZÍN IN 1942. BEDRIŠKA VOLUNTEERED TO BE DEPORTED WITH HER GRANDMOTHER RUŽENA IN OCTOBER 1942, AND THEY BOTH PERISHED IN THE TREBLINKA DEATH CAMP, AS DID MOST OF HER OTHER RELATIVES. AS JARMILA MARANOVÁ FURTHER RECALLS: “MY COUSIN HONZÍK NETTEL, FOR EXAMPLE, THUMBED HIS NOSE AT AN SS-MAN ON THE STREET IN MNICHOVICE, WHO TURNED ROUND AND SHOT HIM! HONZÍK WAS JUST 16. MY COUSIN MILENA WAS JUST 15…” DURING THE NAZI OCCUPATION, JARMILA MARANOVÁ, WITH THE HELP OF FRIENDS, WAS ABLE TO ATTEND PRAGUE’S SCHOOL OF APPLIED ARTS, WHICH WAS ONE OF THE FEW HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS TO REMAIN OPEN. SHE STUDIED TEXTILE DESIGN WITH PROF. FRANTIŠEK KYSELA AND GLASS DESIGN WITH PROF. JAROSLAV V. HOLECEK AND BRETISLAV NOVÁK. LIFE WAS EXTREMELY STRESSFUL FOR MARANOVÁ IN OCCUPIED PRAGUE, WITH CONSTANT TENSION, UNCERTAINTY AND THE DEPORTATION OF FAMILY MEMBERS. GRADUATING IN 1944, SHE BEGAN TO FOCUS ON APPLIED/ADVERTISING DESIGN AFTER THE WAR. AMONG HER EARLIEST ART WORK ARE DESIGNS FOR TWO COLORING BOOKS (ON THE TOPICS FLOWERS AND KITCHEN), WHICH SHE MADE IN 1947 FOR DRUŽSTEVNÍ PRÁCE PUBLISHERS. THESE ARE AN INTERESTING EXAMPLE OF HER EARLY GRAPHIC STYLE, WHICH WAS REMARKABLE FOR ITS SIMPLICITY AND, AT THE SAME TIME, ITS DISTINCTLY POETIC CHARACTER. SHORTLY AFTER THE WAR SHE MARRIED JAROSLAV MARAN (1923 – 1996), WHO HAD BRIEFLY ATTENDED THE PRAGUE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS AND WAS ALSO INVOLVED IN APPLIED GRAPHIC ARTS. THEY HAD TWO CHILDREN, EVA (B. 1947) AND ILJA (B. 1946), WHO IMMIGRATED TO THE USA IN 1968.
IN THE 50S IT WAS NOT AT ALL EASY TO MAKE A LIVING FROM APPLIED GRAPHIC ART. AMONG MARANOVÁ’S MOST INTERESTING COMMERCIAL WORK AT THE TIME WAS DESIGNING POSTERS FOR THE SUPRAPHON RECORD LABEL TO PROMOTE THE MUSIC OF CZECH COMPOSERS, SUCH AS JANÁCEK (1953) AND SMETANA (1954). THESE POSTERS ALSO CONTAIN ELEMENTS OF THE ABSTRACT STYLIZATION THAT CAME THROUGH IN THE WORK OF YOUNGER ARTISTS DESPITE THE ADVERSITY OF THE DAY. IN 1956-58 SHE CONTRIBUTED TO THE INTERIOR DESIGN OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK PAVILION (THE AGRICULTURE SECTION) FOR THE WORLD EXPO IN BRUSSELS. THE SUCCESS OF THE PAVILION LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A GROUP OF DESIGNERS AND APPLIED ARTISTS AT THE UMELECKÁ BESEDA IN PRAGUE, WHO IN 1958-66 JOINTLY EXHIBITED AS THE GROUP BILANCE; THEIR FIRST TWO SHOWS, IN 1958 AND 1960, ALSO INVOLVED THE PARTICIPATION OF MARANOVÁ.
CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH LITERATURE, MARANOVÁ EARLY ON DESIGNED BOOKS AND BOOK COVERS FOR THE CESKOSLOVENSKÝ SPISOVATEL AND NAŠE VOJSKO PUBLISHERS. SHE LATER DESIGNED AND ILLUSTRATED SEVERAL POPULAR EDUCATIONAL BOOKS FOR THE STÁTNÍ ZDRAVOTNICKÉ (LATER AVICENUM) AND STÁTNÍ PEDAGOGICKÉ PUBLISHERS.

DISTANT JOURNEY

MARANOVÁ’S FIRST MAJOR INDEPENDENT WORK WAS A SET OF GRAPHIC STUDIES AND PAINTINGS THAT WERE DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF HER MOTHER AND OTHER RELATIVES WHO WERE MURDERED IN TREBLINKA AND AUSCHWITZ. THE ENTIRE SERIES WAS ENTITLED DISTANT JOURNEY – AFTER THE 1949 FILM OF THE SAME NAME DIRECTED BY ALFRÉD RADOK, ONE OF THE FIRST POST-WAR FILMS ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST. THESE WORKS PROBABLY DATE FROM THE LATE 50S, WHEN SHE WAS PUTTING TOGETHER PORTRAIT OF MOTHER IN AN ATTEMPT TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE TRAUMA OF HER FATE. INSPIRED BY THE PRISON ORCHESTRA IN AUSCHWITZ, MARANOVÁ’S TWO VERSIONS OF THE COMPOSITION SONG (1960/61) PROVIDE A POETIC METAPHOR FOR THE DEEP SORROW AT THE LOSS OF LOVED ONES. SIMILARLY, THE COMPOSITION PRAYER (1962) WAS PROBABLY INSPIRED BY THE FATE OF TEREZÍN CHILDREN IN THE CZECH FAMILY CAMP AT AUSCHWITZ. THE SETTING OF THE TEREZÍN GHETTO IS RECALLED BY THE COLOURED LINOCUT HEAD WITH STAR (1962) WITH ITS BARE TREE BRANCHES. DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF HER SISTER, COUSIN AND OTHER TEREZÍN CHILDREN, MARANOVÁ’S PAINTING OF A GIRL IN A BROKEN WICKER CHAIR (1962) EFFECTIVELY CONVEYS THE EXPERIENCE OF DEATH AND DECAY. THE DRAWINGS BOYS WITH STAR (1959) THE END (1960) AND GIRL WITH STAR (1961) ALL DEAL WITH THE TOPIC OF THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING.
MARANOVÁ’S WORK DEVELOPED OVER SEVERAL YEARS – FROM THE FIRST EXPRESSIVE STUDIES TO THE MORE STYLIZED AND ABSTRACT COMPOSITIONS THAT WERE DELIBERATELY PRIMITIVE, AS IF CHILD-LIKE, WITH SEEMINGLY EXPRESSIONLESS AND SILENT FIGURES CHARACTERIZED BY GREAT URGENCY AND INWARD EMOTION. SHOWING JEWISH FACES AS TARGETS AT A FAIR SHOOTING RANGE, THE COLOURED LINOCUT STRELNICE (1961) RECALLS, WITH ITS ANTI-SEMITISM, THE FIGURES FROM FOLK PUPPET THEATRE. THESE AND OTHER WORKS WERE FEATURED IN MARANOVÁ’S FIRST ONE-PERSON SHOW FOR THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING, WHICH WAS HELD AT THE CZECHOSLOVAK CULTURAL CENTRE IN WARSAW IN APRIL 1963.
THE MAIN WORK IN THE SET, HOWEVER, IS TO THE VICTIMS OF THE WARSAW GHETTO (1963), A LARGE STRUCTURAL PAINTING ON ROUGH CANVAS. THE ARDENT FACES OF THE BRAVE GHETTO FIGHTERS SEEM TO APPEAR AS APPARITIONS IN THE FLAMES BEHIND THE BRICK GHETTO WALLS. THIS WAS PROBABLY THE FIRST TIME THE UPRISING HAD BEEN OFFICIALLY COMMEMORATED IN THE CZECH LANDS. THE LITERÁRNÍ NOVINY NEWSPAPER REPORTED THE FOLLOWING: “IN MARANOVÁ’S PAINTINGS, MEMORIES OF THE WARTIME HORRORS AND THE NAZI ‘SOLUTION OF THE JEWISH QUESTION’ MORPH INTO FANTASTICAL, SUPRA-REAL – AT TIMES TOO REAL – APPARITIONS. DUE TO ITS VISUAL QUALITY, HOWEVER, THE SERIES IS MORE THAN A DOCUMENT AND DESERVES TO BE SHOWN IN PRAGUE.” AS FAR AS WE KNOW, THE EXHIBITION WAS NOT SHOWN IN PRAGUE. MARANOVÁ DID NOT RETURN TO THIS TOPIC UNTIL MANY YEARS LATER IN AMERICA, WHEN SHE MADE A NEW PORTRAIT OF HER MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER.

KAFKA AND PRAGUE

THE POST-WAR RECEPTION OF THE WORK OF FRANZ KAFKA IN PRAGUE AND THE REST OF BOHEMIA FOLLOWED ON FROM EARLIER PUBLICATIONS. MANY OF HIS STORIES, INCLUDING THE STOKER, WERE TRANSLATED AND PUBLISHED IN MAGAZINES BY MILENA JESENSKÁ WHILE KAFKA WAS STILL ALIVE. JOSEF PORTMANN IN LITOMYŠL PUBLISHED THE STORIES AN OLD MANUSCRIPT (1928), A REPORT TO AN ACADEMY (1929) AND A COUNTRY DOCTOR (1931) AS BIBLIOPHILE EDITIONS, EACH ACCOMPANIED WITH OUTSTANDING ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE WESTPHALIAN EXPRESSIONIST ALBERT SCHAMONI. THESE EDITIONS, TOGETHER WITH OTTO COESTLER ILLUSTRATIONS FOR THE FIRST CZECH EDITION OF METAMORPHOSIS (TRANSLATED BY L. VRÁNA, PUBLISHED BY JOSEF FLORIÁN IN STARÁ RÍŠE IN MORAVIA IN 1929), WERE PROBABLY THE FIRST ATTEMPTS TO ILLUSTRATE KAFKA’S WORKS. IN 1935 THE PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE MÁNES ASSOCIATION OF CZECH FINE ARTS PUBLISHED A TRANSLATION OF THE CASTLE BY PAVEL EISNER WITH AN EPILOGUE BY MAX BROD, AND IN 1938 THE FIRST DISSERTATION ON FRANZ KAFKA WAS PUT TOGETHER AT OTOKAR FISCHER’S SEMINAR AT THE ARTS FACULTY OF CHARLES UNIVERSITY. WHEN IT WAS NO LONGER POSSIBLE FOR PUBLISHER SAMUELA FISCHERA TO ISSUE KAFKA’S WORKS IN GERMANY, THE LAST TWO VOLUMES OF THE FIRST EDITION VI (1936) AND VII (1937) WERE PUBLISHED IN PRAGUE, AS WERE THE FIRST EDITIONS OF KAFKA’S BIOGRAPHY BY HIS FRIEND, MAX BROD (1937). INTEREST IN FRANZ KAFKA WAS REVIVED WITH GREATER INTENSITY AFTER THE WAR. THE FIRST STUDIES BY WRITERS FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA (P. EISNER, P. TROST, H. SIEBENSCHEIN, ETC.) AND ABROAD (A. CAMUS, R. WARNER) WERE PUBLISHED AND NEW TRANSLATIONS OF KAFKA’S WORKS APPEARED (K. PROJZA, L. KUNDERA). IN 1947 THE LITERARY REVUE LISTY ZPRÁVU REPORTED THAT PUBLISHER VÁCLAV PETR INTENDED TO ISSUE A COLLECTED EDITION OF KAFKA’S WORKS IN CZECH, AND IN THE SAME YEAR PUBLISHER V. ŽIKEŠ ISSUED FRANZ KAFKA AND PRAGUE, A COLLECTION OF STUDIES AND MEMOIRS. KAFKA’S WORK WAS ALSO REFERENCED BY VÁCLAV CERNÝ IN PRVNÍ SEŠIT O EXISTENCIALISMU (1948). INTEREST IN KAFKA WAS PUSHED INTO THE BACKGROUND AFTER THE COMMUNIST TAKEOVER IN FEBRUARY 1948 BUT QUICKLY REVIVED DURING THE POLITICAL EASING AFTER 1956. IN 1957 EISNER’S STUDY ON KAFKA APPEARED IN SVETOVÁ LITERATURA AND HIS TRANSLATION OF THE TRIAL WAS PUBLISHED A YEAR LATER, STARTING A NEW WAVE OF INTEREST IN KAFKA’S WORK IN THE CZECH LANDS. THIS CULMINATED IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON KAFKA THAT WAS HELD AT LIBICE NEAR PRAGUE IN 1963 – THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF KAFKA’S BIRTH. A YEAR LATER, TO MARK THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF KAFKA’S DEATH, ZDENEK KIRSCHNER AND JIRÍ ŽANTOVSKÝ ORGANIZED THE EXHIBITION FRANZ KAFKA (1883-1924) – LIFE AND WORK AT THE MUSEUM OF CZECH LITERATURE; MAX BROD ATTENDED AND GAVE A SPEECH AT THE OPENING
SHOW ON 23 JUNE 1964. IN ADDITION TO KAFKA-RELATED DOCUMENTS AND BOOKS, THE EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM OF CZECH LITERATURE ALSO PRESENTED THE WORK OF A NUMBER OF YOUNG AND UNOFFICIAL ARTISTS, HENCE THE CONSIDERABLE ATTENTION PAID TO IT. ON DISPLAY WERE PRINTS BY FRANTIŠEK TICHÝ, ZDENEK SEYDL AND ADOLF HOFFMEISTR, ILLUSTRATIONS FOR THE TRIAL BY IVAN URBÁNEK, PRINTS BY DANA PUCHNAROVÁ AND COLOURED RELIEFS BY JIRÍ BUREŠ. ABOVE ALL, HOWEVER, THE EXHIBITION SHOWCASED WORKS BY LEADING CONTEMPORARY UNOFFICIAL ARTISTS, INCLUDING MIKULÁŠ MEDEK, ZBYNEK SEKAL, JIRÍ BALCAR, KAREL NEPRAŠ AND ANTONÍN TOMALÍK, AS WELL AS PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAN LUKAS, JOSEF SUDEK AND EMILA MEDKOVÁ. ALTHOUGH THESE ARTISTS DID NOT DIRECTLY ILLUSTRATE KAFKA, THEIR OWN WORK OFFERED SURPRISING PARALLELS WITH KAFKA’S STYLE, MOTIFS AND ATMOSPHERE. MANY OTHER ARTISTS WHO COULD ALSO HAVE BEEN MENTIONED IN THIS CONNECTION WERE FEATURED AT A PREMATURELY SHUT-DOWN EXHIBITION HELD BY GROUP D AT PRAGUE’S GALERIE NOVÁ SÍN IN THE SAME YEAR. A MAJOR ATTRACTION IN THE PRAGUE CULTURAL WORLD OF THE DAY, THE EXHIBITION WAS SUBSEQUENTLY SHOWN ELSEWHERE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND ABROAD. EVERYTHING SEEMED TO RECALL FRANZ KAFKA IN THE PRAGUE OF THE EARLY 1960S – THE UNREAL ATMOSPHERE OF A CRUMBLING CITY, THE OUTRIGHT ABSURDITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE AND THE POORLY FUNCTIONING BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEM. JARMILA MARANOVÁ ALSO TURNED HER ATTENTION TO THE LITERARY WORK OF KAFKA AT THIS TIME. AS FAR AS WE KNOW, SHE DID NOT TAKE PART IN ANY OF THE OFFICIAL EXHIBITIONS MENTIONED. THE EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM OF CZECH LITERATURE, HOWEVER, WAS ATTENDED BY JIRÍ BUREŠ, WHO ACTUALLY INTRODUCED MARANOVÁ TO THIS MATERIAL.
“ONE OF THE LAST WORKS OF MY UNTIMELY DECEASED FRIEND, THE SCULPTOR JIRÍ BUREŠ, WAS A PORTRAIT OF FRANZ KAFKA. UNFORTUNATELY HE DIED VERY YOUNG. AT THAT TIME, I MYSELF BEGAN WORKING ON MONOTYPES FOR KAFKA’S SHORT STORIES. I GATHERED STRENGTH AND CONTINUED INTENSIVELY ON THIS WORK… FIRST OF ALL, KAFKA LOOKED LIKE ONE OF MY COUSINS, AND SECONDLY MY READING OF HIS WORKS REMINDED ME SO MUCH OF THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE PRE-WAR JEWISH TOWN, WHERE I USED TO WALK WITH MY GRANDMA WEINBERGER, MOTHER AND SISTER. WE LEFT STONES ON THE GRAVE OF RABBI LOEW AND HID IN THE ELDERBERRY BUSHES WHERE WE SCARED STRAY CATS. SILENCE PREVAILED THERE AT THE TIME, UNDISTURBED BY PHOTO-SNAPPING TOURISTS… THIS ATMOSPHERE IS IMPRINTED IN MY SOUL. THE JEWISH SHOPS IN MAISEL STREET, ŠTUPARTSKÁ, TÝN TEMPLE AND THE OLD-NEW SYNAGOGUE – IT WAS A MYSTERIOUS WORLD FOR ME, AND IT REMAINED WITHIN ME. AND ALONG WITH READING KAFKA, I DEVELOPED A BODY OF WORK ON THIS TOPIC OVER SEVERAL YEARS.”
THIS EXPERIENCE NEVER LEFT MARANOVÁ; WHEN SHE BEGAN TO FOCUS ON HER OWN OEUVRE, IT PERMANENTLY RETURNED TO HER. DURING THE NAZI OCCUPATION, SHE MADE AN ENTIRE SERIES OF COLOUR LITHOGRAPHS WITH MOTIFS OF THE PRAGUE CASTLE, CHARLES BRIDGE, THE STREETS OF THE OLD AND JEWISH TOWNS AND THE PANORAMIC VIEWS OF NOCTURNAL PRAGUE.
KAFKA-INSPIRED WORKS BY MARANOVÁ WERE SHOWN AT PRAGUE’S JEWISH MUSEUM IN 1965 IN THE EXHIBITION KAFKA AND PRAGUE, WHICH WAS LAUNCHED BY EDUARD GOLDSTÜCKER. THIS WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TEMPORARY SHOWS TO BE HELD AT THE MUSEUM AFTER 1948. SOON LATER, HER SERIES OF MONOTYPES AND LITHOGRAPHS, KAFKA’S THE TRIAL AND KAFKA’S PRAGUE, WAS SHOWN IN A NUMBER OF EXHIBITIONS ACROSS GERMANY, AUSTRIA, PARIS, HOLLAND AND NORWAY. AFTER EMIGRATING IN 1977, SHE EXHIBITED HER WORK IN A SIMILARLY CONCEIVED EXHIBITION AT THE SKIRBALL JEWISH MUSEUM IN LOS ANGELES. HER MONOTYPES ARE ONLY IN PART ILLUSTRATIONS OF CERTAIN SCENES IN KAFKA’S SHORT STORIES AND NOVELS; MOSTLY THEY ARE A LOOSELY BASED GRAPHIC ACCOMPANIMENT OR PARAPHRASE OF THE FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS PROVOKED BY HIS WORK. MARANOVÁ WROTE THE FOLLOWING: “FRANZ KAFKA CORRESPONDS TO MY OWN INNER DREAM WORLD. I FEEL AT HOME IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF KAFKA’S PROSE, ALTHOUGH IT AFFECTS ME INTUITIVELY RATHER THAN RATIONALLY. HIS STATE OF MIND IS CLOSE TO ME – AS IS HIS HOME TOWN…” MARANOVÁ TRANSFORMS KAFKA’S EXISTENTIALLY TINGED STORIES INTO IMAGES THAT COMPELLINGLY EVOKE THE ATMOSPHERE OF OLD PRAGUE, AS IT STILL LOOKED AND WAS EXPERIENCED IN THE MID-60S. THE SURFACE OF MARANOVÁ’S MONOTYPES FORMS A STRUCTURE THAT IS REMINISCENT OF THE WALLS OF OLD BUILDINGS, FROM WHICH HIDDEN IMAGES AND INDISTINCT FACES SUDDENLY EMERGE. SHE CREATES GHOSTLY FIGURES THAT LANGUIDLY MOVE AS IF IN DELIRIUM OR HOVER OVER THE CITY AS IF IN A DREAM, LENDING A HIGHLY IMAGINATIVE AND SURREALISTIC QUALITY TO HER WORK. MARANOVÁ ALSO MADE SEPARATE MONOTYPES FOR THE SHORT STORIES A COUNTRY DOCTOR, TRAPEZE ARTIST AND A HUNGER ARTIST, FOR KAFKA’S LETTERS TO MILENA AND FOR SEVERAL OF KAFKA’S APHORISMS.

LUDVÍK AŠKENÁZY WROTE THE FOLLOWING IN THE CATALOGUE FOR THE EXHIBITION AT GALERIE ZB IN VIENNA IN FEBRUARY 1967: “TWO PRAGUE WALKERS – FRANZ KAFKA AND JARMILA MARANOVÁ – MET. THEY MISSED EACH OTHER IN SPACE, EITHER ON PURPOSE OR BY MISTAKE. BUT THEY DID MEET EACH OTHER IN TIME, WHERE THE TWO FOUND THEMSELVES WITHOUT HAVING TO EXCHANGE A SINGLE WORD. NEITHER OF JARMILA MARANOVÁ’S CYCLES, KAFKA’S PRAGUE AND KAFKA’S THE TRIAL, ARE MERE ILLUSTRATIONS. THEY ARE A GREETING FROM THE REALM OF ANXIETY AND DARKNESS. A RECORD OF A NEW WALK THROUGH THE OLD, WINDING LANES OF LIFE IN WHICH A DISTANT, SOLITARY WINDOW WITH THE SILHOUETTE OF A PERSON SOMETIMES OPENS.”

GEORG BÜCHNER: WOYZECK

MARANOVÁ FOLLOWED ON FROM HER KAFKA SERIES WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FOR WOYZECK, THE FAMOUS PLAY BY THE GERMAN REVOLUTIONARY DRAMATIST GEORG BÜCHNER. THIS WORK DESCRIBES THE TRAGIC FATE OF A MAN UNABLE TO DEAL WITH THE COLD-HEARTED INDIFFERENCE OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD. BÜCHNER’S STYLE HAS MUCH IN COMMON WITH KAFKA; HIS IRONY STRETCHES TO GROTESQUERY AND AN ACUTELY REALISTIC VISION IS MINGLED WITH DREAM-LIKE HALLUCINATIONS. MARANOVÁ MADE 12 FULL-PAGE WOYZECK ILLUSTRATIONS, WHICH WERE PUBLISHED IN 1968 TOGETHER WITH A BIBLIOPHILE EDITION OF THE TEXT AND A NUMBER OF VIGNETTES BY STUTTGART-BASED PUBLISHERS MÜLLER AND SCHINDLER. BÜCHNER IS REGARDED AS A PRECURSOR OF EXPRESSIONIST DRAMA. WOYZECK WAS FIRST STAGED IN CZECH AT THE REVOLUTIONARY THEATRE IN 1921 AND AS AN OPERA WITH MUSIC BY ALBAN BERG AT PRAGUE’S NATIONAL THEATRE IN 1926.

BIBLICAL MOTIFS – THE BOOK OF JOB AND THE SONG OF SONGS

IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF DISAPPOINTMENT AND HOPELESSNESS AFTER THE OCCUPATION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA IN AUGUST 1968, WHEN HER CHILDREN IMMIGRATED TO THE USA, MARANOVÁ FOUND A CORRESPONDING THEME FOR A NEW SERIES OF PRINTS IN THE BOOK OF JOB. TO HER, JOB’S FATE PROJECTS AN IMAGE OF HUMAN EXISTENCE; HIS DIFFICULT ORDEALS AND UNDESERVED FATE CONVEY A PICTURE OF DEEPEST DESPAIR AND AN ARCHETYPE OF ALL HUMAN TRAGEDY, WHICH MARANOVÁ HAD DEALT WITH BEFORE. IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR SHE MADE A NUMBER OF LITHOGRAPHS AND MONOTYPES FOR THE SERIES; THESE WERE PUT ON DISPLAY AT THE SPANISH SYNAGOGUE IN 1970: “THE SYNAGOGUE WAS CHOCK-FULL, AND MANY PEOPLE COULD NOT EVEN GET INSIDE. AMONG THE VISITORS WERE TRUDA SEKANINOVÁ, FRANTIŠEK KRIEGL AND OTHER BRAVE PEOPLE FROM THE PRAGUE SPRING. ANNA MASARYKOVÁ OPENED THE SHOW AND RADOVAN LUKAVSKÝ RECITED HOLAN’S POEM STONE PRAYER. I’VE NEVER EXPERIENCED SUCH AN ATMOSPHERE OF SILENT AND DIGNIFIED PROTEST…” IN MARKED CONTRAST TO THIS SERIES IS A SET OF LITHOGRAPHS FOR THE MOST POETIC BOOK OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, SOLOMON’S SONG OF SONGS, DATING FROM 1973-74. MARANOVÁ DESCRIBES IN THEM THE UNIQUE CHARACTER OF THE ISRAELI LANDSCAPE AS SHE REMEMBERED IT FROM HER VISIT TO ISRAEL IN 1968. AS SHE WROTE AT THE TIME: “THE ISRAELI LANDSCAPE IS HUMAN, TRAGIC AND BARE. IT IS AN EXCITING, INCOMPREHENSIBLE LANDSCAPE, TRULY BIBLICAL. STONES HERE BECOME SYMBOLS, WATER A CULT. AND WHEN YOU PUT YOUR EAR TO THE GROUND AND HOLD YOUR BREATH, YOU’LL HEAR SOMEWHERE IN ITS DEPTHS THE GENTLE FLUTTER OF BIRD WINGS…”

LABYRINTH OF THE WORLD

IN THE EARLY YEARS OF NORMALIZATION, MARANOVÁ FOUND INSPIRATION IN THE LABYRINTH OF THE WORLD AND PARADISE OF THE HEART, WRITTEN IN 1623 BY A YOUNG JOHN AMOS COMENIUS (1592-1670) IN A SIMILARLY HOPELESS POLITICAL SITUATION – TWO YEARS FOLLOWING THE BATTLE OF WHITE MOUNTAIN AND AFTER THE EXECUTIONS OF CZECH NOBLES IN THE OLD TOWN SQUARE. COMENIUS WAS ON THE RUN, SHORTLY AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS FIRST WIFE AND FIRST-BORN SON. THE SUBTITLE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION CLARIFIES THAT IT WAS A “DEPICTION WHICH IN THIS WORLD AND ALL THINGS IS NOTHING BUT CONFUSION AND STAGGERING, WHIRLING AND TOILING, DELUSION AND DECEPTION, MISERY AND LONELINESS AND, IN THE END, WEARINESS AT EVERYTHING AND DESPAIR…” IN A LARGE SERIES OF ABOUT 50 DRAWINGS AND LITHOGRAPHS FROM 1972-73, MARANOVÁ UNCOVERS THE DRAMA OF THE ALIENATED AND HOSTILE WORLD OF INCIPIENT NORMALIZATION, BUT ALSO DISCOVERS THE FIGURE OF THE PILGRIM, AN OUTCAST FROM HIS OWN COUNTRY, WHICH WAS SOON TO BECOME HER FATE, TOO.
SHE SAID THE FOLLOWING ABOUT THIS WORK: “I DIDN’T CHOOSE THE FIGURE OF COMENIUS BY CHANCE. IT TOOK SHAPE SHORTLY BEFORE I LEFT FOR AMERICA TO BE WITH MY CHILDREN. THE PILGRIM HIMSELF WAS FORCED TO LEAVE HIS HOMELAND IN ORDER TO SEARCH IN THE LABYRINTH OF LIFE ABROAD FOR HIS PLACE IN THE WORLD – AS DID THOUSANDS OF OTHER CZECHS AFTER HIM… THIS SERIES OF LITHOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS WAS EXHIBITED IN 1974 AT THE MUSEUM OF CZECH LITERATURE BUT THE PREVIEW WAS BANNED BY THE DIRECTOR AT THE TIME…”

AMERICA AND THE CASTLE

IN 1976 MARANOVÁ WENT TO THE UNITED STATES TO BE WITH HER CHILDREN. AFTER TWO YEARS INLOS ANGELES, SHE THEN MOVED TO NEW YORK, WHERE SHE LIVED UNTIL 2005. AMID THE LABYRINTH OF SKYSCRAPERS SHE RETURNED ONCE AGAIN TO KAFKA. IN 1977-78 SHE MADE ANOTHER SERIES OF MONOTYPES, THIS TIME FOR KAFKA’S NOVEL AMERICA. IT WAS A DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE FOR MARANOVÁ, ENCOUNTERING A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND ALIEN WORLD, AND IT WAS IN KAFKA’S AMERICA SHE FOUND A DESCRIPTION OF A TRAUMATIC ENCOUNTER WITH THE NEW WORLD – THE ARRIVAL OF YOUNG KARL ROSSMANN FROM PRAGUE. PARADOXICALLY, THEN, BY ILLUSTRATING ANOTHER KAFKA NOVEL, SHE FOUND A LINK WITH HER EARLIER LIFE AND WORK. LATER ON, SHE STARTED TO FOCUS ON MOTIFS FROM KAFKA’S THE CASTLE, WHICH ALSO DESCRIBES THE FEELINGS AND SITUATIONS OF A PERSON IN AN ALIEN AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE WORLD – THE LAND SURVEYOR K. DRAWING UPON A LIFELONG PREOCCUPATION WITH KAFKA, MARANOVÁ DREW THE ILLUSTRATIONS FOR